Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 12

May 22, 2025 It's been almost a week since the sprinters had their chance but today should be an opportunity for the fast men. The race leaves Modena and heads Southwest into the hills to get some climbing meters in but once the route turns North and on to the Po plain, the profile is as flat as a piadina. A local lap around Viadana of 27KM will get the sprinters into the mood again for a finish at full speed but they will have to navigate a tight left turn in the final 450M. There were more attacks at the start than expected but in the end, Giosuè Epis of Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Andrea Pietrobon of Polti-VisitMalta, and Manuele Tarozzi of VF-Group Bardiani CSF-Faizanè were the three intrepid riders to go up the road. Visma-Lease a Bike, Alpecin-Deceuninck, and Decathlon AG2R picked up the chase and kept the gap around 2 minutes 30 seconds. Rain was lightly falling as Tarozzi led the break over the category 3 climb of Baiso with 131.5KM to go but the route kept the riders up on a plateau for around 40KM so there would be no immediate descent. The rain cleared away and the race went into a holding pattern but the action sprang back for the Intermediate Sprint in Felina. Piertobon went long and held off Epis by half a bike length back to take some points in Ciclamino Points Classification. The gap stayed consistent at 2 minutes until the final climb of Borsea with 75KM to go when it was down to 1 minute 20 seconds. Tarozzi went over the top first and started the descent into Bibbiano for the last 67KM of flat roads to the finish. Epis won the second Intermediate Sprint in Sant'Ilario d'Enza at 53.5KM to go but the break away's time out front was numbered because Visma-Lease a Bike had set up in a line and were driving the peloton just 35 seconds back. GC teams came to the front after the Intermediate Sprint because of a threat of crosswinds. Nothing came of the wind but the race continued to close in nonetheless. Pietrobon was the last man standing and took 6 bonus seconds at the Redbull Golden Kilometer with 33KM to go. Right behind was Kim Heiduk of Ineos who snuck out to grab second place with race leader Isaac del Toro of UAE-XRG picking up the 2 remaining seconds to add to his GC lead. The race was all together at the start of the circuit with 27KM to go. GC and sprint teams were all fighting for the front but it started to get a lot more serious with 4KM to go on a long straight road and the final left turn to come. With 2.5KM to go, Picnic-PostNL and Lidl-Trek were well positioned with Decathlon AG2R and Alpecin-Deceuninck lurking in the second line. 1KM later, Visma-Lease a Bike arrived at the front with two riders in front of Olav Kooij with Alpecin-Deceuninck still doing well to stay at the front. Edoardo Affini led Visma-Lease a Bike to 1KM to go where Wout van Aert took over. Van Aert strung out the bunch and took the turn in first position with Kooij on his wheel. Out of the corner, van Aert continued to drive forward but Casper Van Uden of Picnic-PostNL launched first and came around Affini. Affini got on his wheel but Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck and Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek both got good runs on the outside. Groves faded but at 30M, Kooij, Van Uden, and Pedersen were all tied with Ben Turner of Ineos just behind. A final kick and a bike throw for Kooij pushed him forward enough to take the victory, the second for Visma-Lease a Bike in four stages. Van Uden took second and a late run by Turner was good enough to take third place.