Giro d’Italia: Fernando Gaviria powers to hat-trick of stage victories

Fernando Gaviria sprinted to victory on stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia on what proved another disappointing day for Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas.

Quick-Step’s Gaviria burst clear at the end of the Giro’s longest stage to claim his third win ahead of Jakub Mareczko (Wilier-Triestina) and Ireland’s Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe). It was another impressive performance from the Colombian Gaviria, a former two-time omnium world champion on the track, who is competing in the first Grand Tour of his career.

There was no change at the top of the overall standings with Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin preserving his 2min 23sec lead over Movistar’s Nairo Quintana, with Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) in third. But Thomas, whose overall chances were effectively wiped out by a major crash on Sunday, lost another 48sec on the leaders and now lies in 15th place, six minutes and 46sec back.

Gazprom-RusVelo’s Sergey Firsanov led an early breakaway on the stage which at one point reached more than six-and-a-half minutes before the Italian Mirco Maestri went solo. Maestri maintained his advantage until he was swallowed by the peloton with around seven kilometres remaining, handing a predominantly flat and unremarkable stage over to the sprinters.

Bennett did his best to better the two third places he has already achieved in this year’s race but ultimately it was Gaviria who blazed home as the Colombian continues to impress.

Stage 12 results (Forli to Reggio Emilia, 229km)

1) Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step) 5hr 18min 55sec. 2) Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina) ST. 3) Sam Bennett (Bora). 4) Phil Bauhaus (Sunweb). 5) Maximiliano Richeze (Quick-Step). 6) Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data). 7) Sacha Modolo (UAE Team Emirates). 8) André Greipel (Lotto). 9) Jasper Stuyven (Trek). 10) Roberto Ferrari (UAE Team Emirates).

General classification

1) Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) 52hr 41min 8sec. 2) Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +2:23”. 3) Bauke Mollema (Trek) +2:38”. 4) Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) +2:40”. 5) Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain) +2:47”. 6) Andrey Amador (Movistar) +3:05”. 7) Bob Jungels (Quick-Step) +3:56”. 8) Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) +3:59”. 9) Tanel Kangert (Astana). 10) Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) +4:17”.