Live coverage of stage 12 of the Vuelta a España from Los Corrales de Buelna to Bilbao
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Stage 11 report: Froome takes victory on Peña Cabarga
2016 Vuelta a España start list
Good afternoon and welcome to stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana. The start is just 20 minutes away and the last of the riders are signing on.
It's going to be a long old day out there at 193 kilometres, hence the earlier than usual start for the riders. There's also four categorised climbs in there the first of those is the toughest, the category 1 Puerto de las Alisas.
This is what today's profile looks like
Chris Froome continued Team Sky's run of success on Pena Cabarga yesterday with his second stage win on the climb. You can read the full report here but here's a quick glance at how things ended yesterday.
Quintana lost a few seconds to Froome in that finish, but maintained his position at the top of the standings. This is how the GC looks before today's stage.
Under blue skies and sunshine, stage 12 of the Vuelta gets underway. A 7.3km neutral section lies ahead before the racing gets going proper.
Two days on, the discussion about the use of power meters is still rumbling on. Yesterday, in his post-stage interview, Froome dismissed the idea completely. The Team Sky rider suggested that if they were to ban power meters then why not go back to single speed bikes too. Power meters in races have been a subject of debate for some time and it will surely continue long into the future. You can read Nairo Quintana's thoughts on the matter here and, if you so wish, you can let us know what you think in the comments section at the bottom.
An interesting aside about today's finish in Bilbao, it is the same one where Peter Stetina and Sergio Pardilla suffered career-threatening injuries after colliding with bollards in the finish of stage one of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Stetina is not at the Vuelta this year but Pardilla is.
There was, understandably, a big furore following that incident with Stetina and Pardilla. However, we saw something similar happen with Steven Kruijswijk earlier on at this Vuelta a Espana so let's hope that the bollards are gone or signaled very well in today's finish. Considering today's stage, we should see much less riders coming into the finish compared to Pais Vasco.
Three-time world champion Oscar Freire was present at the start today. Freire is from Torrelavega which is just down the road from the start town of Los Corrales de Buelna.
The flag for racing was dropped a few minutes ago with 174 riders making the start today. The riders are climbing immediately, as they make their way over a small uncategorised climb.
Attacks are coming off the front and LottoNL Jumbo are at the forefront of those. Without Kruijswijk here, they are on the hunt for stage victories.
While we wait to see how things shake out in the early part of this stage, why not take a look at our feature on some of cycling's future stars. The Tour de l'Avenir finished recently and gave us an insight into who we would see duking it out in future Grand Tours. Click here for our closer look at the stage winners of the eight-day stage race.
Still plenty of action on the front of the bunch as riders try to make something stick. Four riders went clear and were quickly caught and now we have a 14-rider group trying their luck.
This 14-man move is making some headway and they've got 20 seconds on the peloton at the moment. Could this be the one that sticks?
The 14 riders in that move are mountains classification leader Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-QuickStep), Victor Campenaerts (LottoNl-Jumbo), Tom Stamsnijder (Giant-Alpecin), Sergey Lagutin (Katusha), Gert Dockx (Lotto-Soudal), Jelle Wallays (Lotto-Soudal), Danilo Wyss (BMC), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac), 35 Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Yukiya Arashiro (Lampre Merida), Jérome Cousin (Cofidis), Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural) and Romain Sicard (Direct Energie).
It seems the peloton was not happy with that one, the presence of Brambilla probably didn't help the situation, and we're back to square one.
It was Astana and Trek Segafredo that were not content with that attack. They want someone in the breakaway today.
A nice shot of the 14 that briefly went clear. It wasn't to be though.
As well as power meters, another debate that was stoked in recent days was the issue of rider numbers at races. Greg Van Avermaet won the Olympic road race with a five-rider team and we asked the Belgian if he thought the amount of riders per-team should be reduced at races. Van Avermaet said yes, adding that Grand Tours should have just seven in each team. Read his full thoughts on the matter here.
161km remaining from 193km
The peloton is in one long line and the pace is taking its toll on some of those who have been injured or sick in the opening days. Daniele Bennati has already paid a visit to the medical car today.
FDJ's Alex Geniez is now having a solo attempt. The Frenchman is fourth in the mountains classification and there's 10 points available at the top of this first ascent.
Geniez is brought back. Out of interest, this is how things look in the mountains classification. Forgive me, I incorrectly called Fraile the leader of that competition. Nairo Quintana is the leader but Fraile is in the jersey with Quintana wearing red.
