Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol) claimed the biggest victory of his career on stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia. Here’s how it happened…
Euskaltel-Euskadi’s riders look a relaxed bunch before the start of the stage.
Riders got the pink carpet treatment before rolling out for the 155km stage from Seravezza to Sestri Levante.
Not a bad looking machine, eh?
A strong break went clear 40km into the stage.
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 slip away.
Sandy Casar (FDJ-BigMat) was the best placed of the escapees, four minutes and one second down on overall leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) at the start of the day.
Bak was distanced by Casar, Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing) and Andrey Amador (Movistar) on the final climb but the escape group came back together on the technical decent.
The peloton ramped up the pace on the run-in to Sestri Levante.
Bak attacked his breakaway companions in the final two kilometres to solo to victory.
Casar won the sprint for second to earn a valuable 12-second time bonus…
…but the peloton closed the gap in the final few kilometres to keep Rodriguez in the maglia rosa, although Casar moved up to third overall.
Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) continues to lead the points classification.
