Tour of Italy - "This is very big": Nico Denz wins 12th stage of the Giro

German professional cyclist Nico Denz has celebrated his first win of the season at the 106th Giro d'Italia and the biggest success of his career to date.

The 29-year-old team colleague of Lennard Kämna from Team Bora-hansgrohe came out on top on the 185 kilometre course between Bra and Rivoli ahead of Latvian Toms Skujins and Australian Sebastian Berwick. After Pascal Ackermann's success the day before, this is the second stage win for a German rider in this year's Italian tour. Kämna defended his sixth place in the overall standings, while British rider Geraint Thomas remains the leader.

"This is very big for me," said Denz after the race. He was super proud. Originally he wasn't supposed to ride as a breakaway, but then he was given the green light. "When I looked around me, there were only monsters, only big riders," he added. On the section with two higher stops and a predominantly flat centre section in between, Denz was part of a four-man lead group for a long time, which was later reduced to three. In the end, he was able to hold on to victory ahead of his two pursuers.

Many failures

Australian Kaden Groves, winner of the fifth stage, had to withdraw from the Italian tour during the race due to gastrointestinal complaints. Frenchman Mikaël Cherel and Belgian Harm Vanhoucke also finished this year's Giro. The day before, Tao Geoghegan Hart, who was third overall at the time, had crashed and suffered a hip fracture. In the morning, the Italian Alessandro Covi, who was also involved in this crash and injured, announced his end of the tour.

Before the 12th stage, 36 other riders besides Covi had already dropped out of the stage race due to injuries and illnesses. Among them was the big favourite for overall victory, Remco Evenepoel, who had already dropped out due to a positive corona test.

On Friday, the pros have to tackle the 199-kilometre course on the 13th stage between Borgofranco d'Ivrea and Crans-Montana in Switzerland. However, the route had been shortened due to fresh snow and the risk of avalanches.

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