Giro d’Italia: Nico Denz wins stage 12, Geraint Thomas maintains overall lead

Nico Denz crosses the line to win Stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia

Nico Denz secured his first Grand Tour stage victory as he won stage 12 at the Giro d’Italia.

Just three seconds separated the front three as the German finished in front of Latvia’s Toms Skujins with Australian Sebastian Berwick third.

Britain’s Geraint Thomas retains a two-second lead in the overall standings.

It was an incident-free 185km stage following Wednesday’s crash, in which Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart sustained a fractured hip.

The pressure on the leaders will increase on Friday as the Giro enters the Alps for the first time this year.

Thursday’s stage opened in Bra, around 45km south of Turin, as riders observed a minute’s silence for the victims of devastating floods across the country.

For a stage which favours the breakaway group, it was not a brilliant start by early leaders Davide Formolo and Marco Frigo, who took a wrong turn on a roundabout.

Approaching the 8.3% climb of the Colle Braida, the trio of Denz, Skujins and Berwick dug deep to stay close to each other.

With 10km to go, Denz sped away, forcing Skujins to up the pace. Berwick initially struggled, but the trio were reunited heading into the narrow streets of Rivoli and the finish line.

Denz, 29, was less than a second ahead of Latvia’s Skujins but held his nerve to become the second German stage winner in two days.