Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) picked up his first Grand Tour stage win in nearly three years on Thursday’s stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia.
Amid a chaotic first half of the stage that saw multiple regroupings off the front, the former two-time world road champ linked up with Mirco Maestri (Polti-Kometa) in a two-rider move that got clear of the other breakaway hopefuls. Despite a furious chase, they managed to stay clear together until Alaphilippe dropped Maestri on an uncategorized climb with some 10 km to go.
Alaphilippe soloed on to victory. Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) took second on the day with Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in third. Tadej Pogačar finished with the peloton to maintain his GC lead.
Breaking away from the breakaway
- The battle to form the breakaway on the 193 km stage from Martinsicuro to Fano was a fierce one, and it raged on through the first hour at an extremely high pace. Alaphilippe helped spur the formation of a big group about 60 km into the stage.
- Alaphilippe and Maestri did not wait long to make their two-rider move out of that break, riding away together with some 125 km still to race. The pursuing breakaway riders behind them collaborated for a little while before a further selection whittled them down to nine chasers as the second group on the road, with Narváez and Hermans among them.
- The peloton behind maintained a high tempo but seemed content to let the escapees battle for the stage win.
- Despite the numbers advantage in the chasing group, Alaphilippe and Maestri refused to let up, with their gap hovering at around a little over minute for an hour of racing on rolling roads.
- The advantage was down under a minute when the two leaders hit the uncategorized Monte Giove, where Alaphilippe quickly dropped Maestri. The pursuers caught the Italian but there would be no catching Alaphilippe.
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Brief analysis
- If at first you don’t succeed … Alaphilippe had already spent three days out front at the Giro, so it was only natural for him to try again on a breakaway-friendly stage 12, and he was a real animator on the stage. It paid off for him in the end.
- The win is Alaphilippe’s first in nearly a year and his first Grand Tour stage win since he won stage 1 of the 2021 Tour de France. All told, it’s been a quiet few years for Alaphilippe, who went from winning back-to-back world titles to taking just two pro victories in each of the 2022 and 2023 seasons. In that time, he has also endured criticism of underperforming from his own team boss Patrick Lefevere.
- That said, Alaphilippe has looked better at this Giro than he has in some time, taking runner-up honors on stage 6 and now winning a stage 12 where he seemed to have taken a huge gamble riding away with Maestri. It all bodes well for his chances of doing more in 2024.
- You could say the same thing about Narváez, who has really thrived on the hilly stages at this Giro. In short, keep an eye on both of those riders the next time it looks like breakaway could go the distance.
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