the 2012 giro d'italia saw a battle between canadian ryder hesjedal and spaniard joaquim rodríguez. hesjedal first took the lead after finishing well on the seventh stage that featured a summit finish to rocca di cambio. rodríguez snagged a narrow lead over hesjedal after winning the tenth stage into assisi. hesjedal regained the lead after the mountainous fourteenth stage; however, rodríguez took it back the next day. rodríguez held that lead all the way to the final stage, which he came into with a 31-second buffer over hesjedal. hesjedal rode and manage to finish with a time 47 seconds better than rodríguez, giving him the overall victory in the giro. in 2013 vincenzo nibali took the lead after the race's eighth stage. nibali would go on to win the race after he expanded his lead through performing well in the early mountain stages and winning both the stage 18 individual time trial and the penultimate stage of the race.