Olav Kooij sprinted to victory on stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia after a sterling leadout from Wout van Aert within the closing kilometre.
After Van Aert peeled off, Kooij jumped into the slipstream of Picnic-PostNL’s Casper van Uden with the road in sight. The Visma sprinter then got here round his fellow Dutchman to pip him on the road, holding off a late cost from Ben Turner and Mads Pedersen within the course of. Van Uden, the winner of stage 4 in Lecce, held on for second forward of Turner.
Talking afterwards, Kooij mentioned the win got here as an enormous aid after he final received at Tirreno-Adriatico in March.
“I used to be ready for this one,” he mentioned. “We grew into the race as a staff with Simon [Yates] in an excellent place on the GC and Wout [van Aert] taking a stage win. The opposite sprints didn’t go proper, so I’m actually pleased that as we speak we may do it.”
Kooij poured reward on Van Aert particularly after his teammate’s flawless flip set him up for the ultimate sprint to the road. “Solely he can do it,” Kooij mentioned. “To have Van Aert’s assist is extraordinary, I actually must thank him and the remainder of the staff. All of them did a improbable job.”
“We’re positively not executed but,” he concluded, when requested if there was extra to return from Visma-Lease a Bike at this Giro.
In the meantime, Isaac del Toro completed safely inside the primary area to defend his lead within the basic classification. The Mexican prolonged his benefit on his teammate, Juan Ayuso, in second place after snatching two bonus seconds at an intermediate dash.
The way it occurred
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
After an enthralling day within the excessive mountains on stage 11, the 172 kilometre sprint to Viadana took the Giro into the Lombardy area for one more potential dash end. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t be simple for the quick males with greater than 1,600 metres of elevation achieve included within the first half of the parcours.
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Three Italians bought up the highway and into an early breakaway on the rolling terrain in an try to spoil the occasion for the sprinters. They had been Giosuè Epis (Arkéa – B&B Motels), Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè) and Andrea Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta).
Pietrobon was the last-man standing from the break, however the Polti rider was caught on the primary passage of the road, with 26 kilometres left to race, because the peloton entered the technical ending circuit in Viadana. Isaac del Toro burst clear from the peloton to take two bonus seconds on the closing intermediate dash level to increase his lead within the basic classification.
With the breakaway caught, Lidl-Trek, Cofidis and Alpecin-Deceuninck all jostled for place on the head of the bunch in an try to get the leap on their rivals for the stage win. Q36.5 and Soudal Fast-Step had been additionally current, with the extensive highway permitting loads of groups to get entangled within the battle for supremacy.
Visma-Lease a Bike started to return by way of with six kilometres to the end as Wout van Aert regarded to maintain Olav Kooij effectively positioned. Alpecin had six-men able to unleash Kaden Groves as Visma fought onerous to maintain Kooij in rivalry.
A world class lead out from Van Aert within the closing kilometre then delivered Kooij to the win.
Outcomes
Giro d’Italia 2025, stage 12: Modena > Viadana (172 km)
1. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:55:40 2. Casper van Uden (Ned) Picnic-PostNL, 3. Ben Turner (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, 4. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, 5. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck, 6. Milan Fretin (Bel) Cofidis, 7. Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana, 8. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Fast-Step, 9. Matevz Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious, 10. Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Q36.5 Professional Biking, all similar time
Basic classification after stage 12
1. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG, in 42:43:28 2. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG, +33s 3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:09 4. Richard Carapaz (European) EF Schooling-EasyPost, at s.t 5. Simon Yates (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:11 6. Primož Roglič (Slo) Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:26 7. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:56 8. Giulio Ciccone, (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:11 9. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG, +2:18 10 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +2:26
