Vuelta a Espana 2017: Stage 12

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January 1 - September 10, Motril, Nîmes, Road - WorldTour

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Live coverage of stage 12 of the Vuelta a España - flat for the first half, hilly for the second.

 

Hello there and welcome to our live coverage of stage 12 of the 2017 Vuelta. After the first big-mountain summit finish yesterday, the race rolls on today with yet more hills. It remains to be seen whether the pair of climbs in the second half of the parcours will draw out the overall contenders, but what is certain is that this is fertile ground for a successful breakaway. 

The riders are in Motril, going through the usual pre-race motions - dossards, sign-on, haircuts, etc. The roll-out is scheduled for 13.15 local time, so just over 15 minutes. 

The big news at the Vuelta this morning is that in the middle of the night the Aqua Blue Sport team bus was destroyed by arsonists. Here are the details.

It's a terrible situation for the Irish team, who are making their debut Grand Tour appearance here at the Vuelta in their first year of existence. The race organisers have given them a 52-seater passenger bus for the time being, while plenty of other teams have offered out support. The logistical headaches are numerous but the team is more defiant than ever - "We're not going anywhere."

The riders are off, ahead of them a lengthy neutralised zone before they reach kilometre-zero and the race proper is waved underway.

And I reckon we'll have a race on our hands here. In stark contrast to the Tour, this year the trend at the Vuelta has been long drawn-out struggles for breakaways to form, and there's no reason why today should be any different. Given the profile, the stage will have been marked in the roadbooks of many of the baroudeurs, and there should be no shortage of interest in getting up the road today - so we could be in for another fast start. 

A couple of non-starters to report. LottoNL-Jumbo's George Bennett continues to struggle with illness after his Tour de France abandon, while Dimension Data's Serge Pauwels - who might have fancied a stage such as this - is also sick. There are just four riders left now for DiData. 

Before we get going, how about a re-cap of yesterday's action?

Here's how the GC has been left

After two days of heavy rain - a rarity in August in southern Spain - normal service has been resumed and we have clear skies and blazing sunshine. 

We're off!

No attacks sticking yet, as the peloton flies along almost in single file.

There are a few lumps and bumps coming up, which may be helpful in the formation of a break, but it's full gas so far and, if previous stages are anything to go by, it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see this situation continue all the way to the first climb of the day at KM80.

Former Spanish champion Fran Ventoso (BMC) predicted such a start to proceedings. 

Mark Christian is the latest Aqua Blue rider to try for the break, but still nothing sticking with just under 20km on the clock. 

The fast start to the day is taking it's toll as two riders have already abandoned. They are Jorge Arcas (Movistar Team) and Lennard Höfstede (Team Sunweb).

Still one big peloton barrelling along the coast, with more than 30km gone. 

No break but the peloton has split under this pressure. Two big groups out there.

The peloton is back together again. 

A group of 14 riders has just clipped off the front...

Omar Fraile, JJ Rojas, and Jan Polanc are in there, and it looks like they're getting away.

110km remaining from 160km

This group has around a minute on the peloton at the moment, and here's who's in it.

Two minutes now. Despite a brief rally from Manzana Postobon, who have missed out, the pace drops in the peloton, and this right here is our break of the day. 

The 14-rider break:

100km remaining from 160km

News just in that Mark Cavendish will return to racing - after crashing out of the Tour de France in July - at the Tour of Britain, which starts this weekend. Here's the story.

Puncture for Canty but he's back in the mix, as the gap continues to grow - 6 minutes now. 

Sky have set up shop in their familiar position at the head of the peloton. Rojas is the only rider within half an hour of Froome's lead, so there's no need to ride hard at this point. 

82km remaining from 160km

The climb, by the way, officially begins with 84km on the clock at 76km remaining - so in 4km' time. 

Seven minutes is the gap as the breakaway riders approach the climb. Much will depend on how the peloton and the GC contenders race the climbs, but there's a good chance our stage winner will come from this group. 

It's all amicable in the break as they tackle the lower slopes of this climb. It could be that the hostilities are saved for the second climb later on, or at least for further up this climb. 

