Giro d'Italia: Fernando Gaviria claims 12th stage bunch sprint.

The Colombian rider of Quick-Step Floors claimed another win in the Giro d’Italia. Jakub Mareczko (Willier Triestina) and Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) complete the podium. The GC remains unchanged and Tom Dumoulin is still in pink. However, the blue jersey of the King of Mountain is now on Omar Fraile (DDD)’s shoulders.

Gaviria wins for the third time in this Giro 2017! The Quick-Step sprinter came out of Richeze’s wheel 75m before the finish line and his explosivity made the difference.

1km Lotto Soudal and Quick-Step Floors are now fighting with Bora-Hansgrohe to lead the peloton and launch their sprinter in the best conditions.

3km Bora-Hansgrohe is stretching the bunch for Sam Bennett. They are fulling trusting Sam Bennett, who won a stage in Paris-Nice in 2017.

The final turn of the stage will be 350m far from the finish line. The sprinters will have to be in the first positions if they want to win the stage.

7km Both Movistar and FDJ are riding in front. They want their leaders Quintana and Pinot to avoid an eventual crash in the final kilometers.

9km The Canadian Svein Tuft (Orica-Scott) is pushing on to stretch the peloton and catch Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF).

13km Maestri escapes attacks Marcato and Firsanov! The Italian is now alone in front of the race, with a 20″ advantage on the bunch.

15km Puncture for Max Richeze (Quick-Step Floors)! Gaviria’s lead man will have to push hard to come back in the peloton and help the Colombian to win for the third time in the Giro 2017.

16km Who will be the fastest sprinter today?

19km The breakaway, composed of Marcato (UAE Team Emirates), Firsanov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) and Maestri (Bardiani-CSF) has an advantage of 40″ on the Maglia Rosa group. They are leading the race for 210km.

23km The Team Dimension Data has 6 riders in front of the peloton. The South African team is led by Sam Bennett, the Irish sprinter. Bennett was close of the win in the fifth stage in Messina, where he claimed third place.

25.4km The gap is maintained around 1’15” as the peloton was going through a few technical turns.

33km The Italian sprinter Roberto Ferrari will sprint for the win in Reggio Emilia. He will hopefully bring to UAE Team Emirates another victory in the Giro after Jan Polanc won on Mount Etna. The team, which was called Lampre-Merida last year is now registered in the United Arab Emirates, and not in Italy anymore.

37km The gap is between the breakaway and the Maglia Rosa group is currently 2’13”.

40km Do you remember the funny image of the tenth stage when Campenaerts (LottoNL-Jumbo) had a message to share?

The breakaway is losing time.

47km Yesterday was a busy day for Tom Dumoulin and the Team Sunweb. Today’s stage is very calm so far for the Dutchman.

52.5km The peloton is accelerating, a tiny 3’30” margin is separating them from the breakaway, which includes Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates), Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF) and Sergey Firsanov (Gazprom-Rusvelo).

60km The cars better move soon, the pace is faster and faster as the riders approach the end of the stage.

65km Bora-Hansgrohe is now helping Lotto Soudal, Quick-Step Floors, Orica-Scott to chase the breakaway.

66km Fernando Gaviria is the big favorite for the stage win of this 12th stage. The bookmakers gave him a 6/4 stake. The other favorites are :

Ewan: 21/10

Greipel: 13/5

Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe): 9/2

The big stake today will be Roberto Ferrari (UAE Team Emirates): 50/1

The Italian rider is always close to the win and he will aim a first Italian win in the 2017 Giro.

69km At the second intermediate sprint in Sasso Marconi, Maestri crosses the line first in front of Marcato and Firsanov. The peloton passed on the line 4’30” behind the breakaway and Gaviria claimed the fourth place to increase his lead in the points classification.

74km Alongside with André Greipel and Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott), who both won one stage in this Giro 2017, Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) will be the other favorite for the win today. The Colombian sprinter of 22 years of age has won two stages so far in this Giro.

78km André Greipel has won Stage 12 last year in the Giro d’Italia. Premonitory?

80km The peloton is reducing the gap, slowly but surely. Marcato (UAE Team Emirates), Maestri (Bardiani-CSF) and Firsanov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) have an advantage of 4’59” on the peloton.

88km Other teams have joined Lotto Soudal in front of the Maglia Rosa Group! And the gap directly goes down. 5’27 of advance for the three men in front.

89km Double puncture for Tejay Van Garderen (BMC). The American, who completely missed his Giro so far, should be back in the peloton in a few kilometers.

93.2km The peloton is led by Lotto-Soudal, André Greipel’s team. The Belgian formation is maintaining the gap of 5’50” with the leaders of the race, Marcato, Maestri and Firsanov. The “Gorilla” Greipel will aim a second stage win in this Giro (he won Stage 2 in Sardinia).

94.9km The three riders in front of the race just went off the motorway as the gap with the bunch is now 5’46”.

105km The weather is still beautiful on the Italian roads.

113km Over the second and last climb of the day, the Valico Appeninico (cat.3), Maestri takes the points in front of Marcato and Firsanov. About 4 minutes later, Fraile is the first of the Maglia Rosa group (the peloton) to cross the KOM sprint, in front of Polanc once again. The Spaniard will lead the KOM classification tonight in Reggio Emilia. The Dimension Data rider will have an advantage of three points on Jan Polanc.

116km Earlier today in the first climb, the Colla di Casaglia (cat.2), Firsanov was the first to cross the top of the difficulty, in front of Maestri and Marcato. Six minutes later, the peloton passed at the top and Omar Fraile (DDD) sprinted to take 4 points, in front of Polanc who picked up 2 points.

124km The riders just joined a motorway as they are heading to the second climb of the day, the VAlico Appeninico.

130km Marcato won the unique intermediate sprint of the day in Barberino del Mugello. Maestri and Firsanov came in second and third. The leader of the points classification, Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) sprinted to claim fourth place and some extra points when the peloton passed the intermediate line, 4′ after the breakaway.

215km Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates) and Sergey Firsanov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) attacked early in the stage. Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF) joined the two riders later in the stage. Maestri struggled for a while, riding alone between the leaders of the race and the peloton, before finally joining Marcato and Firsanov.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia 2017. This stage is the longest of this year’s Giro (229km). It will be a long day on the road for the riders after yesterday’s hard stage, won by the Spanish rider Omar Fraile (DDD) after a fantastic breakaway.