Vuelta a España: Jakob Omrzel wins stage 12 as Enric Mas has another stellar ride on Calar Alto

As the Vuelta a España headed back into the mountains and the summit finish at Calar Alto, it was Enric Mas (Movistar) who once again proved the strongest of the GC riders, adding more time to his overall lead with an attack 12km from the finish.

Red jersey hopefuls Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had no answer to the move from Mas, who cannily linked up with Movistar teammate from the break, Raúl García Pierna.

Gall and Roglič, too, got help from teammates dropping back – Léo Bisiaux and Luke Tuckwell – and a resurgent Gregor Mühlberger. The strength in numbers behind the solo Mas seemingly had no effect, though, with the chasers only losing time as the finish neared.

Mas eventually crossed the line with another 27 seconds in the bag, extending his lead over Roglič to 1:45, while Gall now lies at 2:06 down.

The GC battle wasn't the fight for stage victory, however. That played out minutes up the road as 20-year-old Vuelta debutant Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) broke clear of what was once a 30-man breakaway group with 11.7km to go. Holding a four-minute lead over Mas and co, he left behind Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) to go solo to the finish.

Omrzel's power was such that even the big GC moves behind barely made a dent in his lead. He hit the final kilometre with a three-minute lead over Mas, and the 2025 Giro Next Gen winner duly converted it to the biggest win of his young career.

A 2024 Vuelta stage winner, Berrade crossed the line in second place, 1:56 down, while mountain classification leader Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) took third, 2:13 back.

More to come.

Results

General classification