Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) surged to a solo victory on stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia, the Belgian time trial specialist bursting clear from the peloton 3.5km from the line to score the biggest win of his career in Novi Ligure.
The 23-year-old Segaert held off a reduced peloton to take the first Grand Tour victory of his career, using his time trial ability to his advantage as teams struggled to organise the chase in the final kilometres.
Three seconds after Segaert had crossed the finish line, Toon Aerts (Lotto-Intermarché) and former maglia rosa Thomas Silva (XDS-Astana) rounded out the podium. The top sprinters of the Giro, meanwhile, were nowhere to be seen, having been dropped from the peloton on the stage's pair of third-category climbs over 50km from the finish.
Those sprinters, including Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep), and Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets), had had been hopeful of contesting the finish, but Movistar's work over the Colle Giovo and Bric Berton put paid to that. With NSN Pro Cycling and EF Education-EasyPost joining the work as the peloton raced into the closing 40km, it was over for them, and so a reduced peloton of 59 contested the finish.
A host of versatile fast finishers, including Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-QuickStep), Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Orluis Aular (Movistar) remained in the group. However, they wouldn't get a chance to duke it out for victory as Segaert blasted clear on the run-in to the finishing town.
"It's super amazing. It's my first Giro d'Italia. I came here often to race in the youth categories as well. To do it here on the biggest stage, wow. This Giro was already amazing for the team with Afonso in the maglia rosa. It's amazing," said Segaert after the stage.
"I would say yesterday evening," he added, when asked when he decided to attack when he did. "I had it always in mind. I saw it as a good moment on the parcours. I was really happy with how the race was going with a hard pace on the climb and teammates of the sprinters who were left had to ride hard.
"This was my chance to go in the final when they were all on the limit, to push one more effort. For this result, you want to give everything.
"Winning is the best thing there is. After a bit of disappointment in the TT, I think this is the right way to come back stronger."
It was good news all round for Bahrain Victorious as Afonso Eulálio raced on to survive another day in the race lead. The maglia rosa in fact added six seconds to his advantage over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the Red Bull Kilometre.
The Portuguese racer now holds a 33-second lead over Vingegaard, while Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) lies in third at 2:03 down.
How it unfolded
The Giro d'Italia continued to work its way north on stage 12, heading from Liguria into Piedmont with what looked like a sprinter-friendly stage running 175km from Imperia to Novi Ligure.
Flat for the opening 90km and closing 35km, the day's main challenges would come in the middle in the shape of two third-category climbs, the Colle Giovo (11.4km at 4.2%) and Bric Berton (5.5km at 5.9%).
Attacks went right from the start of the stage with riders including Iván García Cortina (Movistar), Jonas Rutsch (Lotto-Intermarché), and Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) among the notable names making early moves.
Those riders wouldn't make the break of the day, however. Intermediate sprint and Red Bull Kilometre competition leader Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF-7 Saber) made one group of six which was brought back and then went clear once again to start the real breakaway.
The Italian, in the break for the fifth time this Giro, was joined out front by four others as Rutsch, Jonas Geens (Alpecin-Premier Tech), and Jardi Christian van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost) came across to make it a quintet.
Soudal-QuickStep and Unibet Rose Rockets took up the pacemaking at the front of the peloton with Visma-Lease a Bike lined up behind them, and the teams limiting the break's advantage to just 1:30.
Lidl-Trek, however, were not at the front, perhaps mindful that their man Jonathan Milan may have trouble surviving in the peloton over the day's two climbs.
As the riders raced towards the final 100km of the stage, the speeding peloton closed to within half a minute of the break, provoking attacks at the front of the group. Jacobs countered off the front of the break, and the Swiss rider was rejoined by his breakmates at 92km to go.
The break raced off again, taking a two-minute advantage onto the slopes of the Colle Giovo heading into the final 80km. Meanwhile, Movistar had started to work in the peloton.
Tarozzi unsurprisingly hit the front to take the intermediate sprint points on the way up, while back in the peloton, Movistar's work for their man Orluis Aular saw numerous sprinters, including Milan, Magnier, and Groenewegen, drop away.
The Spanish team's pace saw them catch the break before the top of the climb as Enric Mas led the way across the summit for nine mountain classification points.
Along with NSN Pro Cycling, they kept pushing on the Bric Berton climb as the sprinters dropped to a minute in arrears. Meanwhile, Mas grabbed another nine points over the top, taking him to sixth in the standings.
At 40km to go, the sprinters' group had shed 1:30 to the peloton, with it looking a struggle for them to make it back before the finish. That gap continued to hold as EF Education-EasyPost joined in the pacemaking on the descent, and heading onto the flat and into the final 25km, it remained at 1:10.
By that point, it looked to be over for the sprinters, with Pascal Ackermann (Jayco-AlUla), Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Casper van Uden (Picnic-PostNL) also out the back along with Milan, Magnier, and Groenewegen. They'd only lose more time on the run to the finish, leaving the peloton to contest the win.
The Red Bull Kilometre, lying 13km from the finish, brought some action at the front of the peloton as maglia rosa Eulálio jumped clear at the front to grab six bonus seconds. Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) followed him for four seconds, while Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost) finished third for two.
One final lump in the road, 7km from the line, saw Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) put in a dig at the front with Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) going with him. Visma-Lease a Bike quickly shut the move down, though, and the Dutch team continued to work leading the way into the final 5km.
Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) spotted his chance to take a flyer 3.5km out, the Belgian time triallist racing clear as the peloton hit Novi Ligure. With no reaction from Visma-Lease a Bike, Segaert opened up a good gap, while Fabio Van den Bossche (Soudal-QuickStep) went solo in the chase at 2km to go.
Tudor and then Uno-X Mobility took it up in the chase, catching Van den Bossche in the process. They wouldn't make up enough ground on Segaert, though, with the Belgian having enough power in the legs to time trial to the line and score a memorable victory.
Results
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