Jakob Omrzel conquers the Calar Alto summit where the twelfth stage of the Vuelta Espana concluded. After 166 demanding kilometers of racing, the Bahrain Victorious rider crossed the finish line solo, celebrating his first victory in a Grand Tour stage. Twenty years old as of March, the Slovenian today distanced Urko Berrade of Equipo Kern Pharma by 1'56" and Santiago Buitrago, his Bahrain teammate, by 2'13". Even further back was Kazakh Lutsenko (NSN Cycling Team) and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step). Then, in sixth position, Enric Mas (Movistar Team): the general classification leader gained a handful of seconds on Roglic and Gall who finished the day in seventh and eighth place.

THE STAGE - Right from the start, attacks began in hopes of getting away early. Between attacks and accelerations, the peloton quickly reached the foot of the first climb of the day, the Alto del Cabecico, and at the summit Van Aert anticipated Buitrago and Sivakov.

After a brief push from NSN, Alexey Lutsenko (NSN Cycling Team), Axel Laurance (Netcompany INEOS), and Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) gained an advantage, managing to build a maximum lead of 25" before being caught.

The real – and very numerous – breakaway of the day started around the fortieth kilometer of racing, when about thirty riders got away: Almeida, Oliveira, Vermaerke (UAE Emirates XRG), Johannessen, Kron, Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Bilbao, Buitrago, Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) Castrillo, Garcia Pierna (Movistar), Debruyne, Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) Haig, Laurance (Netcompany Ineos), Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), Dunbar (Pinarello Q36.5), Kämna (Lidl-Trek), Rochas (Groupama-FDJ), Lutsenko (NSN), Vansevenant (Soudal), Pickering (Jayco AlUla), Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Brenner (Tudor), Mulubrhan (XDS Astana) Berrade (Kern Pharma) later joined by José Manuel Díaz (Burgos Burpellet BH) and Chris Hamilton (Team Picnic PostNL).

After facilitating the breakaway, Van Aert also went on to claim the points reserved for the winner of the Alto de Córdoba mountain prize.

At the Collado García summit as well, the script didn't change: despite Buitrago's attack, Van Aert proved very reactive, jumping onto the Colombian's wheel in the polka dot jersey and then overtaking him to win the mountain prize.

The subsequent climb brought the race first to the Intermediate Sprint and then to the Alto di Velefique mountain prize: Van Aert won the intermediate sprint and then dropped from the leading group, imitated by several colleagues. Among reshuffles and also a timid attempt by Carapaz breaking away from the red jersey group in search of glory, the final climb was reached with four riders at the front: Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious), and Urko Berrade (Equipo Kern Pharma) while behind them the top three in the general classification were watching each other.

Eleven kilometers from the finish, Omrzel attacked, quickly gaining about ten seconds of advantage over Berrade. At roughly the same moment, Mas decided to change pace and, able to count on teammate Garcia Pierna who was part of the breakaway, gained some advantage over his direct rivals in the general classification.

However, it was too late to think about catching the head of the race represented by a smiling Jakob Omrzel, the deserving winner. For the Slovenian, the satisfaction of also gaining positions in the general classification, moving from tenth to sixth place.

The Vuelta Espana will experience its thirteenth chapter tomorrow: a 192-kilometer stage starting from Almuñécar and finishing in Loja.

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STAGE RESULTS

1 Omrzel Jakob Bahrain Victorious 180 04:29:53

2 Berrade Urko Equipo Kern Pharma 130 + 01:56

3 Buitrago Santiago Bahrain Victorious 95 + 02:13

4 Lutsenko Alexey NSN Cycling Team 80 + 02:49

5 Vansevenant Mauri Soudal Quick-Step 60 + 02:53

6 Mas Enric Movistar Team 45 + 02:56

7 Gall Felix Decathlon CMA CGM Team 40 + 03:23

8 Roglic Primoz Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe 35 + 03:23

9 Carapaz Richard EF Education-EasyPost 30 + 03:23

10 Mühlberger Gregor Decathlon CMA CGM Team 25 + 03:50

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1 Mas Enric Movistar Team 40:31:51

2 Roglic Primoz Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 01:45

3 Gall Felix Decathlon CMA CGM Team + 02:06

4 Carapaz Richard EF Education-EasyPost + 03:53

5 Onley Oscar Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team + 04:29

6 Omrzel Jakob Bahrain Victorious + 04:59

7 Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek + 07:42

8 Kuss Sepp Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 07:58

9 Mühlberger Gregor Decathlon CMA CGM Team + 08:27

10 Tejada Harold XDS Astana Team + 08:30