France’s Julian Alaphilippe held off the chasing pack after an enormous breakaway to assert his first win of the Giro d’Italia with victory in stage 12.
The 193km route from Martinsicuro to Fano featured sufficient climbs to disclaim the sprinters the prospect to catch Alaphilippe, who broke away from a big main group with greater than 100km to go.
The Soudal-Quick Step rider, 31, who got here near profitable stage six however was crushed on the road by Pelayo Sanchez, joined the preliminary break of 40 riders earlier than powering away from the pack alongside Italian Mirco Maestri.
The Polti-Kometa rider ran out of steam with 15km remaining as Alaphilippe moved to the entrance alone.
Quinten Hermans and Jhonatan Narvaez started closing in however the Frenchman had sufficient resolve to cross the road first, with Narvaez ending in entrance of Hermans to take second.
Tadej Pogacar, in the meantime, completed within the peloton to retain the general chief’s pink jersey.
“I all the time believed I might win however till the final kilometres I needed to push full fuel. The chasers have been shut behind me,” Alaphilippe mentioned.
“It was my dream to win a stage on the Giro d’Italia. It makes me actually glad. It’s an necessary win for me after tough instances,” Alaphilippe mentioned.