The road is beginning to rise up. We're not quite on the climb proper but it is not far away. Riders still trying to breakaway but to no avail.
This is the profile of what they're about ride up.
We have two riders dangling off the front as Dimension Data pulls the peloton along.
More riders have joined those out front but the gap is small at just five seconds. The five-man group are : Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Kenny Elissonde (FDJ), Egor Sillin (Katusha), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie)
Fraile has joined the party now, which means that Dimension Data has pulled off the front of the peloton but there are others ready to do the work and the move is nullified.
No sooner are things together than more riders have jumped clear. This time it's a sizeable 20-rider group that has a small gap on the bunch.
That group, which had Fraile and Brambilla in it again has been brought back. There are a number of riders who look hell-bent on making it into the break, such as Fraile, Rolland, Brambilla and Sicard. Will any of them get into the one that sticks?
147km remaining from 193km
Just three kilometres from the top of the climb and the group is splitting up. It's now in four pieces as the fast paces does some damage.
Seven riders have jumped clear and not one of them is Fraile. In the group is Kennaugh, Elissond, Atapuma, Lopez, Meintjes and Brambilla with Hardy chasing behind them.
Here is the scene from near the top of the climb. On paper, it wasn't a particularly tough ascent but the speed of the opening hour did some real damage.
It looks like Hardy has caught those attackers and is now alone out front. He's got just 14 seconds on the peloton though.
The results from the top of the first climb and David Lopez took the full complement with Louis Meintjes just behind him.
137km remaining from 193km
Hardy has been brought back again and is now with the peloton. We still have that other group of seven out front and they hold a 22-second lead on the peloton.
Hardy is as Hardy does. The French rider hasn't given up just yet and he claws his way back to the front group bringing our leading group up to eight riders. They now have 35 seconds on the peloton.
A reminder of that leading group: David Lopez and Peter Kennaugh (Sky), Darwin Atapuma (BMC), Louis Meintjes (Lampre - Merida), Romain Hardy (Cofidis) and Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx - Quick Step).
Zubeldia and Wyss tried to bridge the gap but they are quickly brought back. Still just 35 seconds between the main peloton and the breakaway.
This isn't over just yet. The peloton is still working to keep this move close and it could yet come back together before long.
126km remaining from 193km
Movistar are leading a rather reduced peloton for the time being, as the race split up on the Puerto de las Alisas.
120km remaining from 193km
118km remaining from 193km
There is no immediate threat to Quintana in this group - Kennaugh is best-placed on GC, 6:32 down - but the presence of two Sky riders in the move will have set alarm bells ringing for Movistar nonetheless.
On paper, today's stage seems ideal for the kind of ambush Alberto Contador managed to pull off on the road to Fuente De in 2012, but the Spaniard has no Tinkoff teammates in this move, nor any other obvious allies. His chief accomplice in 2012, after all, was former teammate Paolo Tiralongo.
113km remaining from 193km
Back in the main peloton, meanwhile, Florian Sénéchal (Cofidis) has abandoned the Vuelta a Espana.
109km remaining from 193km
The peloton is being cautious with this move and the gap has leveled out at 2:25 on this climb.
The pace has slowed in the second hour of racing but it's still pretty quick at 42.9kph.
Lopez drops back to the car and attempts a tricky bidon collection on a twisty, downhill section of road.
Lopez stays upright during his bottle collection but Atapuma goes down on a corner. He was at the front of the breakaway when his bike went from underneath him. Fortunately nobody else goes down with him and he is able to get up and continue.
Atapuma is now 15 seconds back on his companions and they can't slow up to let him back with Movistar breathing down their neck.
98km remaining from 193km
There is also a bike change for Atapuma and that has cost him another 30 seconds, leaving him 45 seconds behind the leaders. Will he try and chase or will he save his energy for another day?
The riders have finished the official descent of that second climb. The road kicks up a little before they start descending again. This little respite is giving the riders time to collect some food. Rojas looks delighted with his haul and shows it to the TV camera.
Hardy struggled on the first descent and he gets distanced as they begin descending again. Atapuma is coming back to the leaders after being as far back as 1:15 following his crash.
It appears to be Kennaugh doing the lion's share of the work on the front of the leading group. He does eventually peel off, clearly fed up of the others capitalising on Sky's numbers.
