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 La Roja 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, sees 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 join the leading group on the downhill from the the Alto de San Emiliano, the second climb of the day. The gap hits a maximum of 3’ at the bottom of the Alto de La Mozqueta. That’s when David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) decides to go on the move, with 55km to go to the summit of L’Angliru. Movistar up the ante on the Alto de La Mozqueta.
Martin claims the KOM points at the summit but the gap quickly decreases. Formolo tries to go on his own on the downhill but he suffers a crash. The gap at the intermediate sprint (32.4km to go) is down to 40’’ with Movistar driving the bunch.
Mas opens up the race
Luis Leon Sanchez, Mattia Cattaneo and Guillaume Martin drop their breakaway companions on the slopes of the Alto del Cordal. They storm to the bottom of the Alto de L’Angliru but they can’t fend off the peloton as Jumbo-Visma put the hammer down for Primoz Roglic. Sanchez and Martin are eventually reeled in with 10.5km to the line.
Primoz Roglic’s teammates control the first part of the climb, until Enric Mas (Movistar) attacks with 3.5km to go. From there, the GC contenders give their whole to fight their way to the finish on the hardest sections of L’Angliru. Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) eventually opens a decisive gap with 1.2km to go and makes 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.
