Spain’s Enric Mas extended his overall lead in the Vuelta a Espana with a late attack as Slovenia’s Jakob Omrzel won stage 12 to Calar Alto.
Omrzel, 20, secured his first Grand Tour stage victory in imperious fashion, riding clear of his remaining breakaway companions on the 17km final climb to finish nearly two minutes clear of Urko Berrade, with Colombia’s Santiago Buitrago in third.
In the process Omrzel moved within 30 seconds of Oscar Onley in the best young rider’s classification after a difficult day for the Briton.
The Netcompany Ineos rider suffered an early crash and was then dropped by his main rivals early on the final climb, eventually finishing over two minutes behind Mas and slipping a place to fifth in the GC.
Movistar rider Mas broke from a small pack including four-time champion Primoz Roglic and Felix Gall with about 13km of the mountainous 166.6km course left.
Slovenian Roglic and Austrian Gall, who sit second and third in the general classification, could not respond as Mas increased his advantage by a further 27 seconds on a day of searing heat on a mountainous course that featured five categorised climbs.
Mas finished sixth, just under three minutes adrift of Ormzel, but extended his overall lead to one minute 56 seconds.
Tadej Pogacar had been leading the Vuelta by almost four minutes but crashed out on stage eight, breaking his collarbone in what may be a season-ending injury.
The race ends in Andalusia on Sunday, 13 September with stages to come in the mountains and hills around Malaga and Granada’s Sierra Nevada.
Stage 12 results
- Jakob Omrzel (Slo/Bahrain Victorious) 4 hrs 29mins 53secs
- Urko Berrade (Spa/Equipo Kern Pharma) +1min 56secs
- Santiago Buitrago (Col/Bahrain Victorious) +2mins 13secs
- Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz/NSN Cycling Team) +2mins 49secs
- Mauri Vansevenant (Bel/Soudal Quick-Step) +2mins 53secs
- Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar Team) +2mins 56secs
- Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon CMA CGM Team) +3mins 23secs
- Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) same time
- Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education – EasyPost)
- Gregor Muhlberger (Aut/Decathlon CMA CGM Team) +3mins 50secs
General classification after stage 12
- Enric Mas (Esp/Movistar) 40hrs 31mins 51secs
- Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora – hansgrohe) +1min 45secs
- Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon CMA CGM Team) +2min 06secs
- Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education – EasyPost) +3mins 53secs
- Oscar Onley (GB/Netcompany Ineos) +4mins 29secs
- Jakob Omrzel (Slo/Bahrain Victorious) +4mins 59secs
- Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl-Trek) +7mins 42secs
- Sepp Kuss (US/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +7mins 58secs
- Gregor Mühlberger (Aut/Decathlon CMA CGM Team) +8mins 27secs
- Harold Tejada (Col/XDS Astana Team) +8mins 33secs
By BBC Sports
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