The peloton are about to start climbing, but before that there's the small matter of the feedzone. The grabbing of musettes along with the consumption of their contents will make for a relaxed pace and the breakaway riders - who have team cars right behind at their immediate disposal - will see their lead grow further still. 

Third time lucky for Rojas?

Just moments after Egan Bernal wrapped up the Tour de l'Avenir title - one of the most dominant victories in the race's recent history - it was announced he will be joining Team Sky next year. Today on CN, Pierre Carrey has this feature on the Colombian prodigy. 

70km remaining from 160km

Team Sky, with a full team in front of Froome, lead the way in the peloton up this climb. It's Diego Rosa on the front, but if Christian Knees and Ian Stannard are sitting comfortably in behind then you know the pace is fairly sedate. 

7:25 is the gap as the situation stays stable on this long climb. The breakaway riders are still all together and it's still a large Sky-led peloton behind. 

61km remaining from 160km

The break reach speeds of almost 80km/h as they hit one of those downhill sections I was talking about. It's soon over, and they have a kilometre or so left to climb before they can tuck into a proper descent. 

Here comes the battle for the KOM points. A maximum of 10 on offer atop this first-category climb. 

58km remaining from 160km

The road now heads downhill for more than 30km. Just as that climb was punctuated by a couple of downhill sections, so this descent is punctuated by a couple of inclines. It'll be ticked off quickly, but the action in this stage is going to come down to that final category-2 climb. 

Romain Bardet appears at the head of the peloton as they come to the top of the climb, but the Frenchman's not about to embark on another daring solo descent. Sky still lead the way and will take them down here. 

This isn't really a descent that suits a solo act of aggression, with plenty of places where the road levels out and even tips up, and plenty of pedalling to be done. 

49km remaining from 160km

Crash!

Morkov has a decent gap on his former companions. Koning is chasing but only just ahead of the rest of the group, with Duval chasing back on behind them.

Duval is back with the break but he's currently off the back holding onto the medical car, receiving some running repairs to what looks like a grazed left arm. 

38km remaining from 160km

Koning is still off the nose of the breakaway group. 

There's no panic in the breakaway group and they're certainly not in full chase mode. They know this is a highly ambitious attempt from Morkov. 

Koning has made it over to Morkov, but that's mainly because the Dane has slowed up. The rest of the breakaway riders aren't far behind now. 

33km remaining from 160km

It's warm at the finish but without breaching 30C. The finishing straight is slightly uphill, which will need to be taken into account in the event of a reduced group sprint. 

28km remaining from 160km

Rojas may well be the favourite here. He handled late climbs followed by descents to finish third on stage 7 and second on stage 12. The others will certainly fear his finishing kick and will be hoping to drop him before it comes down to the final kilometre. 

Here we go then. The break hits the final climb. 

24km remaining from 160km

Clement accelerates and that's putting a lot of them in difficulty. Duval is straight out the back

Morkov, Schillinger, Theuns, Koning all in trouble.

Canty, Clement, Fraile, Poljanski, Rojas, Marczynski, and Arroyo are the riders in the lead now.

Big acceleration from Fraile

Fraile might have been going for the intermediate sprint that was somewhat incongruously positioned on this climb. Canty is able to deal with the acceleration, as is Marczynski. Rojas and Poljanski are getting back in, with Arroyo and Clement further back.

Canty has added motivation out there. The Cannondale-Drapac team are currently fighting to stay afloat next season, and they're riding for pride at this Vuelta - and what a message a stage win would send to prospective sponsors. Not only that, but if the team does fold, then riders obviously need to secure work elsewhere for next year, so will no doubt be keen to show what they can do. 

21km remaining from 160km

The Lotto Soudal rider may be from Poland but this is pretty much home turf for him. He's an Andalucian resident, living not far from Granada. 

Contador attacks from the peloton!

20km remaining from 160km

Sky, instead of simply grinding their way back to that duo, send a rider up to police the move. But then they change their minds and it's back to riding tempo in a line. 

20km remaining from 160km

Contador and Roche have around 10 seconds on the peloton. No panic from Sky. 

Clement has ridden back up to the chasers so it's five in pursuit of Marczynski. 

Roche tumbled out of the top 10 yesterday after an awful ride to the summit finish at Calar Alto. He said his legs felt like concrete, and they don't seem much better today as Contador rides away from him.

