Sam Bennett sped away from the chasing pack to win stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia in a sprint finish on the famous motor racing track at Imola as Simon Yates kept hold of the pink jersey.

Bennett recorded his second win of this year’s race after making his move down the home straight, and held off Danny van Poppel (LottoNL-Jumbo), with Niccolò Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) in third. The Bora-Hansgrohe rider had ended Ireland’s 31-year wait for a Giro stage win in the seventh stage last Friday.

The stage 11 winner, Matej Mohoric of Bahrain–Merida, and Movistar’s Carlos Betancur had looked set to battle for victory after making a late breakaway but were reeled in by the peloton in the closing stages as heavy rain fell on the Imola tarmac.

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Yates came home safely among the other general classification contenders and maintains his 47-second lead over the defending champion, Tom Dumoulin. The British rider will be expected to stay in the pink jersey on Friday, as the riders take on another flat stage from Ferrara to Nervesa della Battaglia.

Leading GC after Stage 12: 1) Simon Yates (GB) Mitchelton-Scott 51hr 57min 55sec, 2) Tom Dumoulin (Neth) Team Sunweb at 47sec, 3) Thibaut Pinot (Fr) Groupama-FDJ at 1min 4sec, 4) Domenico Pozzovivo (It) Bahrain-Merida at 1:18, 5) Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team at 1:56, 6) George Bennett (NZ) LottoNL-Jumbo at 2:09, 7) Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team at 2:36, 8) Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team at 2:54, 9) Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe at 2:55, 10) Fabio Aru (It) UAE Team Emirates at 3:10.