Vuelta a Espana: Marczynski wins stage 12

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Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) claimed his second win of the Vuelta a Espana on stage 12, attacking from the early break to solo into Antequera.

The 33-year-old, who also won stage 6 from the break, attacked on the final climb of Thursday’s stage and held off the remnants of the early break on the descent and run-in to the line. 

Omar Fraile (Dimension Data) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) rounded out the top three but the stage burst into life when Alberto Contador (Trek Segafredo) attacked on the final ascent alongside Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing).

The Spaniard’s move sparked panic in the chase group but Team Sky appeared to have regained control of the situation until race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) crashed twice in quick succession on the descent. 

Although Froome’s teammates came to his aid they could not regain contact with the main group of favourites, including second-placed overall Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida). By the time Froome crossed the line he had conceded 20 seconds to Nibali and 42 to Contador.

Froome remains in the red jersey but his lead to Nibali has been cut to 59 seconds. Contador, meanwhile, remains in ninth but has cut the deficit to Froome to 3:13.

Contador goes on the attack

Until the ascent of the second-category Puerto del Torcal the stage looked destined to be a stalemate between the GC contenders. Team Sky had tapped out a relatively steady tempo for most of the stage, allowing the break to establish a gap of eight minutes as the race gathered pace towards the two categorised climbs.

The first-category Puerto del León was raced without incident but as soon as the break, and the bunch, hit the foot of the Torcal all hell broke loose. The break instantly fragmented with Marczynski delivering the most telling attack with around 6km left of the 7.6km climb. The next time his breakaway companions would see him would be on the podium.

When the peloton reached the Torcal several minutes later Contador made his move. He was instantly joined by a plucky Nicolas Roche but the Irishman’s only assistance was to offer shade as he glued himself to the back of the Trek-Segafredo rider’s rear wheel before falling away.

Soon before, Contador had bridged up to his teammate, Edward Theuns, who had been in the early break, and the pair set a line blistering pace towards the finish. A stranded Froome was plucked to safety by Mikel Nieve and Wout Poels but despite a frantic chase they were unable to regain contact with the bulk of the GC group. In the end it could have been far worse for Froome but the climactic end to stage 12 was a fine illustration that this year’s Vuelta a Espana is far from a done deal.

How it unfolded

The break, consisting of Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Pawel Poljanski, Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julien Duval (AG2R-La Mondiale), Brendan Canty (Cannondale-Drapac), Michael Morkov (Katusha-Alpecin), Stef Clement (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal), Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), Anthony Pérez (Cofidis), David Arroyo (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Peter Koning (Aqua Blue Sport), took close to 45km of racing to form but once they generated clear daylight between themselves and the peloton there was little impetus to mount a chase.

With no threat from the GC fringes Team Sky were content to ride at a comfortable pace. The leaders built up an eight-minute advantage as they pushed along the flat roads through Torre del Mar and the race settled into a predictable pattern. The Puerto del León may have stretched out beyond 17 kilometres but its gradual pitches of less than five per cent were of little trouble to both the break and their pursuers.

Further down the climb Contador was making his move and, like the Spaniard, Marczynski would hold out until the finish.

"It was an incredible stage," Marczynski said. "After my first victory I was keeping fresh to try again today. I was a bit afraid at the beginning - I spent a lot of energy and had to sprint like 100 times just to get in the breakaway.

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