Stage 12 results: Pola de Laviana to Alto de l’Angliru (109.4km)
Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling, in 3-08-40
Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana, at 16 seconds
Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, both at same time
Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 26s
Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma
Dan Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation, both at same time
Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain-McLaren, at 1-35
Michael Woods (Can) EF Pro Cycling, at same time
Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 2-15
General classification after stage 12
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, in 48-29-27
Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 10 seconds
Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling, at 32s
Dan Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 35s
Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, at 1-50
Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain-McLaren, at 5-13
Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 5-30
Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, at 6-22
Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana, at 6-41
Mikel Nieve (Esp) Mitchelton-Scott, at 6-42
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Sensational stage victory of Hugh Carthy!
A Lancashire lad 6’ 4" tall and weighing in at 69kg, built like a bean pole but perfect for climbing de L’Angliru. A very prestigious win!
Roglič has to hand the red jersey over to his sparing partner, Carapaz who took 10 seconds out of him on the summit finish. However, Carapaz may only get the chance to wear the red skin suit on Tuesday’s ITT before Roglič takes the red jersey back again
The only individual time trial of this Vuelta comes on Today’s stage 13, it will certainly be unlucky for some.
The final 1.8 km to the summit finish is a category 3 climb averaging just under 15%
@Debs Roglič certainly looks to be the favourite for the time trial today, particularly considering he has wins over his current rivals at other TT’s already in his CV.
From what i can see, Roglič is the only one in the top ten GC who can time trial well, so he’s probably looking forward to today. He even has every chance of winning the stage, but he definitely looks likely to take more time out on his GC rivals.
Another battle will be between Hugh Carthy and Dan Martin, presently only 3 seconds apart, they will both be wanting that 3rd podium position.
Would be great to see Carthy catch Carapaz for over 32 seconds, which could [depending on other results] place Carthy into 2nd place on GC
My guess is that a recuperating GC peloton will be happy to let a breakaway go on to fight out todays stage, and it will then depend upon the best sprinter in the breakaway…
Probably the least eventful stage so far, although I’m sure Tim Wellens would disagree. And on the ITV4 summary programme we got the 2021 TdF route - too much to get my head round!
By rights there really should be fireworks today, however it’s a long hard hilly slog and the GC peloton may ride subdued fearing tomorrow, and especially Saturday’s stage that will be far more testing and definitive.
Stage 15 results: Mos to Puebla de Sanabria (230.8km)
Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates, in 6-22-36
Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
Jannik Steimle (Ger) Deceuninck – Quick-Step
Fred Wright (GBr) Bahrain-McLaren
Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
Reinhart Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
Magnus Cort (Den) EF Pro Cycling
Dorian Godon (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale
Stan Dewulf (Bel) Lotto-Soudal
Michael Mørkøw (Den) Deceuninck – Quick-Step
A rain soaked race, the breakaway caught and a bunch sprint finish, diesel oil spillage warning on the road at 2 km out so they imposed the 3 km rule for safety sake, even though it was a hilly stage, good to see there were no crashes. Many unusual names in the top ten stage finishers, and results caused no changes to the top GC, although Friday’s stage 16 could be a different story:
Stage 16, Friday 6th November: Salamanca to Ciudad Rodrigo (162km)
All of the GC contenders will be focused on tomorrows mountain stage with the Alto de la Covatilla summit finish that will be the brutal decider of who wins la Vuelta, so they will want to conserve their energy, however it’s just possible there could be a surprise attack today, perhaps from Carapaz and the Ineos team, or perhaps even Dan Martin and Team Israel Start-Up Nation. Jumbo-Visma will need to be on their guard.
Stage 16 results: Salamanca to Ciudad Rodrigo (162km)
Magnus Cort (Den) EF Pro Cycling, in 4-04-35
Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma
Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers
Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
Dorian Godon (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale
Michael Valgren (Den) NTT Pro Cycling
Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Sunweb
Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana, all at same time
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Clever Roglič finishes 2nd to gain a 6 second time bonus on his rivals.
There were a few attempts of putting pressure on Team Jumbo, Ineos and Movistar mainly, but it achieved nothing but to reel in the breakaway. Seems to have been a case of not a demanding enough course, and perhaps many tired legs after yesterdays 230 km in the rain.
Tomorrow will be the big showdown:
Stage 17 Saturday 7th November: Sequeros to Alto de la Covatilla (178.2km)
who lost the stage win to Roglič by a mere one second, that must be so frustrating!
