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Spain’s Enric Mas extended his overall lead in the Vuelta a España with a late attack on his rivals as Slovenia’s Jakob Omrzel won stage 12 to Calar Alto on Thursday.
Movistar rider Mas burst out of a chasing group including red jersey contenders Primoz Roglic and Felix Gall with around 13km of the mountainous 166.6km ride left and powered away. Roglic and Gall, who began the day second and third on general classification, could not respond as Mas finished 27 seconds clear of Roglic to strengthen his hold on the race.
Omrzel attacked from a whittled-down lead group on the final ascent and kept the power down to cross the line almost two minutes clear of Urko Berrade with Santiago Buitrago third. Aged 20, Omrzel is younger than the Slovenian great Tadej Pogacar was when he won his first Grand Tour stage.
Mas took over the leadership when the overwhelming favourite and clear race leader Pogacar crashed out on stage eight and on a baking hot day in southern Spain on Thursday, he put down a big statement of intent for the remaining stages. The Mallorcan now leads by one minute and 45 seconds from Roglic with Gall at 2:06.
“I’m really happy with the team today, really proud of them,” said Mas, who was helped by Raúl García Pierna on the final climb to the Vuelta’s highest summit finish this year at 2,153m. “To take 27 seconds on Roglic is really important for the next week. I was confident today and I knew the climb.“
Britain’s Oscar Onley was the biggest loser on the day in the battle for overall victory as a crash meant he finished more than two minutes behind Mas.
After some initial climbs, a 30-rider breakaway group formed after 40km including Wout van Aert who took useful points in both the points and mountain categories. Omrzel and Léo Bisiaux attacked on the day’s penultimate climb but were brought back near the top, then on Calar Alto, Omrzel made his move. Berrade was the only rider to hang on but could not resist as Omrzel powered on.
“I’m not surprised because I know how much work I put in, and I knew that these days were going to come sooner or later,” Omrzel said. “But for sure, I was not expecting 100% to do it on my first Grand Tour.”
Meanwhile, Tim Merlier dominated the first sprint finish of this year’s Tour of Britain to win stage two in Skegness.
The 33-year-old Merlier, making his debut in this race, had sat on the wheel of his rival Olav Kooij going through the final left-hander and then spotted a gap to launch his sprint early – opening an advantage that nobody could close. Kooij came in second, just ahead of Irishman Sam Bennett at the end of the largely flat 181km stage from Boston.
Wednesday’s stage winner, Lewis Askey, was in the front group of 37 riders to retain the overall leader’s jersey, 12 seconds clear of Tim Wellens in the overall standings. Filippo Ganna, who began the day second overall, suffered a poorly timed puncture and could not chase back. He tumbled out of the top 10. Agencies
