The 102nd Giro d’Italia has served up plenty of talking points in its first 12 stages. After winning the first of three Individual Time Trials in Bologna, Primož Roglič of Team Jumbo-Visma held the first Maglia Rosa until the GC table was shaken up by a breakaway on Stage 6. The Slovenian showed his form again on the second ITT (34.8km into San Marino), moving up to second, 1:50 behind the Maglia Rosa, but importantly with an increased advantage over his main GC rivals, 1:44 to the nearest threat, Nibali.

The overall standings were shaken up on Stage 12, a break triggering splintered groups and some unexpected names hitting the top 10. Roglic is still in second, now more than 4 minutes down – maintaining his advantage over his recognised GC rivals.

STAGE WINS

We saw an impressive win for Richard Carapaz of Movistar Team on Stage 4, the Ecuadorian climber dancing away from a high class breakaway bunch to claim his second Grand Tour stage victory. It was soon followed by a podium on Stage 6 for his team-mate José Rojas who sits in fourth on GC. Both remain dedicated to their Spanish team leader Mikel Landa who has work to do as the climbing starts.

The next day it was the turn of AG2R La Mondiale’s Tony Gallopin to step up on the podium, taking second place from the remnants of a brave breakaway in an exciting finish in l’Aquila. Meanwhile, his team-mate and fellow Frenchman Nans Peters was riding high, third on GC and looking good in the Maglia Bianca of the best young rider until Stage 12’s breakaway and overall reshuffle.

We’ve seen Team Ineos’ young lead duo – Pavel Sivakov and Tao Geoghegan Hart – holding station on the GC despite getting caught in crashes, and their more experienced team-mate Christian Knees making a late break ahead of the sprint finish on Stage 11 into Novi Ligure before 22-year-old Irishman Eddie Dunbar’s brilliant performance to take third place on Stage 12.

NEXT, THE MOUNTAINS

There’s a lot of climbing this week. On today’s Stage 13 the climbing keeps on coming with three hard KOMs, while Saturday’s Stage 14 features five KOMs and a total elevation of 4,000m culminating in the summit finish of Courmayeur.

Sunday’s stage is the longest. Its 237km from Ivrea to the shores of Lake Como includes ascents familiar from Il Lombardia: Madonna del Ghisallo, Colma di Sormano, Civiglio and San Fermo.

Monday 27 May is the second rest day of the 102nd Corsa Rosa, before the climbing continues ahead of the final day’s concluding time trial in Verona.