The 2022 Giro d'Italia was the 105th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro began in Budapest on 6 May, and Stage 12 occurred on 19 May with a stage from Parma. The race finished in Verona on 29 May.
Classification standings Legend Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the winner of the combativity award
Stage 12 19 May 2022 — Parma to Genoa,
The twelfth stage featured a hilly parcours, with the riders heading from Parma to Genoa for the race's longest stage at . From the start of the stage, the riders went on a false flat uphill, passing through the intermediate sprint for points after , before going up the third-category Passo del Bocco. The Giro went back to the climb for the first time since Wouter Weylandt died after crashing on the climb's descent eleven years ago. Following the descent and a short flat section, the riders reached the intermediate sprint for bonus seconds with remaining. Shortly afterwards, the riders climbed the third-category La Colletta. The descent immediately led to the foot of the toughest climb of the day, the third-category Valico di Trensasco, a climb with an average gradient of 8 per cent. The climb was crested with left. After the descent, the rest of the stage was mostly flat.
Before the start of the stage, Caleb Ewan () announced that he was leaving the race to prepare for the upcoming Tour de France. A large fight for the break ensued during the initial kilometres. Multiple groups went up the road, but they were caught each time. At the intermediate sprint for points, with no break established yet, Arnaud Démare () took maximum points to extend his lead for the maglia ciclamino. Immediately after the sprint, a large group of 22 riders went off the front. At one point, a group containing Richard Carapaz () tried to bridge to the break but they were reeled back in. Alessandro De Marchi () and Dries De Bondt () also tried to bridge to the break but they were swept up. Eventually, the pair of Luca Covili and Davide Gabburo as well as Edoardo Zardini () were successful in their attempt to make it to the break, making it 25 riders up front. The highest placed GC rider in the break was Wilco Kelderman (), who was 11 minutes down. The peloton let their gap increase and they were content to let the break contest for the stage win.
The break worked together over the Passo del Bocco before safely negotiating the descent. On the climb of La Colletta, Lorenzo Rota () attacked from the break. Stefano Oldani () and Gijs Leemreize () chased him before eventually catching him to make it three leaders up front. On the descent, multiple riders tried to bridge up to the leading group, but the leaders maintained their advantage. The three leaders reached the foot of the last climb of the day, the Valico di Trensasco, with a lead of around a minute over the chasing group. As the chasers reached the climb, Santiago Buitrago () began to distance the group. The only chasers able to go with him were Lucas Hamilton (), Bauke Mollema (), and Kelderman. The four chasers managed to decrease the leaders' advantage to around half a minute at the top of the climb. Despite the best efforts of the chasers to reduce the advantage of the lead group, they never came close to making the catch, with the leaders' advantage going back up towards a minute. Inside the final kilometre, Leemreize made a late attack, but Oldani and Rota quickly reeled him back. Leemreize opened his sprint inside the final . Oldani and Rota went around him, with Oldani holding off Rota to take his first professional victory. The chasing group crossed the line at 57 seconds down while the peloton finished at just over nine minutes down. This meant that Kelderman rose to 13th on GC at just less than three minutes behind while Hamilton rose to 16th. Juan Pedro López () kept the maglia rosa as there were no changes in the top ten.
Stage 13 20 May 2022 — Sanremo to Cuneo,
The thirteenth stage featured the penultimate chance for the sprinters to take a win, with the riders tackling from Sanremo to Cuneo. After a flat start, the riders gradually went uphill before reaching the intermediate sprint for points after . Immediately afterwards, the riders tackled the only categorised climb of the day, the third-category Colle di Nava. The climb is long with an average gradient of 6.7 per cent, providing a chance for the riders to drop the pure sprinters. The climb was crested with remaining. The rest of the stage was mostly flat, apart from a few lumps on the way. The intermediate sprint for bonus seconds took place with left.
After of racing, a group of five riders was able to get up the road. The group contained Nicolas Prodhomme (), Filippo Tagliani (), Julius van den Berg (), Mirco Maestri (), and Pascal Eenkhoorn (). The break led by as much as three and a half minutes before the sprinters’ teams began to control the gap. Just before the riders reached the climb of Colle di Nava, news filtered through that Romain Bardet (), who sat in 4th on GC, abandoned the race. It was revealed that he got sick with stomach problems overnight and his condition did not improve. At the intermediate sprint for points, after the break took maximum points, Arnaud Démare (), the maglia ciclamino leader, led the peloton across to extend his lead in the points classification. On the climb, the peloton took it easy, with no sprinters getting dropped. This allowed the break to extend their lead to almost seven minutes. Up front, Tagliani was dropped on the climb, making it four riders left in the lead group.
