Giro d’Italia stage 12 LIVE: Paul Magnier and Jonathan Milan fighting to re-join the peloton for anticipated reduced bunch sprint

Movistar lead the peloton over the climb, with Mas, Rubio and Milesi all still there to help Aular.

2026-05-21T14:08:35.240Z

Magnier is over 50 seconds behind.

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Milan is really struggling on these steep gradients near the summit though. He’s over 30 seconds adrift.

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Milan is losing ground, though he has Sobrero with him.

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Now Milan is beginning to get distanced.

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Only 1km left till the summit.

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Milan is 5th from last in the peloton.

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Magnier isn’t giving up, and has a teammate to help him, but is up against it if he’s to make it back even with a lot of road between the summit and the finish.

2026-05-21T14:03:26.086Z

Van Uden is dropped.

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This could be an oppertunity for Milan to make gains in the points classification as well as go for the stage, but he too looks close to the brink.

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Magnier is dropped again, 2.7km from the top!

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Magnier is also drifting back now.

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Milan is labouring and drifting towards the back of the peloton.

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Movitar have allies in NSN, who have joined them at the front. Their sprinter Strong is still there.

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They’re on the climb now, Movitar still setting the pace.

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One rider Movistar don’t have to help is Javier Romo. It’s just been announced that he has abandoned.

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Movistar piling on the pressure on the previous climb. Mas, Rubio and Milessi are still there to do the same on the next climb.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Milan and Magnier might be back for now, but they have another climb coming up very soon to survive. It’s a hard one, too, averaging 5.9% for 5.5km.

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More riders return to the peloton, including, it seems, Magnier.

2026-05-21T13:52:10.730Z

Some of the riders from the dropped group have made it back into the peloton, including Milan.

Not Magnier though, who is still chasing.

Van der Lee made it to the top of the climb still clear to claim the KOM points.

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Mihkels is also in this dropped group.

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Van Uden and Vernon are also in this group with Milan and Magnier that have been dropped.

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They’re near the summit, can they get back on?

2026-05-21T13:46:46.531Z

Magnier and Milan have both been dropped!

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Van der Lee still remains out in front though, with a lead of 5 seconds.

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The break’s been caught, just as they near the summit.

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Ackermann is the latest sprinter to be dropped.

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Milesi and Rubio are the two Movistar riders working with Mas for Aular.

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Van der Lee has attacked out of the breakaway.

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All the work is being done by Movistar, who have no less than Enric Mas setting the pace, with three more teammates waiting behind him.

Meanwhile the break’s days look numbered once again, with a lead of just 20 seconds.

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There’s only 2.5km ’till they get to the summit, but there’s another climb coming shortly afterwards.

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Magnier and Milan are still safely in the peloton, for now.

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That’s grim news for the Rose Rockets, considering how much work they did earlier in the stage.

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Groenewegen is dropped! He’s surrounded by four teammates, but faces a big task to get back on now.

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Ganna has been dropped.

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Now the damage is being done – Andresen is dropped!

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No sprinters have been dropped by Movistar’s pace yet, but the break’s lead has been slashed to under a minute already.

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Tarozzi has just taken the points at the intermediate sprint. There will be no sprint among the Maglia Ciclamino contenders in the peloton, with the break taking them all.

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The break now has a lead of just over two minutes, as they just start the first of the day’s two climbs.

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Afonso Eulálio, enjoying yet another day in pink.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Lotto, Unibet and Groupama are the new teams represented in the break, all teams that have struggled at this Giro so far and remain winless.

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Once again, it’s Soudal and the Rose Rockets leading the peloton.

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The peloton has indeed sat up. This new break is 1:30 up the road.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

It seems things are calming down again. The (new) break has about 40 seconds over the peloton, who seem to be happy with it.

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So we almost have the same personnel as the original break, only with Johan Jacobs, Fredrik Dversnes Lavik and Jonas Rutsch in place of López and Bais.

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Those 6 riders have all come together, and everyone else appears to have been caught by the peloton again.

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Geens and Van der Lee are chasing Jacobs, and behind them are Tarozzi, Rutsch and Dversnes.

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The break aren’t working together, and they’ve now started attacking each other. The first to do so is Jacobs, just as he did at the very start of the day.

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40 seconds is their lead.

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This is developing into an increasingly unusual stage.

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A lot of these riders are teammates of sprinters, and therefore not doing any work. Will this new break be cohesive enough to stay clear?

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The other riders who had already made it into the group earlier: Stuyven, Kubis, Van den Bossche, Pedersen, Teutenberg, Svestad-Bårdseng

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6 more riders join the leaders – Rutsch, De Vries, Sobrero, Naesen and Bayer and another.

35 seconds for the lead group, made up of the five original escapees plus about five others. There are several more riders in between trying to join them, too.

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This is some turn up for the books!

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Those riders have caught the five leaders, and are now 30 seconds ahead of the peloton.

