Stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia leads riders north with the opening section along the Adriatic coastline from the start in Martinsicuro and 193km later will deliver the goods in Fano, which is ripe for a breakaway on Thursday. The first 50km are flat, and when the course veers inland at Fontespina, there are a series of unrelenting small climbs that build to the crescendo back on the coast.
The second day in the second week of the Italian Grand Tour has been compared to a route from the 2021 Tirreno-Adriatico by race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who said the string of 10 short, very punchy late climbs reminded him of a day at the 2021 Tirreno-Adriatico, one where Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rode a solo breakaway to a spectacular victory.
