It was a rain-soaked day for stage 12 in the 98th Giro d’Italia on Thursday but the soggy weather did nothing to dampen the excitement of the racing. In the final kilometer with the climb to the finish, attacks came over and over before BMC’s Philippe Gilbert managed to get away to earn the victory after 4:22.50.

“It was a hard and very dangerous stage with all these climbs in the end, rain and downhills with lot of crashes. For us the main thing was to have Iurii Trofimov in the main group for the final and he was able to stay with the pink jersey group until the end. Iurii did a good race.  Tomorrow will be a plain stage while we already think about the ITT on Saturday,” said team director Dmitry Konyshev.

Race leader Alberto Contador sprinted in for second place, claiming the six second time bonus and widening his general classification lead to Fabio Aru (Astana) who suffered on the last pitch. Contador now leads the GC by 17-seconds to Aru, with Mikel Landa in third place at 55-seconds. Iurii Trofimov is still 15th, +3.32.

Stage 12 began in Imola and ended in Vicenza on Monte Berico after 190 km of racing. An early break of 5 riders was brought back early in the rain, as the peloton tackled the climbs all stacked in the last part of the route. Despite starting the stage in the sunshine, by the time the climbs were on hand, the rain was coming down and road debris was causing mechanicals and crashes all the way to the finish in Vincenza.

With riders up the road, BMC took control from the front and Gilbert sprinted away in the closing meters, shutting down a last effort from Kangert of Astana. Contador was second at 3-seconds and Diego Ulissi in third at the same time. Racing continues on Friday with Stage 13. The stage begins in Montecchio Maggiore and ends in Jesolo at 147 km.