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They’ve got a big gap too.

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There’s some big names here too, including Ganna and Stuyven.

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8 riders have gone clear, and more are following.

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It’s kicking off again in the peloton, with new attacks being made!

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The gap’s actually coming down again, to just 45 seconds.

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The peloton won’t want to catch them so early, as that would open things up for another round of attacks to form a new – and potentially more dangerous – breakaway.

The relaxation in pace is yet to show in the time gap, which remains at one minute. The breakaway riders themselves are taking it easy, perhaps as a means to threaten the peloton with sitting up going back into the peloton, unless they’re given a bigger advantage. It’s an interesting game of brinkmanship.

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A development in the peloton – they’ve stopped chasing. The gap had come back to within a minute, and they seem to fear making the catch too early.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Last but not least, Jardi Christiaan van der Lee is the fifth and final member of the break. He’s another rider who loves to get up the road, having featured in several World Tour breakaways earlier this season, and is doing the work for EF as they continue to chase an elusive stage win at this race.

1:15 is the break’s lead as they continue to work together.

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Bais’ breakaway companion, Manuele Tarozzi, is likely to be a rival in that super-combativity award, having been in almost as many breakaways, including even the Bulgaria stages where nobody wanted to be up the road.

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Mattia Bais is the day’s Team Polti representative in the break, as he has been in almost every stage since the race reached Italy. At this rate, he’ll surely be in the running for the super-combativity award.

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There’s no surprise to see an Alpecin rider in the break. They’ve desperately needed to rethink their approach at this Giro since the abandonment of leader and sprinter Kaden Groves. Today, it’s up to Jonas Geens to do the unlikely and help this break succeed.

The gap is at least no longer coming down. The peloton are keeping them pinned at 1:15.

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The five riders in the day’s break.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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It’s curious to see the peloton chasing so hard, as on paper this break doesn’t look especially threatening, especially compared with those from previous stages.

Arguably the biggest name here is former Maglia Rosa wearer Juan Pedro López, although he would have preferred hillier terrain than this. Even his Movistar team didn’t seem convinced by his presence in the break, as they tried to get their other rider Milesi in it too.

The peloton are bringing the brea back already, which is now just 1:07 ahead. Surely they won’t want to make the catch early?

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Despite having parcours seeming so finely poised between the break and the sprinter, this stage is looking firmly in the advantage of the latter.

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The riders are hardly taking it easy though, despite these pleasant roads. The peloton are keeping the break at a stingy margin of just a minute and a half.

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Those climbs aren’t for a while yet. Before then the riders get to enjoy another 60km of flat roads.

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What’s interesting is which teams are doing the pace-setting. As expected, Sodal QuickStep are doing some of the work, for their two-stage winner Paul Magnier. But they’re also being aided by Unibet Rose Rockets, whose sprinter Dylan Groenewegen is one of the names you’d expect to struggle to stay in contention on the climbs.

The break’s been allowed 1:55, but already some sprinter teams have started riding tempo in the peloton to control them.

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The scene at the start earlier.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The gap’s growing still, now up to 1:30. That’s likely to be too big for anybody who has missed this break to bridge up to it now.

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The pace is off in the peloton and no more attacks are forthcoming. It looks like we might have our break of the day.

Those five have 45 seconds on the peloton, while the counters behind have all been neutralised.

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Tarozzi was the Bardiani rider, and he’ joined the four leaders – Bais, Van der Lee, Geens and Juan Pedro López.

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It’s not over yet though – several more are trying attacks.

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It’s all bunched up at the front of the peloton again, but a Bardiani rider has managed to escape through the block.

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A new group of four has gone up the road.

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And now those 6 have been caught.

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You might have thought the sprinters’ teams would be happy with such a small group, but they’re being chased down.

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Those other three riders are Cavagna, Mifsud and Tarozzi.

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The two chasers have caught Jacobs, along with 3 more riders

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Jacobs is sill leading the race by himself, with Maestri and Dversnes Lavik chasing behind.

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We’re entering good territory to form a break now, as the road is going a little uphill.

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Fredrik Dversnes Lavik is one of those riders, and he’s bridged up to Maestri.

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Already lots of other attacks have defied that attempted block and made new moves.

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There was an attempt to block the road at the front of the peloton by teams not wanting anyone other than these two riders in the break, but that’s very unlikely to happen on a route like today’s.

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He’s marked though, and instead Maestri counter attacks.

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UAE are in the mood again – Bjerg attacks out of the peloton.

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The others have been caught, but Jacobs remains out front.

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He’s joined by Garcia Cortina, Maestri, and a Bardiani rider.

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As was the case yesterday, Groupama begin the attacks with a move from Jacobs.

And they’re off!

2026-05-21T11:20:14.786Z

Here’s more on Van Eetvelt’s abandon, that has left the struggling Lotto with just four riders left in the race.