Despite the very heavy menu, a group of twenty riders opted for the attack, but they hardly got any space from the peloton. Anthony Roux, Guillaume Martin, Pierre-Luc Périchon, and Angel Madrazo drove away in the sinking of the Mozqueta. On the Cordal caught by Luis Leon Sanchez and Mattia Cattaneo. Guillaume Martin took most of the KOH points and now a solid leader in that competition. In the first kilometer of the Angliru, the escapees’ song was over and Jumbo-Visma resolutely took command. The 23-year-old Jonas Vingegaard in particular did bear work. Except for the young Norwegian, only Roglic, Carapaz, our Dan Martin, Carthy, Mas, Vlasov, Kuss, and Woods could join. That group of nine tore when Enric Mas accelerated about 3.5 kilometers from the finish. Richard Carapaz meanwhile played a nice game of poker. The Ecuador man seemed to be in trouble for a long time but still could spread his wings on the steepest parts of the climb. Carapaz joined Mas, as did Hugh Carthy. In the background, Roglic’s red jersey was in danger. Carthy meanwhile attacked at the front and was able to get away from Mas and Carapaz. In the final kilometer, Hugh stayed away and his first stage victory was a fact in a major tour. Vlasov, Mas, and Carapaz came in at 16 seconds from the winner Carthy, Roglic lost another 10 seconds in 5th over the line, thanks to the help of Sepp Kuss in 6th I might add, as Sepp stayed with his teammate Roglic all the way to the top. Next was Dan Martin, his elastic nearly snapped halfway op the climb but perseverance and determination kept him with his rivals for the GC podium, unfortunately, Carthy jumped over him in the GC to 3rd but only with a handful of second’s…all to play for this week, this with a TT on Tuesday to start. One of the most exciting finishes I have seen on a grand tour, this on a climb that had slopes of over 20% !!! How the hell they do it? their bodies must be hurting today!!
(Stage 12) 1 Hugh Carthy EF1 3:08:40
2 Aleksander Vlasov AST +16″
3 Enric Mas MOV +16″
4 Richard Carapaz IGD +16″
5 Primož Roglic TJV +26″
6 Sepp Kuss TJV +26″
7 Daniel Martin ISN +26″
8 Wout Poels TBM +1:35″
9 Michael Woods EF1 +1:35″
10 Felix Großschartner BOH +2:15“
Top 20 after stage 12: 1 Richard Carapaz IGD 48:29:27
2 Primož Roglic TJV +10″
3 Hugh Carthy EF1 +32″
4 Daniel Martin ISN +35″
5 Enric Mas MOV +1:50″
6 Wout Poels TBM +5:13″
7 Felix Großschartner BOH +5:30″
8 Alejandro Valverde MOV +6:22″
9 Aleksander Vlasov AST +6:41″
10 Mikel Nieve MTS +6:42″
11 George Bennett TJV +7:40″
12 David Gaudu GFC +8:27″
13 David De La Cruz UAD +8:34″
14 Sepp Kuss TJV +10:49″
15 Sergio Henao UAD +11:15″
16 Guillaume Martin COF +12:25″
17 Gorka Izagirre AST +15:14″
18 Mattia Cattaneo DQT +15:35″
19 Marc Soler MOV +17:01″
20 Esteban Chaves MTS +25:36“