Fabrice Jeandesboz for Direct Energie becomes the second rider today to abandon. He is also the second Direct Energie rider to call it quits, after Tony Hurel.
Movistar continues to nibble away at the advantage of the leaders. It drops to under two minutes with just over 80km to go. The Spanish outfit is not only worried about the threat that some of the riders in the break pose but the possible bridge the two Sky riders could be for Froome later in the stage.
82km remaining from 193km
In around 20km time, the riders will enter Bilbao, where they will begin two laps of a finishing circuit. The local laps will include the second category Alto El Vivero, a 4.2km climb that averages 8.5 per cent.
After trying with a few riders earlier, FDJ did manage to get a rider into the day's break with Kenny Elissonde. The young Frenchman showed his promise when he won a stage of the Vuelta a Espana in 2013. FDJ has already won a stage at this year's race due to the efforts of Geniez. The French team does not have a overall goal, other than spice things up by being aggressive.
The break looks like they're trying to push on and they're extending their advantage once again as Movistar sits up a little bit. Quintana and Castroviejo share a joke between each other. 2:06 separate the two groups.
The Vuelta a Espana will spend a few days in the Basque Country, the home of several riders in this peloton. David Lopez is one of those, the Team Sky rider's home is very near today's finish. Another Basque rider in the bunch is Haimar Zubeldia, who tried to make it into today's break but didn't succeed. We spoke to the Trek-Segafredo rider this morning about the up and coming stages through his home region. You can read his thoughts here.
65km remaining from 193km
Movistar controls things into Bilbao.
60km remaining from 193km
The sun is shining on the riders in Bilbao as they pass by the city's football stadium.
Also on the riders' route is the Guggenheim museum which was opened in 1997. It sits on the Nervion River and is one of the biggest museums in Spain.
A bit of an incident at the side of the road as the peloton begins a small climb. Several Tinkoff riders involved but nobody is actually down. Andrew Talansky is also caught up in it and he takes some time to get going again. There seemed to be an issue with his bike.
With the Alto El Vivero coming up, Astana has put some riders up towards the front. They may also be concerned that the lead of the six riders out front is nudging up towards three minutes. As soon as they move up, the gap begins to fall.
Over the next two climbs, we may see the break try to shake Kennaugh and Brambilla from the move. If they can do that then there is a slim chance that the four remaining riders could go on to take the stage win. It is a very long shot though.
46km remaining from 193km
Smukulis puts in a real injection of pace on the front of the bunch and brings the gap down to 1:39 before peeling off and letting Movistar set the pace once again.
Vanotti throws a move up to road but it's not exactly a stinging attack. His gap is only a few metres.
45km remaining from 193km
So far, it's just Hardy that we've lost from this breakaway. The remaining six are happy to try and work together. They are not yet worried about the chasing peloton.
44km remaining from 193km
That's it for Lopez, his day in the break is done. He's going to sit up and wait for the peloton. Sky will hope that he's got enough energy to help Froome when he's back there.
Kenny Elissonde has an interesting stance on the bike. He really gets low when the gradient gets tough. He puts in a little attack as he looks for the mountains classification points.
Elissonde does take the points, followed by Brambilla and then Kennaugh. Those three are pushing along and Meintjes has to put in a big effort to keep in touch.
On the descent it is Brambilla who is keen to keep this ticking along with Kennaugh no the rider who is sitting at the back of a stretched out line. They leaders now have 1:52 on the peloton.
Confirmation of the result at that third KOM
Lopez didn't sit up and wait. He gritted his teeth and has managed to catch the breakaway on the descent.
34km remaining from 193km
Astana now has two riders on the front, as do Movistar. Unlike yesterday, Tinkoff is not in the mix just yet although they are near the front.
Just a minute left for the escapees now and it looks like they'll be brought back by the start of this final climb or soon after.
30km remaining from 193km
The leaders cross the finish line for the penultimate time but the peloton is not too far behind. It won't be long before this is all back together.
Kennaugh takes the points at the intermediate sprint, while Meintjes goes for an attack soon after.
Lopez takes the points at the intermediate sprint, while Meintjes goes for an attack soon after.
Meintjes is brought back and now Brambilla is having a go. Elissonde brings him back though.
24km remaining from 193km
The peloton is surprisingly big considering the blistering pace that has been set all day. Around 50-60 riders still in that main group, with Simon Yates bringing up the rear.
While helping Chris Froome, Leo Konig has also been allowed to ride his own race to a certain extent. The Czech rider is sixth overall at the moment.