Froome has three teammates in front of him as Sky chase down Contador. Nibali moves up alongside the race leader for a chat. 

It's ambitious from Contador, but once again he has thrown the cat among the pigeons. It had been calm for so long but suddenly this group isn't so much a peloton as an elite GC group of not much more than 20 riders. 

Roche is swallowed up. 

Contador has opened up 35 seconds on the GC group

Meanwhile Marczynski has a minute on the chasers.

Contador has a teammate up the road in Theuns, whom he should be able to lean on before long.

Crash for Canty

Canty crashed into the roadside barrier and flipped over it, but he's back up and running. 

11km remaining from 160km

Contador's lead has been clipped to 20 seconds. 

8km remaining from 160km

Contador crests the climb and there is Theuns waiting for him. 

Problem for Froome!

The race leader has a mechanical and drops back and comes to a halt to receive a bike change. 

Froome crashes!

Wow. Froome is trying to get back on and comes a cropper on a bend, where he was competing for space with the team cars. 

Sky riders are sent to drop back for Froome, and this is the first real cause for panic for him in this Vuelta. 

Contador has 1:07 on Froome as it stands, as he sprints to follow the wheel of Theuns on this descent. 

4km remaining from 160km

In the absence of Sky, Astana are leading the GC group. They have two riders - Aru and Lopez - in the top 10, and Contador is clearly a threat. 

2km remaining from 160km

We still haven't got a time check between Froome and the GC group, where Nibali is up near the front talking to the other riders. 

Contador is simply giving it 100 per cent, and stands to gain a decent chunk of time today to continue his resurgence at this Vuelta. 

Into the home straight for Marczynski. What a Vuelta this has been for him. He only had a few unremarkable wins on his palmares before this - including Polish RR and TT titles to be fair - but now has two Grand Tour stage wins to his name. 

Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) wins stage 12 of the Vuelta a España

The Pole crosses the line, sits up and celebrates, but now the attention swings back to the GC riders. 

Froome is now leading his two teammates. He's still some way behind the GC group. 

Fraile takes second place, Rojas third.

Contador, still nestled in Theuns' slipstream, comes into town and is increasing his lead. 

Astana continue to push on in the GC group, and Nibali is right up there too. 

Theuns shakes his head. He looks like he's cooked, but he offers up another acceleration. Just over 3km to go for them.

And now he's done. Contador is on his own now. An individual TT of 3km. 

We don't have any time gaps at the moment, so we'll have to wait for the finish to properly assess the damage. 

157km remaining from 160km

The road has flattened out and boy could Contador do without these extra kilometres. This is a really sapping effort, and it may well sap his gains here. 

1km remaining from 160km

Froome is tucked in behind Wout Poels. A decent job in damage limitation but the race leader is going to lose a bit of time today. 

Here comes Contador, still with enough energy to bounce out of the saddle. He crosses the line, and so begins the countback. 

21 seconds is the gap to the GC group.

Froome crosses the line some 20 seconds down on that GC group. 

Top 10

General classification after stage 12

The official timings show that Contador put 22 seconds into the group of GC contenders, and 42 seconds into Froome. By my maths that means Nibali and the rest of the GC men put 20 seconds into Froome. Small, but significant. 

Well, it was calm for much of the day but what a frantic finale we had. There'll be plenty to digest this evening - not least Contador's aggression and Froome's wobble. It will also be interesting to hear from Nibali and those in the GC group about the collaboration there. 

Marczynski speaks

Here's Alberto Contador

Here's a video of Froome's mishaps

Here's Astana's Miguel Angel Lopez, 10th overall after his stage win yesterday, who finished in the main GC group. 

And now we can hear from Froome, who confirms he crashed twice. 

The first finish line shots are in

Plenty more photos, alongside a write-up and results, in our stage report. 

For all the snap post-stage reaction in one handy place, here's our stage 12 edition of finish line quotes.

Alberto Contador made some solid time gains today. Hear what he has to say about the race situation:

Vuelta a Espana: Contador claws back 42 seconds on Froome on stage 12

'I'm just grateful not to be more injured today,' says Froome after Vuelta a Espana crashes

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 12 highlights - Video

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