Stage 12
Benedetti's day of days
- Thursday 23 May 2019
- 158 km
- 1,917 m climbed
- Won by Cesare Benedetti
The road
At the start
The road tilts at last
Caleb Ewan won again in Novi Ligure and Démare took the ciclamino jersey off Ackermann — and then both Ewan and Elia Viviani went home, neither taking the start this morning. At the top nothing has moved in four days: Conti in pink, Roglič at 1:50. Today the Giro starts climbing, 158 kilometres from Cuneo to Pinerolo over the Montoso, thirty-two from home, with a cobbled ramp in the town to finish.
How it was won
- 32 km to go
López lights up the Montoso
Jan Hirt sets it up and Miguel Ángel López detonates on the Montoso; Carapaz and Nibali scramble across, and suddenly Roglič is isolated at the back without a single teammate.
- 13 km to go
Landa and López press on
Over the top Landa and López keep driving, nibbling out thirty seconds while the maglia rosa group hesitates, no one keen to chase on Roglič's behalf.
- 3 km to go
Benedetti on the cobbles
On the short cobbled ramp into Pinerolo the perennial domestique Cesare Benedetti attacks; Brambilla and Capecchi surge over him, but Benedetti claws his way back inside the final kilometre.
- At the line
Benedetti's day of days
Brambilla opens the sprint but Benedetti sweeps calmly past to beat Caruso and Dunbar — a first professional win after a career spent serving others.
The result
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cesare Benedetti | BORA - hansgrohe | 3:41:49 |
| 2 | Damiano Caruso | Bahrain Merida | +0:00 |
| 3 | Eddie Dunbar | Team INEOS | +0:00 |
The route on real terrain, every moment pinned to the kilometre it happened on — and the GPX to ride it yourself.