Vuelta – Stage 12

Tomasz Marczyński won his second stage whilst Froome lost time after crashing on a drama filled stage 12 of the Vuelta

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Vuelta – Stage 12

Tomasz Marczyński triumphed solo to take his second victory of the Vuelta a España for Lotto Soudal on a chaotic Stage 12 between Motril and Antequera. Omar Fraile (Team Dimension Data) was second and José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar Team) third in a chasing group that trailed in 52 seconds down after an action-packed stage.

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In a dramatic finale overall leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) swapped bikes and promptly crashed for the second time on the day, before battling with two team-mates to limit losses in the final part of the 160.1km race. As a result of Froome’s troubles, Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) in second is now inside a minute of the leader, 59 seconds behind.

Meanwhile Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) produced a trademark attacking ride, gaining 22 GC seconds on the likes of rival Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida), and 42 seconds on Froome.

The stage took a bizarre turn when a fan appeared to be pushed by policeman in front of a race motorbike that was following Contador, bringing down the bike, although the following riders managed to avoid crashing.

At the start of the day, the race and fans worldwide woke to the news that the Aquablue team bus had been burned out and they had to take a traditional seated bus to the start of the stage prompting tweets (Twitter) from Conor Dunne they were off to school. Lets hope the team can recover from this setback. In the race, a 14-rider break formed on a stage that featured two category-one climbs, with Polish rider Marczyński powering away on the final climb for another assured win.
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Reactions

Thomas Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) “It was an incredible stage. After my first win I was keeping fresh to try again today. I was a bit afraid at the beginning, I spent a lot of energy and had to sprint like 100 times just to get in the breakaway.

Once I was there I said, “Today can be again my day.” I felt good form from the beginning, I was climbing easy. I kept calm until the last climb and there I wanted to see how the others were doing, and when I saw I had good legs I tried to go alone. It’s incredible, it’s been my dream since I was a kid to win a Grand Tour stage solo, and today the dream becomes real.

Alberto Contador: As the peloton started the second climb with 26km to go, Alberto Contador attacked out of the GC group, Nicolas Roche on tow. He explained “The scenario was better than we could have hoped for. I attacked. I spoke to Nicolas Roche. I went with him, but he couldn’t follow my pace. He said, ‘You go on alone’ – we have a good relationship – so I carried on. I knew I had a team mate up ahead, and we gave it everything.”

Pressing on alone, Contador opened a 35 second lead , which contracted to just 17 seconds at the KoM, with 17.5 km to go. It was at that point that he reached his team-mate Edward Theuns.
Theuns said, “Three kilometers before the top of last climb they said Alberto attacked so I knew I had to make it to the top. I was standing still there for two or three minutes to wait for him, and then we just went full on the downhill with him.”

“It was not easy because there were still some nasty small uphills. I tried to follow him there but that really hurt my legs, but I could survive some of the bumps and then do some work in the downhills so I hope I helped him a little bit.”

Contador added, “The descents were very difficult because with the reflection of the sun, you couldn’t see very well and we had to give them a lot of respect and we didn’t want to take too many risks.” The time gains made yesterday and today leave Contador exactly 1 minute away from the podium. “Bearing in mind the final part of today’s stage, which didn’t promise anything, I think this is something to be very pleased with”.

“As for Froome, yes, he fell, but he got up again and he didn’t lose much time. I think we have an easier day tomorrow, so I’m sure he’s going to continue to be very strong.”

Chris Froome (Team Sky) He said: “I’m dong fine, I’m just grateful it’s not more serious. I lost my front wheel in the corner, it was really dry slippery corner and I just lost my front wheel a bit. It’s never good to lose time, but it’s good that it’s 20 seconds and not one minute. I had two teammates, Mikel Nieve and Wout Poels with me – they were fantastic and they helped me all the way to the finish and helped me limited my losses.

“I think all in all I’m just grateful I’m not more seriously injured and just lost a bit of skin. We’ll have to see over the next few days of course, sleeping on grazes is never too much fun but I just have to make do now and I’m glad it’s not more serious. It could have been much worse, its never a situation you’d want to be in but things happen in bike racing.”

Alberto (Contador) was impressive again. He’s known for taking the race on and never giving up. He’s living up to that.”

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Omar Fraile (Team Dimension Data) “It’s been a few days already that I’ve felt good. We saw this stage and had it marked. Tomasz was better, and you just have to say congratulations to him.

“This has been a Vuelta of bad luck so far. I wanted to win for the team, too, to raise the morale a bit. I tried. But the truth is it’s been an unlucky Vuelta. Today, [Serge] Pauwels had to head home and it’s a bit demoralising being down to just four riders. I’m in good shape right now, with form, and this is my home race, so I’ll be trying until the last day.”

David De La Cruz: (Quickstep) It was another tough day at the Vuelta. We once again had a fast start and I think we covered 50 kilometers in the first hour. Then, things slightly calmed down, only to go crazy again with 20 kilometers left. I’m glad we overcame this stage and my legs were again good, as this gives me renewed confidence for what’s to come”, David De La Cruz explained after the complicated stage 12.

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) It was a really bad day for [Froome]. We were descending really fast. We were just behind Sky and behind him. I passed him and he was stopping for a bit to change the bike, and then I didn’t see what happened behind. I think he crashed again. These things happen in cycling, in racing.

