Giro d'Italia (st. 12)

Cavendish (OPQ) grabs day's honours in Treviso at field sprint -with Ventoso in 10th place- as rain makes Wiggins lose three minutes - Intxausti jumps into 8th GC

Briton Mark Cavendish claimed his third victory in the 2013 Giro d’Italia during stage twelve of the race, 134k from Longarone to Treviso completely overshadowed by soaking rain. A torrential deluge that even forced the start to be delayed saw riders challenging water and cold for three hours that well seemed like the double for some. The race organisers chose to take GC times under the 3k-to-go banner, to avoid any incident between the main favourites of the race into an almost flooded final circuit.

Ventoso took 10th in the volata behind Cavendish, with the main bunch only notably missing Bradley Wiggins, who got dropped with 20k from the finish and lost more than three minutes. Beñat Intxausti thus climbs into 8th overall, with Vincenzo Nibali (AST) always in pink. Stage thirteen should bring more of the same to the race in this year’s longest ride: no less than 254km between Busseto and Cherasco.