Michal Golas animated the 12th stage together with 8 other riders. They opened up a large gap and battled for the stage win. Golas attacked solo with 33 kilometres to go, but was caught with 13,3 kilometres left. He was rewarded for his effort with the Maglia Azzurra jersey and became the first Polish rider to wear the mountain jersey.
Michal Golas took a risk in the Stage 12, 157km Giro d`Italia Stage 12, deciding to attack solo for Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team after being in a break with Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol), Sandy Casar (FDJ-BigMat), Ivan Santaromita (BMC), Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan), Luca Mazzanti (Farnese Vini), and Andrey Amador (Movistar) since 105km remained. Golas attacked with 32.9km to go, and the gap at 5'29". Golas dealt with some technical descending at high speeds to try and stay away, and worked hard to maintain his gap. He was rewarded for his effort with the Maglia Azzurra jersey. Unfortunately, the hard effort and the climbing fatigued Golas. He was caught with 13.3km to go and the gap to the peloton at 4'51". Lars Bak went on to solo for victory after attacking in the late kilometers, with Casar taking 2nd and Amador 3rd. Golas finished 9th.
“I’m happy about my jersey” Golas said. "It was a great emotion to wear it on the podium. I am the first Polish rider to wear it. It's a great honour, I'm proud of my nation. This morning during the technical meeting we decided to go into the breakaway. The two riders that had to try were me and Vermote. I was lucky to take the right breakaway after more or less 40 kilometers of fighting. We were a good group but in the finalm there were no big collaboration. I saw that they were looking at each other so I decided to play my cards. Unfortunately, on the last climb I couldn’t resist their pursuit, I was really tired. You know, in the breakaways it is always a question of legs and luck. In any case I’m super happy. Thanks to the points I took today on the climbs I’m now the leader of the mountain classification. It’s a good rewarded for me and the team. We are always trying and we miss only a stage victory. I will try again, for sure.”