Stage 12

The road

At the start

The long way across the Apennines

The gravel did what the mountains had not. Bernal now leads Vlasov by 45 seconds and Caruso by 1:12, Simon Yates has quietly climbed to fifth, and Evenepoel is seventh at 2:22 with his first Grand Tour turning hard. Today is the longest stage of the race: 212 kilometres and four passes across the Apennines, ten downhill kilometres to Bagno di Romagna.

How it was won

1. 148 km to go

   The Calla cracks the break

   The longest and highest climb of the day makes a natural selection out front, though most claw back on the long descent into Romagna. Bouchard takes maximum points again; the peloton is 10:15 adrift.

2. 210 km to go

   Passo del Carnaio

   The steepest climb of the stage and the last. Vendrame is first to get away mid-climb, joined by Bennett, Hamilton and Brambilla. Behind, Nibali attacks over the top with Ciccone and presses on alone down the descent out of sheer pride; Moscon crashes on a hairpin trying to close him down.

3. 33 km to go

   Vendrame and Hamilton go

   Three kilometres from the line the two of them attack, and Brambilla and Bennett each wait for the other to chase. Neither does, and the stage is gone.

4. 4At the line

   Bagno di Romagna

   Vendrame turns a career of near-misses and placings into a Grand Tour stage win, beating Hamilton in the sprint. Nibali comes in seven seconds ahead of the bunch.

The result