Andrey Amador captured victory on Stage 14 of the 2012 Giro d'Italia, winning in 5:33:36 on the ride from Cherasco to Cervinia. Jan Barta finished second and picked up the same time as Amador while Alessandro De Marchi trailed by two seconds for a third-place finish.
In fourth came Garmin-Barracuda's Ryder Hesjedal. Though he finished 20 seconds behind Amador, Hesjedal was 26 seconds ahead of maglia rosa (pink jersey) wearer Joaquim Rodriguez. Hesjedal entered the day 17 seconds behind for the lead and ended the day with the maglia rosa and a nine-second lead in the general classification.
Here is how Podium Cafe describes the scene behind the top three races for this stage:
Behind them the peloton was paced by Liquigas, staying together on the comparatively gentle gradients but steadily reeling in the attackers and keeping the pace high enough to discourage too much action. With 3km to go Jose Rujano tried a move which was tracked down, but Hesjedal countered with a powerful blast and was never seen again. Rodriguez reacted and a gruppetto of favorites formed to chase Hesjedal, to no avail.
More high mountains await on Sunday before a rest day on Monday.
Here is how the top 10 on Stage 14 finished (complete stage standings):
| Posn. | Name | Country | Team | Time | d |
| 1 | Andrey Amador | CRC | MOV | 5:33:36 | 0:00 |
| 2 | Jan Barta | CZE | APP | 5:33:36 | 0:00 |
| 3 | Alessandro De Marchi | ITA | AND | 5:33:38 | 0:02 |
| 4 | Ryder Hesjedal | CAN | GRM | 5:33:56 | 0:20 |
| 5 | Paolo Tiralongo | ITA | AST | 5:34:22 | 0:46 |
| 6 | Rigoberto Uran | COL | SKY | 5:34:22 | 0:46 |
| 7 | Joaquim Rodriguez | ESP | KAT | 5:34:22 | 0:46 |
| 8 | Thomas De Gendt | BEL | VCD | 5:34:22 | 0:46 |
| 9 | Michele Scarponi | ITA | LAM | 5:34:22 | 0:46 |
| 10 | John Gadret | FRA | ALM | 5:34:22 | 0:46 |
For more on the 2012 Giro d'Italia, stick with SB Nation Denver and visit cycling blog Podium Cafe.