For a week, the sprinters had to toil their way through the 2026 Giro d'Italia without having a chance of winning a stage. Hills, mountains and a time trial characterised the route of the Tour of Italy. The 12th stage with the finish in Novi Ligure, on the other hand, was once again chosen for the sprinters. At least on paper. Because in reality, two shorter mountains in the middle of the race proved to be too difficult for many sprinters.
Segaert chooses the ideal time for his attack
The stage win after 175 kilometres ultimately went to the Belgian Alec Segaert (Bahrain - Victorious), who attacked from a bend three kilometres before the finish and then showed off his time trial qualities. The other teams in the decimated group of sprinters reacted too late to catch Segaert again. Second place went to Toon Aerts (Lotto-Intermarché) three seconds later ahead of Guillermo Silva (XDS Astana Team).
The stage initially ran back along the Ligurian Sea and then followed the route from Milan to Sanremo for a few kilometres, albeit in the opposite direction. The course was mostly flat, apart from two category 3 climbs at the beginning of the last third of the stage. However, these climbs ultimately proved too difficult for most of the sprinters, including Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet - Rose Rockets), Jonathan Milan (Lidl - Trek), Pascal Ackermann (Team Jayco AlUla), Casper van Uden (Team Picnic PostNL) and Paul Magnier (Soudal - Quick-Step).
Front runner Eulálio secures bonus seconds
In the overall standings, Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) won the sprint at the Red Bull kilometre eleven kilometres from the finish ahead of Ben O'Connor (Team Jayco AlUla). He thus secured six bonus seconds for the classification. He now leads the overall standings by 33 seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike). He is followed by Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS, +2:03 minutes) and Felix Gall (Decathlon - CMA CGM, +2:30 minutes).
Giro d'Italia 2026 - Results of the 12th stage
Stage 12: Imperia - Novi Ligure
Giro d'Italia 2026: Stage 12, Imperia - Novi Ligure
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No results available yet
How the 12th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2026 went
After a few attacks, a quintet had formed after ten kilometres, consisting of Jonas Geens (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani-CSF), Jardi Van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Juan Pedro Lopez (Movistar) and Mattia Bais (Polti-Visit Malta). The group quickly built up a lead of 1:50 minutes over the peloton. But that was ultimately the maximum lead. In the peloton, Unibet Rose Rockets, Soudal-Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek soon increased the chase.
Accordingly, the gap was reduced to around 30 seconds in the meantime. With 100 kilometres to go, several riders took advantage of the situation to catch up with the leading group. A breakaway group of 20 riders briefly formed at the front, but the peloton did not let them go.
Jonas Rutsch briefly in the leading group
From then on, a new group formed, which again included Geens, Van der Lee and Tarozzi as well as Jonas Rutsch (Lotto-Intermarché) and Fredrik Dversnes Lavik (Uno-X Mobility). However, the escapees were not allowed much of a lead.
70 kilometres before the finish, the terrain became a little more challenging with the Colle Giovo climb (3rd category). Van der Lee secured the mountain points there. Shortly afterwards, however, the escape group was caught 67 kilometres before the finish.
Sprinters fall back and give up in the chase
On the climb, Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet - Rose Rockets), Jonathan Milan (Lidl - Trek), Pascal Ackermann (Team Jayco AlUla), Casper van Uden (Team Picnic PostNL) and Paul Magnier (Soudal - Quick-Step) also showed difficulties in following the pace of the peloton. Movistar in particular was active at the front of the peloton. Although the sprinters caught up again on the descent, they fell back again on the next climb a few kilometres later at the Passo Bric Berton (category 3).
This time there was a gap of 1:10 minutes 45 kilometres before the finish - the start of an exchange of blows between the peloton and the group with the most sprinters in the chase. The gap was always around 1:20 minutes. In the peloton, NSN Cycling Team and EF Eduaction EasyPost in particular pushed the pace. 15 kilometres before the finish, the sprinters gave up the chase.
On a short climb seven kilometres before the finish, Guilio Ciccone (Lidl - Trek) tried an unsuccessful attack. Another attack came from Alec Segaert (Bahrain - Victorious) in the last three kilometres - and he finally succeeded against a decimated sprinter field.
