Dhe German professional cyclist Nico Denz celebrated his first win of the season at the 106th Giro d’Italia and at the same time the greatest success of his career to date. The 29-year-old teammate of Lennard Kämna from the Bora-hansgrohe team held his own on the 185-kilometer course between Bra and Rivoli on Thursday ahead of Toms Skujins from Latvia and Sebastian Berwick from Australia.
After Pascal Ackermann’s success the day before, it is the second stage win by a German driver at this year’s Tour of Italy. In the overall standings, Kämna defended sixth place, the Briton Geraint Thomas remains in the lead. “That’s very big for me,” said Denz after the race. He is super proud.
“There were only monsters”
Originally he wasn’t supposed to drive as a breakaway, but then he got the green light. “When I looked around, there were only monsters, only big riders,” he added. On the section, which has two higher stops and a mostly flat middle section in between, Denz was part of a four-man lead group for a long time, which later reduced to three. In the end he didn’t let his two pursuers take away his victory.
Australian Kaden Groves, winner of stage five, had to leave the Tour of Italy during the race due to gastrointestinal problems. Frenchman Mikaël Cherel and Belgian Harm Vanhoucke also finished this year’s Giro. Tao Geoghegan Hart, who was third overall at the time, fell the day before and sustained a hip fracture. In the morning, Italian Alessandro Covi, who was also involved in this crash and was injured, announced the end of the tour.
Before the twelfth stage, in addition to Covi, 36 other drivers had already retired from the tour after injuries and illnesses. Among them the big favorite for overall victory, Remco Evenepoel, who dropped out on Sunday because of a positive corona test. On Friday, the professionals have to master the 199-kilometer course on the 13th stage between Borgofranco d’Ivrea and Crans-Montana in Switzerland. However, the route had been shortened due to fresh snow and the risk of avalanches.
