The Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) crossed second in the 12th stage of the Giro d’Italia 2024, which was won with mastery by the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step); while for the third place was the Belgian Quinten Hermans (Alpecin – Deceuninck).
In the streets of Fano, the former world champion crossed the finish line alone, after a great breakaway of more than one hundred kilometers. Meanwhile, the race leader, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), entered with the group of favorites more than five minutes behind the day’s winner.
The twelfth stage of the Italian round had a rather atypical route. The peloton rode along the coast all day, but the elevation profile shot up at times. The first fifty kilometers of this one, which started from Martinsicuro, were completely flat, but then the route of the fraction became interesting due to the succession of short climbs.
After the first intermediate uphill sprint, four categorized climbs of the lowest category followed: Osimo (1.3 km at 5.5%), Monsano (1.8 km at 6%), Ostra (1 km at 9.2%) and La Croce (1.5 km at 6.7%). However, the ride was also characterized by hills and uncategorized slopes. A total of 2,100 meters of elevation gain were presented, including, for example, the tough Monte Giove (1.2 km at 9.1%) about ten kilometers from the finish.
First to try were young Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) and Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (Intermarché-Wanty), who broke away along with the experienced Matteo Trentin (Tudor). The three remained in the lead for almost thirty kilometers ahead, but were then caught by the peloton.
A large breakaway then formed, featuring Colombian Nario Quintana, Julian Alaphilippe, Filippo Ganna, Jhonatan Narvaez, Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Quinten Hermans, among others.
With about 125 kilometers to go, the two-time world champion accelerated once again, with Italian rider Micro Maestri on his wheel. The duo quickly distanced themselves from their breakaway companions and became the main protagonists of the day.
Surprisingly, Maestri didn’t skimp on the flat sections, as he continued to ride flat out with Alaphilippe to keep the chasers at bay. However, on Monte Giove it was what we expected, in the first few meters uphill, Alaphilippe released Maestri and went in search of his long-awaited stage win.
Behind them, Narvaez and Hermans proved to be the strongest of the chasers. The duo escorted the Frenchman, who masterfully took his first win of the year. For the favorites, it was a relatively quiet day. On the steep final climb, Daniel Felipe Martinez (BORA-hansgrohe) wanted to test his rivals for the podium, but they all responded without problems.
The Corsa Rosa will continue this Friday with stage 13, a completely flat day that will take the riders from Riccione to Cento over 179 kilometers.
Giro d’Italia 2024 (2.UWT)
Results Stage 12 | Martinsicuro – Fano (193 km)
| 1 | Julian Alaphilippe | Soudal Quick-Step | 4:07:44 |
| 2 | Jhonatan Narváez *Ecuador | INEOS Grenadiers | 0:31 |
| 3 | Quinten Hermans | Alpecin – Deceuninck | 0:32 |
| 4 | Michael Valgren | EF Education – EasyPost | 0:43 |
| 5 | Christian Scaroni | Astana Qazaqstan Team | ,, |
| 6 | Matteo Trentin | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 1:30 |
| 7 | Simon Clarke | Israel – Premier Tech | ,, |
| 8 | Gijs Leemreize | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | ,, |
| 9 | Mirco Maestri | Team Polti Kometa | ,, |
| 10 | Benjamin Thomas | Cofidis | ,, |
Ranking General
| 1 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates | 45:22:35 |
| 2 | Daniel Felipe Martínez | BORA – hansgrohe | 2:40 |
| 3 | Geraint Thomas | INEOS Grenadiers | 2:56 |
| 4 | Ben O’Connor | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 3:39 |
| 5 | Antonio Tiberi | Bahrain – Victorious | 4:27 |
| 6 | Romain Bardet | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | 4:57 |
| 7 | Lorenzo Fortunato | Astana Qazaqstan Team | 5:19 |
| 8 | Filippo Zana | Team Jayco AlUla | 5:23 |
| 9 | Einer Rubio | Movistar Team | 5:28 |
| 10 | Thymen Arensman | INEOS Grenadiers | 5:52 |
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico