Slovenia's Jakob Omrzel won stage 12 of the Vuelta a España, his first Grand Tour stage victory, while Spain's Enric Mas extended his overall lead with a late attack on Thursday.
Mas strengthens grip on red jersey
Movistar rider Mas burst out of a chasing group including red jersey contenders Primož Roglič and Felix Gall with around 13km of the mountainous 166.6-km ride left and powered away. Roglič and Gall, who began the day second and third on general classification, could not respond as Mas finished 27 seconds clear of Roglič to strengthen his hold on the race.
Mas took over the leadership when overwhelming favourite and clear race leader Tadej Pogačar crashed out on stage eight. On a baking hot day in southern Spain, he put down a big statement of intent for the remaining stages. The Mallorcan now leads by one minute and 45 seconds from Roglič with Gall at 2:06.
Omrzel's breakthrough victory
Omrzel attacked from a whittled-down lead group on the final ascent to Calar Alto and kept the power down to cross the line almost two minutes clear of Urko Berrade with Santiago Buitrago third. Aged 20, Omrzel is younger than Slovenian great Tadej Pogačar was when he won his first Grand Tour stage.
After some initial climbs, a 30-rider breakaway group formed after 40km including Wout van Aert who took useful points in both the points and mountain categories. Omrzel and Léo Bisiaux attacked on the day's penultimate climb but were brought back near the top, but on Calar Alto, Omrzel made his move. Berrade was the only rider to hang on but could not resist as Omrzel powered on.
“I'm not surprised because I know how much work I put in, and I knew that these days were going to come sooner or later,” Omrzel said. “But for sure, I was not expecting 100% to do it on my first Grand Tour.”
Impact on overall standings
Britain's Oscar Onley was the biggest loser on the day in the battle for overall victory as a crash meant he finished more than two minutes behind Mas. Mas was helped by Raúl García Pierna on the final climb to the Vuelta's highest summit finish this year at 2,153m.
“I'm really happy with the team today, really proud of them,” said Mas. “To take 27 seconds on Roglič is really important for the next week. I was confident today and I knew the climb.”
Meanwhile, Tim Merlier dominated the first sprint finish of this year's Tour of Britain to win stage two in Skegness. The 33-year-old Merlier, making his debut in this race, had sat on the wheel of his rival Olav Kooij going through the final left-hander and then spotted a gap to launch his sprint early – opening an advantage that nobody could close. Kooij came in second, just ahead of Irishman Sam Bennett at the end of the largely flat 181km stage from Boston. Wednesday's stage winner Lewis Askey was in the front group of 37 riders to retain the overall leader's jersey, 12 seconds clear of Tim Wellens in the overall standings. Filippo Ganna, who began the day second overall, suffered a poorly timed puncture and could not chase back and he tumbled out of the top 10.
