Vuelta Stage 12: Hugh Carthy Triumphs

Hugh Carthy triumphed on the slopes of the Alto de L’Angliru to win his first Grand Tour stage on Sunday whilst Richard Carapaz took back the overall leader’s jersey from Primoz Roglic

Vuelta Stage 12: Hugh Carthy Triumphs

Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) took his first Grand Tour stage victory on Sunday, and what a win this is! The young British climber made the most of the mighty slopes of the Alto de L’Angliru (up to 23.5%) to win stage 12 with a 16’’ gap to Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana), Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers). Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) dropped 10 more seconds and lost the leader’s jersey to Carapaz but the gaps are minimal ahead of the second rest day. Action will resume on Tuesday with a key time-trial.

A short stage, with many climbs and the mighty Alto de L’Angliru, saw the riders attack as soon as the flag drops. Roux (Groupama-FDJ) and Van den Bergh (EF Pro Cycling) are the first top open a gap at km 4. 18 more attackers join them ahead of the first climb of the day, the cat-3 Alto del Padrun (km 29.3): Martin, Perichon (Cofidis), Stannard, Edmondson (Mitchelton Scott), Osorio, Madrazo (Burgos BH), Van der Sande, Goossens (Lotto Soudal), Erviti (Movistar Team), Wisnioski (CCC Team), Riabushenko (UAE Team Emirates), Schillinger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Cattaneo (Deceuninck Quick Step), Wurf (Ineos Grenadiers), Peters (AG2R La Mondiale), Gasparotto (NTT Pro Cycling), Garcia (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Sanchez (Astana Pro Team).

Full gas on the first climbs
Formolo (UAE Team Emirates) and Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) also joined the leading group on the descent from the the Alto de San Emiliano, the second climb of the day. The gap hit a maximum of 3 minutes at the bottom of the Alto de La Mozqueta. That’s when David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) decided to go on the move and with 55km to go to the summit of L’Angliru, Movistar upped the ante on the Alto de La Mozqueta.

Guillaume Martin claimed the KOM points at the summit but the gap quickly decreases so Formolo tried to go on his own on the downhill but he suffered a crash. The gap at the intermediate sprint (32.4km to go) was down to 40’’ with Movistar driving the bunch.

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Mas opens up the race
Luis Leon Sanchez, Mattia Cattaneo and Guillaume Martin dropped their breakaway companions on the slopes of the Alto del Cordal. They stormed to the bottom of the Alto de L’Angliru but they could not fend off the peloton as Jumbo-Visma put the hammer down for Primoz Roglic. Sanchez and Guillaume Martin were eventually reeled in with 10.5km to the line.

Primoz Roglic’s teammates took control on the first part of the climb, until Enric Mas (Movistar) attacked with 3.5km to go. From there, the GC contenders gave their whole to fight their way to the finish on the hardest sections of L’Angliru. Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) after a few little moves, eventually opened a decisive gap with 1.2km to go and made his way to the finish on his own, 16’’ ahead of Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana), Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers). Primoz Roglic finishes 10’’ further behind and Carapaz takes La Roja again, with minimal gaps ahead of the third week.

Reactions
Hugh Carthy, Grand Tour Stage winner: “It’s a dream come true to win any race. But to win in a Grand Tour, on a mythical climb, it doesn’t get any better than that. It’s hard to put into words. It’s exciting. We have a close race going into the time-trial. Everything is still to play for.”

Dan Martin: “Angliru is more of a TT than a race. You just push the pedals as hard as you can, and at the top, you see the result. I felt good until the steeper sections near the top but just didn’t have the strength to push the pedals any harder”.

“I did my best, so we have to be happy today. If you told us at the start that on the second rest-day we would be 35 seconds from the lead, we would have taken it for sure. Now, I hope to have a relaxing day tomorrow and recover to do a good TT on Tuesday.”

Richard Carapaz — “This climb (L’Angliru) made a natural selection. We already spent a lot of energy yesterday. And it was a very hard stage today. I remembered it from 2017 but it’s been incredible. I tried in the end, Mas and Carthy also went for it and I continued with my pace and that gave me a 10’’ advantage. That’s great for us, we’re going towards the time-trial with the idea to give our best and defend the leadership. I’m very happy to wear [La Roja] again. It’s a good thing for me, for the team, and for everything we’ve been doing.”

Primoz Roglic: “It was too tough a climb for a sprinter,” Roglic joked. “I didn’t have my very best day, but in the end I can’t be dissatisfied with the result. I am still good in the rankings and I am very happy about that. Of course you’d rather not waste time, but it is what it is. The team was again very strong and very impressive. They all ride at a high level. I want to apologize to Sepp, because he certainly could have won the stage. But I also want to thank him for the support in the last kilometres. Without him I would have lost more time. Now we will first enjoy the rest day and then we will focus on the time trial. We will continue to give everything to win the Vuelta. Everything is still possible in the third week. ”

STAGE 12
1. Hugh Carthy EF Pro Cycling 03:08:40
2. Aleksander Vlasov Astana Pro Team @ 16
3. Enric Mas Movistar Team @ 16
4. Richard Carapaz INEOS Grenadiers @ 16
5. Primoz Roglic Team Jumbo – Visma @ 26
6. Sepp Kuss Team Jumbo – Visma @ 26
7. Daniel Martin Israel Start-Up Nation @ 26
8. Wout Poels Bahrain-McLaren @ 01:35
9. Michael Woods EF Pro Cycling @ 01:35
10. Felix Großschartner Bora – Hansgrohe @ 02:15

41. Mark Donovan Team Sunweb @ 14:29
60. Chris Froome INEOS Grenadiers @ 18:46
75. Scott Davies Bahrain-McLaren @ 25:49
78. Fred Wright Bahrain-McLaren @ 28:19
151. Harry Tanfield AG2R La Mondiale @ 38:54

OVERALL
1. Richard Carapaz INEOS Grenadiers 48:29:27
2. Primoz Roglic Team Jumbo – Visma @ 10
3. Hugh Carthy EF Pro Cycling @ 32
4. Daniel Martin Israel Start-Up Nation @ 35
5. Enric Mas Movistar Team @ 01:50
6. Wout Poels Bahrain-McLaren @ 05:13
7. Felix Großschartner Bora – Hansgrohe @ 05:30
8. Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team @ 06:22
9. Aleksander Vlasov Astana Pro Team @ 06:41
10. Mikel Nieve Mitchelton-Scott @ 06:42

59. Mark Donovan Team Sunweb @ 01:43:31
85. Chris Froome INEOS Grenadiers @ 02:24:12
109. Scott Davies Bahrain-McLaren @ 02:43:38
111. Fred Wright Bahrain-McLaren @ 02:44:12
147. Harry Tanfield AG2R La Mondiale @ 03:24:58