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Olav Kooij won a close-fought sprint on stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia as Isaac del Toro retained the pink jersey in Viadana.<\/b><\/p>\n
Dutchman Kooij benefited from Visma-Lease A Bike team-mate Wout van Aert’s superb lead-out in the final kilometre.<\/p>\n
Casper van Uden finished second with Britain’s Ben Turner of Ineos Grenadiers third.<\/p>\n
“Only he [Wout] can do it, so to have him as support here is extraordinary,” said Kooij.<\/p>\n
“I really need to thank him and also the rest of the team, they did a fantastic job. <\/p>\n
“You don’t want to be too far [back] in that last corner, that’s maybe why we had to go a bit earlier than we wanted but I could jump on the wheel of Casper and pass him.”<\/p>\n
Del Toro of UAE Team Emirates-XRG stayed out of the hectic fight for position in the closing stages to finish safely in the bunch and maintain his hold on the pink jersey.<\/p>\n
A sprint for two bonus seconds at the Red Bull kilometre in Brescello means the 21-year-old heads into stage 13 with a 33-second lead over team-mate Juan Ayuso in the race overall. <\/p>\n
Kooij’s British team-mate Simon Yates is in fourth, one minute and 11 seconds off the overall lead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n