18km remaining from 193km
The peloton will hit the climb together. Fraile is in that group and he's still got an opportunity to get those all important mountains classification points.
There are some splits happening up and down the bunch. This is going to be a fast climb.
Devenyns has gone on the attack.
Devenyns was in the break on Sunday but missed out on the stage win. There is a long way to go for the Belgian who will ride for Etixx-QuickStep next season.
There is little reaction in the peloton at the moment as Devenyns brings his advantage up to 12 seconds.
16km remaining from 193km
Finally there is a reaction and Zeits has attacked along with Bennett. Davenyns has 30 seconds on the peloton at the moment.
There is a BMC rider trying to jump the gap too, not sure who it is yet though.
15km remaining from 193km
Devenyns is just plugging along nicely. Behind him, Bennett has dropped Zeits as the other attacks have been brought back. Devenyns now has 41 seconds.
Devenyns went away with De la Cruz over the weekend, when the Spaniard took red. De la Cruz looked the strongest but Devenyns was denied a chance at taking victory when a mechanical problem struck at just the wrong moment.
Contador attacks
13km remaining from 193km
Moreno kicks on now and he's got Rolland and Frank with him. The road is getting very narrow here.
The gap to Devenyns is coming down but he's digging deep as the top of the climb comes near.
Around seven riders forming a chase group. We've not seen it but it seems that Bennett has been caught by the group.
Some of the riders in the chase are Frank, Bakelandts, Moreno, Mammykin. There's also a Cannondale rider in there as more riders try to jump clear.
Formolo is the Cannondale rider. De La Cruz is also up there and we can now see Bennett in that chasing group.
6km remaining from 193km
That chasing group is now back within the peloton and Devenyns now has 30 seconds. It's going to be touch and go.
Fabio Aru showed at the Dauphine that it is possible to win even with such a small gap. It's going to be a tough ask for Devenyns but he's likely being pushed on by the disappointment of a few days ago.
That explosive effort in the peloton on that climb has really reduced it's numbers. Very few riders remain as Zeits attacks again with Bakelants.
4km remaining from 193km
It's at moments like these when you want to pull the radio out of your ear and just ride your own race. The peloton can almost smell Devenyns out front as he tries his best to hold them off.
Simon Yates tried to have a go himself but he was getting no help and he sits up.
2km remaining from 193km
Devenyns is almost caught
Three riders jump clear from Katusha, Trek and Orica-BikeExchange
They've finally caught Devenyns and his hope at victory is all but gone.
It's gruppo compatto and it's going to be a sprint finish
Castroviejo leads it out
Stybar goes for the sprint
It looks like Keukleire who won
The Orica-BikeExchange rider had a clear margin on the line in the end.
Stybar finished second with Felline in third.
Sorry the Etixx-QuickStep rider in second place was Bouet not Stybar
Bouet slaps his handlebars in frustration but he was no match for the Belgian winner. Keukleire had almost two bike lengths on the Etixx-QuickStep rider in the end.
Confirmation of the top 10 on that stage
That win is Keukeleire's first in a Grand Tour and only his second this season. The Belgian usually performs best at the start of the season in the classics.
Keukeleire, who's girlfriend and first child are at the finish today, had this to say of his victory.
There has been no changes in the overall top 10 following that stage.
We expected Contador to try and do something today in order to bring back some time. While he had a little dig on that final climb nothing really came from the Spaniard. Ultimately, he'll probably be happy to be in the same place at the end of the day.
The moment Keukeleire won
We've got pictures, results and report coming from today's stage already. You can find that all here.
There are a lot of Colombians around at the Vuelta a Espana and a deafening roar erupts when Nairo Quintana steps up onto the podium to collect another red jersey. Quintana should be assured of that jersey for at least another day with just a few third category stages to contend with tomorrow. Of course, he'll need to stay upright.
It is Saturday's stage to the Col d'Aubisque that will be the next chance for the GC riders to face off against each other. With a time trial looming, Quintana will want to put some serious time into Froome. The Colombian likes the longer stuff but Froome has been coming into form as the race progresses. For Contador, it will also be a crucial day. It's likely to make or break any hopes he has of salvaging his overall ambitions. Chaves is still up there and could be a spanner in the works if he's feeling sprightly.
Tomorrow's stage is the longest of the race at 213.4km. This is what it looks like.
That's it from us today, you can find our report on today's action here.
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