[I feel] really good. Today I was there with the favourites on the last climb again. We’ll see day by day how the legs go, how they’re responding, because it’s becoming a really demanding Vuelta. When I watched the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia on TV, I dreamed of one day wearing the best young rider’s jersey. This year they at least have a prize for the best young rider in the Vuelta, which didn’t have one. We’ll keep going forward little by little, and hopefully keep earning it.

Jan Polanc (UAE): “Today was quite fast and we did a lot of kms before the breakaway so I was quite tired but I still felt I could get a good result. After my crash I was forced to chase the group back, I was able to catch up with them but I suffered a little bit on the climb.”

Franco Pellizotti (Team Bahrain Merida) “It was supposed to be a quiet stage, the breakaway could arrive without problems, but Contador’s attack with 20 kilometers to go and Froome’s crash have drastically changed the inertia of the race”.

“When the Spanish rider escaped from the bunch – continues the Italian rider – Team Sky went to pursue him but the race leader’s crash changed the cards on the table. It had to be a day to recover from yesterday’s hard work but then Contador’s attack … “

Nicolas Roche (BMC): “Did I think it would be a GC day? Yes, and no. I think it was a bit my fault that it became a GC day. I think everybody was quite happy with how the pace was but I just thought “why not?” [attack]. It wasn’t as hard a climb as the other days and it could have been a good way to grab a few precious seconds.

The idea was good when I went with Alberto [Contador] but Alberto’s pace was that little bit too hard for me on the climb and I thought it would be better to ease off and not completely explode as the group behind was coming pretty fast. It was definitely a lot better out there today with the weather. This weekend is going to be really tough. Tomorrow is going to be a hard start but hopefully it’s a sprint day and it will be a bit more cruisy and straightforward.”

Tejay van Garderen (BMC): “Yeah, it was pretty good [today]. After my crash yesterday I’m in quite a lot of pain with my ribs but I’m just trying to make it through hoping for an easier day tomorrow. I thought today could go either way [for the GC contenders]. A climb and a descent to the finish, kind of like two days ago, so if someone wants to light it up then we all have to go.”

José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar): “I’ve got good legs, of course, but it’s also true that I’m always into the breaks and that takes its toll, too. It’s sad to see another opportunity for a stage win going today, but hats off to Marczynski – he jumped on the climb and proved to be the strongest by far. He just left us behind, no chance to follow him. There’s always one well above the rest in those breaks and we aren’t able to succeed at last, but let’s hope for such persistence to be rewarded at the end. We have no other chance to win but keeping trying. It was awful to see Arcas leaving the race; the lad has put much courage on the road to keep going, because the blows he suffered on day one were really hard. We lost another team-mate, but our commitment to turn things up remains the same.”

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Stage 12
1. Tomasz Marczynski Lotto Soudal
2. Omar Fraile Dimension Data 0:52
3. Joaquín Rojas Movistar Team
4. Pawel Poljanski BORA – hansgrohe
5. Stef Clement Team LottoNL-Jumbo
6. Brendan Canty Cannondale-Drapac 1:42
7. Anthony Perez Cofidis, Solutions Crédits 2:50
8. Jan Polanc UAE Team Emirates
9. Andreas Schillinger BORA – hansgrohe
10. David Arroyo Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 3:00

13. Alberto Contador Trek – Segafredo 7:25
14. Steven Kruijswijk Team LottoNL-Jumbo 7:47
15. Miguel López Astana Pro Team
16. David de la Cruz Quick-Step Floors
17. Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain Merida
18. Esteban Chaves ORICA-Scott
19. Nicolas Roche BMC Racing Team
20. Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha – Alpecin
22. Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb
23. Fabio Aru Astana Pro Team
24. Louis Meintjes UAE Team Emirates
26. Sam Oomen Team Sunweb
27. Michael Woods Cannondale-Drapac
28. Tejay van Garderen BMC Racing Team
32. Chris Froome Team Sky 8:07
60. Romain Bardet AG2R La Mondiale 13:19
136. Adam Yates ORICA-Scott 21.49
159. Ian Stannard Team Sky 21.59
160. Adam Blythe Aqua Blue Sport
161. Simon Yates ORICA-Scott
163. Mark Christian Aqua Blue Sport

Overall
1. Chris Froome Team Sky
2. Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain Merida 0:59
3. Esteban Chaves ORICA-Scott 2:13
4. David de la Cruz Quick-Step Floors 2:16
5. Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb 2:17
6. Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha – Alpecin 2:18
7. Fabio Aru Astana Pro Team 2:37
8. Michael Woods Cannondale-Drapac 2:41
9. Alberto Contador Trek – Segafredo 3:13
10. Miguel López Astana Pro Team 3:51
11. Nicolas Roche BMC Racing Team 4:25
12. Tejay van Garderen BMC Racing Team
13. Sam Oomen Team Sunweb 4:41
14. Wout Poels Team Sky 4:54
15. Steven Kruijswijk Team LottoNL-Jumbo 5:50
16. Louis Meintjes UAE Team Emirates 6:19
17. Mikel Nieve Team Sky 7:54
18. Sergio Pardilla Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 10:04
19. Igor Anton Dimension Data 12:31
20. Darwin Atapuma UAE Team Emirates 18:46
23. Adam Yates ORICA-Scott 24:42
41. Simon Yates ORICA-Scott 54:46

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