Lars Baks (Lotto-Belisol) attacked his breakaway companions on stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia to solo to victory in Sestri Levante.
The Dane, who has earned a reputation as a rider willing to attack in the closing stages of a race, went clear with less than two kilometres to the finish to claim his first individual win since 2009.
Sandy Casar (FDJ-BigMat) won the sprint for second from the remaining escapees to earn a 12-second time bonus but the peloton closed the gap on the break in the final few kilometres to keep Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) in the maglia rosa.
A nine-man break went clear 40km into the 155km stage, which included a category four climb just 12km from the finish before a technical descent and flat run-in to the line.
With nine days since the last rest day and a lumpy profile which included four categorised climbs, the peloton were content to let the escapees gradually build a lead of more than seven minutes which, with less than 40km to go, meant the stage winner would come from the break.
Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) attacked the group on the category two Valico La Mola to summit the climb first and soon opened a small gap over his fellow escapees.
Casar was the best placed rider in the break, 4:01 minutes behind race leader Rodriguez at the start of the day, but it was Lampre-ISD and Liquigas-Cannondale, rather than Rodriguez’s Katusha team, who took to the front to reduce the break’s advantage to around the four minute mark.
Golas was caught on the final climb as the escapees began to attack each other, reducing the lead group to Casar, Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing), Andrey Amador (Movistar) at the summit, until most of the group came back together on the fast, twisting descent.
With a chance at moving into the overall lead, Casar was keen to push the pace along but, with a comfortable advantage over the peloton, his fellow escapees were content at playing cat and mouse with the stage victory in mind.
Bak, who attacked on the final lap of the 2011 World Road Race Championships in his native Denmark, spotted his opportunity and jumped from the front of the group to claim his first individual Grand Tour stage victory, having previously won team time trials at the Giro and Vuelta a Espana.
Casar beat Amador to the sprint for second before all eyes turned to the clock to see who would end the day in the maglia rosa, but the peloton upped the pace over the final kilometres to cross the line 3:34 minutes in arrears, leaving Rodriguez in pink for another day, with Casar moving up to third in the general classification.
Giro d’Italia stage 12 – result
1) Lars Ytting Bak (DEN) – Lotto-Belisol – 3:58:55 hours
2) Sandy Casar (FRA) – FDJ-Big Mat +11″
3) Andrey Amador (CRC) Movistar – same time
4) Jan Bakelants (BEL) – RadioShack-Nissan-Trek
5) Ivan Santaromita (ITA) – BMC Racing
6) Jackson Rodriguez (VEN) – Androni Giocattoli
7) Amets Txurruka (SPA) – Euskaltel-Euskadi
8) Martijn Keizer (NED) – Vacansoleil-DCM +43″
9) Michal Golas (POL) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep +48″
10) Juan Antonio Flecha (SPA) – Team Sky +3’34”
General classification
1) Joaquim Rodriguez (SPA) – Katusha 51:19:08 hours
2) Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) – Garmin-Barracuda +17″
3) Sandy Casar (FRA) – FDJ-Big Mat +26″
4) Paolo Tiralongo (ITA) – Astana +32″
5) Ivan Santaromita (ITA) – BMC Racing +49″
6) Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Astana +52″
7) Benat Intxausti (SPA) – Movistar – same time
8) Ivan Basso (ITA) – Liquigas-Cannondale +57″
9) Damiano Caruso (ITA) – Liquigas-Cannondale +1’02”
10) Dario Cataldo (ITA) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep +1’03”
