Enlarge image
End of an ordeal: Richard Carapaz at the finish
Photo:
Javier Lizon/EPA
Despite minor fall injuries, the Belgian professional cyclist Remco Evenepoel confirmed his top form at the Tour of Spain and defended the red jersey.
On the difficult final climb of the twelfth stage, which took the peloton along the Andalusian Mediterranean coast over 192.7 km from Salobrena to Penas Blancas, the 22-year-old from Team Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl crossed the finish line at the same time as his direct pursuers.
Olympic champion Richard Carapaz secured the stage win.
From a breakaway group, the 29-year-old Ecuadorian from the Ineos Grenadiers team made the decisive attack two kilometers from the finish and relegated the Dutchman Wilco Keldermann from the German team Bora-hansgrohe to second place.
The best German was the 20-year-old youngster Marco Brenner from Team DSM, who only had to let the day's best go shortly before the end and caused a surprise in fifth place, 34 seconds behind.
Like his teammate Julian Alaphilippe the day before, overall leader Evenepoel slipped away in a right-hand bend about 46 kilometers from the finish line, but unlike the world champion, he remained uninjured apart from a few abrasions.
In the overall classification, the Belgian defended his lead over the Slovenian Vuelta series winner Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo-Visma/2:41) and the Spanish local hero Enric Mas (Movistar/+3:03).
Further corona cases are thinning out the field
A leading group of 32 had already pulled away early in the race, and in the meantime had a lead of up to twelve minutes over the peloton – including the two-time stage winner and mountain classification leader Jay Vine (Australia/Alpecin-Deceuninck).
The next two Corona failures in the field of drivers had previously occurred: After a positive test, the Colombian Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) and the Dutchman Boy van Poppel (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) had to get out of the tour before the start of the stage.
The 13th stage on Friday takes the field over 168.4 km from Ronda to Montilla.
The 77th edition of the Vuelta ends on September 11th with the 21st stage and the arrival in Madrid.
kjo/dpa/sid