La Vuelta 2020: Hugh Carthy conquers Angliru to secure famous win as Carapaz takes red off Roglic

Richard Carapaz crept back into the red jersey after Primoz Roglic struggled on the savage double-digit gradient of the Alto de l'Angliru as Britain's Hugh Carthy took a maiden Grand Tour win in some style in a thrilling conclusion to Stage 12 of La Vuelta.

Jumbo-Visma's Roglic rallied on the mythical climb in the Asturias, and with the help of dependable teammate Sepp Kuss the Slovenian crossed the line 10 seconds down on his rival Carapaz of Ineos Grenadiers and in fifth place of the short but sharp 109.4km stage.

Carapaz now leads the race by that same time difference after missing out on any bonus seconds, with Russia's Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) and Spain's Enric Mas (Movistar) pipping the Ecuadorian to the line for second and third place in the stage.

But it was 26-year-old Carthy, of EF Pro Cycling, who put in the performance of the day, riding clear of the race favourites in the final kilometre of a climb deemed one of the strongest in pro cycling.

Carthy crossed the line 16 seconds clear of the chasing trio to leapfrog Ireland's Dan Martin and move into third place in the general classification, 32 seconds off the summit.

Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) limited his losses in finishing alongside Roglic and Kuss for seventh place – meaning the top four in the general classification will enter Tuesday's time trial separated by just 35 seconds.

On gravity defying gradients that saw the riders' front wheels lift off the road and reduced the race leader to weave his way to ease the burden of a 23.5 per cent tilt, the gaps were minimal between the race's finest – the sustained steepness acting as a leveller between the rivals for red.

It was the white jersey of Mas, the race's leading young rider, who lit the torch paper on the steepest segment of the Angliru, his attack with 3.5km to go blowing the group of race favourites apart and revealing the cracks in Roglic's red armour.

Prior to the Spaniard's acceleration, Roglic was in a comfortable situation with teammates Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard setting a tempo which had everyone else holding on for dear life.

But the move by Mas spelled the end of Vingegaard's stint on the front – and forced Kuss to leave his leader while trying to close the gap.

Carapaz, who entered the stage level on time with Roglic, suddenly smelled blood. With Kuss called back to help the red jersey, Carapaz joined Carthy in chasing down Mas, with even Martin and Vlasov putting in some metres between themselves and the Jumbo pair.

As the gradients finally eased to a more manageable 10 per cent following the deadly Cueña les Cabres section, Carthy spotted his opportunity and darted clear. There was no response from Carapaz who had himself struggled to keep up with the earlier tempo set by Roglic and his Jumbo train.

And so Carthy continued his EF Pro Cycling team's excellent season, adding to teammate Michael Woods' earlier stage win in La Vuelta with an even more memorable one of his own. While doing so, the man from Lancashire underlined his credentials as one of the favourites to win this race – giving British fans another rider to cheer after Tao Geoghegan Hart's recent triumph in the Giro d'Italia.

"It's a dream come true to win," Carthy said after the sixth, but by far the biggest, milestone of his career. "To win any professional race is a dream come true but to win in a Grand Tour on a mythical climb – it doesn't get any better than that. It's hard to put into words. Everything is to play for going into the time trial – it's exciting for the public, it's what they want to see."

Earlier in a stage that was played out at breakneck speed and lasted little over three hours, a large break of 20 riders went clear and acted as a vehicle for Frenchman Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) to consolidate his lead in the polka dot jersey standings.

Martin took maximum points over all four climbs before the summit showdown as he increased his tally to 76 points – some 46 points clear of his nearest challenger, Carapaz.

Alongside Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Italy's Mattia Cattaneo (Deceuninck Quick-Step), Martin was one of three remaining riders from the break who reached the foot of the Angliru ahead of the streamlined pack.

Some hefty pacing from the Movistar team of Mas tore into the break's maximum advantage of three minutes before double Vuelta champion Chris Froome came to the front near the summit of the penultimate climb to help pave the way for his Ineos teammate Carapaz.

But it was business as usual for the Jumbo-Visma train on the gentler early slopes of the Angliru, with the red jersey enjoying some strong pacing from five teammates as the last men standing from the break were swept up with 10km remaining.

A sustained pull by Jumbo's Dutch veteran Robert Gesink ensured that just 10 riders were left on the front as the final succession of arduous hairpins began with 6km to go.

If Roglic still had Vingegaard and Kuss, and Carthy had Woods, Carapaz and Mas both found themselves isolated, while freelancers Dan Martin, Vlasov and Wout Poels (Bahrain-McLaren) clung on as the gradient ramped up.

On the back for a long period, Carapaz eventually found his legs to exploit Roglic's wobble once Mas forced a shake out. But with the hardest climb of this race over, and an individual time trial awaiting the riders after the rest day, Roglic – already a triple stage winner in this Vuelta – will be confident he can take back the 10 seconds he conceded to his rival from Ineos to move back into the red jersey on Tuesday.

With Carapaz back in red, Roglic will tackle the 33.7km time trial - which concludes with the punchy climb of Mirador el Ezaro - in a green skin-suit as leader of the points classification.