Oldani had some pedigree as a versatile sprinter, but with Mathieu van der Poel in your team, opportunities to showcase that talent set are limited.
However on Stage 12, it was the Italian’s chance to shine as he attacked to join a move with 50 kilometres to go alongside Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) and Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma). The trio worked well to hold off a strong quartet of climbers on the final ascent of the stage and then on the descent and flat run to the finish where they would contest the win.
Oldani was the fastest in the final kilometre, covering a move from Leemreize before sprinting to the win ahead of Rota.
“It was not easy," said Oldani. "I knew Rota, he's my friend, I knew he was also fast so I had to watch out. For sure the other guy it was obvious he tried to anticipate. It was not so easy to manage but in the end I did it."
Oldani made his way into the move alongside teammates Oscar Riesbeek and Mathieu van der Poel after a very aggressive start to the race, with no team able to match the trio from the ProTour team.
"For sure he's crucial," Oldani said of van der Poel. "We knew already that if we were present with more than one in the break a lot of guys would be watching Mathieu and it was a good chance for the other guys. Today, we managed really well, we were the only team that had three. We did it.”
Australian Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Wilco Kelderman (BORA-Hansgrohe) were the big winners from a general classification perspective, moving up back into the fight for the general classification as they took just over eight minutes on the rest of the GC candidates on a day where the peloton wasn’t concerned with the action up the road.
It was a hard, aggressive start to racing with the peloton averaging over 53 km/hr for the first hour of the stage. The break was eventually formed at the 60km covered mark, 20 riders getting clear to form a large group including Australian Lucas Hamilton, Matteo Sobrero (BikeExchange-Jayco), Mathieu van der Poel, Oscar Riesebeek and Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Fenix), Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost), Gijs Leemreize and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Jumbo-Visma), Davide Ballerini (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Nico Denz (Team DSM), Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe), Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Rein Taaramäe and Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Michael Schwarzmann (Lotto Soudal), Valerio Conti (Astana Qazaqstan), Vincenzo Albanese (Eolo-Kometa), Will Barta (Movistar) and Simone Consonni (Cofidis).
Rota attacked with just over 50 kilometres to go, making the most of a lacklustre tempo in the breakaway on the penultimate climb of La Colletta to sneak off the front of the race. That saw a response from the group with Oldani and Leemreize forming a chase of Rota, making contact with the Italian just over the top of the climb.
They extended their lead out to just over a minute on the chasers, with the peloton firmly out of the calculations for the race win at this point, six minutes behind.
Lucas Hamilton led the charge from the chasing group on the finale categorised ascent of the day, setting a fearsome tempo up the Valico di Trensasco, shedding most of the rest of the breakaway. Only Mollema and Kelderman were able to keep pace, along with Buitrago who had been trying to bridge solo from the bottom of the climb.
They crested the climb with a 39-second disadvantage on the leaders, with Mollema trying to close the gap further on the descent and the flat with 30 kilometres to the finish from the peak of the climb.
However, the trio of riders at the front cooperated well together and kept the chasers at bay. With the race to be decided between the front three, they engaged in some cat-and-mouse tactics in the final kilometre.
Leemreize swung off in the final corner to go to the rear of the group before immediately launching a surprise attack. The other pair were a bit slow to respond and Leemreize got a gap, but Oldani had the strength to shut the move down, with Rota joining him.
It then settled down into waiting for the sprint, Leemreize was the first to launch, but Oldani was awake to the acceleration and latched onto the Dutchman’s wheel before opening up and sprinting clear. Rota challenged but Oldani was the quickest and claimed the victory by half a bike length.
The Giro d'Italia continues on SBS with Stage 13, with some hard climbing until the mid-point of the stage, with a relatively plateau-like run to the finish from there. Watch from 9.10pm AEST on SBS On Demand, with the SBS broadcast starting from 11pm. WA viewers can watch from 9pm AWST on SBS VICELAND.
