Giro d'Italia (st. 12)

Movistar Team handles perfectly the situation for Nairo Quintana (2nd overall) and Amador (6th) at longest stage in this year's 'Corsa Rosa', prelude to the final sprint on Friday - and the definitive return to the mountains on week three

Fernando Gaviria (QST) reinforced his 'Maglia Ciclamino' hold as the strongest sprinter of the 2017 Giro d'Italia by winning stage 12, the longest in this year's course over 229km from Forlì to Reggio Emilia.

Maestri (BAR), Marcato (UAD) and Firsanov (GAZ), the three early escapees of the day, represented the only alternative to the peloton's tyranny, as the Movistar Team riders directed by Arrieta and García Acosta kept control of the situation and took care of Nairo Quintana, who still remains 2nd overall behind Tom Dumoulin (SUN).

Good pacing from Sutherland, Gorka Izagirre and most notably Rojas and Bennati through the final 20km made possible for both the Colombian and Andrey Amador (6th in the GC) to finish with most of the big favourites into the main split at 6" from the winner -Pozzovivo (ALM) and Adam Yates (ORS) were the only climbers able to enter the sprinters' cut-.

Friday's stage 13 will bring more of the same, with 167km on completely flat roads, no categorized climbs, en route to Tortona. A final chance for the sprinters before Saturday's Oropa climb brings the mountains back for good in this 100th Giro.

Results

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