After the climb, the sprinters' teams began to send riders to the front of the peloton. However, the break worked well together to prevent the peloton from reeling them in too quickly. With to go, the break still held a lead of around three minutes. Because of the peloton's pace, there was a split in the peloton but no GC contenders were caught out. The peloton slowly decreased the break's lead before finally making the catch inside the final kilometre. In the sprint, successfully led out Démare into a good position. Despite challenges from Phil Bauhaus (), Mark Cavendish (), and Fernando Gaviria (), Démare held them off to win his third stage in this year's Giro, further extending his lead in the points classification. Meanwhile, Juan Pedro López () extended his run in the maglia rosa to ten days. With Bardet's withdrawal, the riders below fourth on GC moved up one spot, with Alejandro Valverde () moving inside the top ten as a result.
Stage 14 21 May 2022 — Santena to Turin,
The fourteenth stage featured a mountainous parcours that took the riders from Santena to Turin. After a flat start and a few lumps, the riders tackled the third-category Il Pilonetto, which was crested after . Following an uncategorised hill, the riders climbed the uncategorised climb of Parco del Nobile for the first time before reaching the intermediate sprint for points with left. At this point, the riders entered two laps of a circuit where the riders tackled the second-category climb of Superga, the second-category climb of Colle della Maddalena, and the uncategorised climb of Parco del Nobile. Superga, a climb with an average gradient of 8.6 per cent, has featured in previous editions of Milano–Torino. Meanwhile, the climb of Colle della Maddalena is long with an average gradient of 8.1 per cent, with the first averaging 11.6 per cent. Each ascent of Superga and Colle della Maddalena were categorised. The riders reached the intermediate sprint for bonus seconds at the top of the third passage of Parco del Nobile with remaining before the riders descended towards the finish.
The first rider to get a gap following the stage's official start was Mathieu van der Poel (), but he was caught after a while. A furious fight for the break ensued, and no break was formed until after the first climb of Il Pilonetto. After the leader of the KOM classification, Diego Rosa (), took maximum points at the top, a group of 12 riders formed a break on the descent. initially controlled the gap, letting the break gain two and a half minutes, before lit up the peloton with a ferocious pace. The peloton immediately began to split with the pace, with the break being caught by the elite GC group just before the first climb of Superga. At one point, only Richard Carapaz () and Simon Yates () were able to follow , but most GC contenders would eventually bridge up to them, including the race leader, Juan Pedro López (). Contenders who were caught out included João Almeida (), Guillaume Martin (), Alejandro Valverde (), and Thymen Arensman (). Just before the climb of Superga, Valverde suffered a mechanical, losing even more time. On the climb, after some effort, only Almeida was successful in bridging up to the lead group. Meanwhile, Martin, Valverde, and Arensman would lose considerable time, losing somewhere from eight to ten and a half minutes on the day.
Towards the top of Superga, more riders would drop until only 12 riders remained up front. Wilco Kelderman () continued to set the pace in the group throughout the rest of the first lap, also taking maximum KOM points at the first passages of Superga and Colle della Maddalena. As the group climbed Superga for the second time, Jai Hindley () accelerated, taking with him Vincenzo Nibali (), Mikel Landa (), López, and Carapaz. Meanwhile, Almeida dragged Pello Bilbao (), Emanuel Buchmann (), Domenico Pozzovivo (), and Yates with him in the chase group, which slowly bridged up to the front group. The two groups merged with around left. Towards the top, the race leader, López, was unable to follow the pace. At around the same time, Carapaz attacked, building a lead of around 20 seconds towards the top of Superga. His lead hovered between 20 and 30 seconds until he reached the foot of Colle della Maddalena.
As the chase group climbed up the Colle della Maddalena for the second time, Nibali attacked, bringing Hindley with him while Yates chased after the two. Hindley would soon drop Nibali, eventually catching Carapaz with around left. Towards the top, Nibali and Yates caught the leading pair to make it four riders up front while only Almeida and Pozzovivo were left in the chase group. The pair came to within 12 seconds of catching the lead group, but they could not make the catch, with Pozzovivo also dropping Almeida on the descent. On the final uncategorised climb of Parco del Nobile, Nibali attacked but he was not able to get a gap. Eventually, Yates accelerated, building a gap of around 20 seconds towards the finish. He would not be caught as he won his second stage of the race. 15 seconds later, Hindley outsprinted Carapaz for second, with Nibali taking fourth. Pozzovivo and Almeida finished 28 and 39 seconds behind, respectively, while Landa and Bilbao lost 51 seconds. López eventually crossed the line at four and a half minutes down.
In the GC, Carapaz took the maglia rosa, seven seconds ahead of Hindley while Almeida sits in third, 30 seconds behind. Landa rose to fourth, 59 seconds down, with Pozzovivo in fifth, just two seconds behind the Spaniard. With his ride, Nibali rose to eighth. After ten days in the maglia rosa, López dropped to ninth at four minutes behind.
Stage 15 22 May 2022 — Rivarolo Canavese to Cogne,