La Vuelta a Espana 2020 Stage 12 - As it happened
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Updated 01/11/2020 at 19:01 GMT
La Vuelta 2020 – Britain's Hugh Carthy proved the strongest on the mighty Angliru while there was a change at the top in the battle for red after Richard Carapaz took 10 seconds on Primoz Roglic ahead of the second rest day.
Hugh Carthy of The United Kingdom and Team EF Pro Cycling / during the 75th Tour of Spain 2020, Stage 12 a 109,4km stage from Pola de Laviana to Alto de l'Angliru 1560m / @lavuelta / #LaVuelta20 / La Vuelta
Image credit: Getty Images
Watch live uninterrupted coverage of Stage 12: a 109.4km ride from Pola de Laviana to Alto de l'Angliru from 12:50 GMT
LIVE UPDATES FROM STAGE 12
Here's how Carthy hit the big time on the Angliru
The rangy rouleur from Preston did Lancashire proud today - here's him coming over the last bit of the incline before dropping down to victory in the race's queen stage.
New top 10: Carapaz back in red
The Ecuadorian will enter the rest day with 10 seconds over Roglic, while today's winner Carthy leapfrogs Martin into third place at 32 seconds.
Stage 12 top 10
The gaps weren't huge in the end - with Roglic battling to keep his losses to Carapaz down to just 10 seconds - but what a day for Hugh Carthy to take the biggest win of his career.
Victory for Hugh Carthy!
What a way to pick up your first Grand Tour stage win - on the Alto de l'Angliru! He punches the air and then we wait a whole 17 seconds before Aleksandr Vlasov leads Enric Mas home. Next is Richard Carapaz, who will be in red, before Roglic, Kuss and Martin come home... Small gaps after a thrilling finale.
0.5km to go: A fight to the death
Mas and Vlasov have not given up yet, while Carapaz is all over the road - but on course for red because of Roglic's troubles behind. Martin is now with that Jumbo duo. Carthy is onto the downhill segment towards a maiden Grand Tour stage win.
Final kilometre
Hugh Carthy pulls clear as the gradient eases a little ahead of the flamme rouge. He has Mas, then Vlasov, then Carapaz in pursuit. It's *only* 10% at the moment as Carthy attacks this climb giving it his all as he approaches the crest.
1.5km to go: Slow-motion battle
The gaps aren't huge because this crazy gradient is such a leveller - no one can exactly ride clear. But Carthy is trying to do just that... phenomenal stuff from the young British talent.
2km to go: Roglic dropped!
Carapaz sniffs blood here. He's ridden clear with Carthy to join Mas. They have Vlasov and Martin in pursuit, with Kuss nursing Roglic further back after the red jersey hit the wall.
2.5km to go: Cuena les Cabres
Mas moves onto the steepest segment which hits 23.5%. At one point his front wheel lifted up off the tarmac because of the pitch. Behind the group of favourites has reformed but Roglic is weaving all over the road to ease the gradient.
3km to go: Roglic and Carapaz distanced
It's Carthy and Vlasov who ride off in pursuit of Mas as the gradient pushes 20%. Kuss dropped back to help pace Roglic, who looks to be struggling. Carapaz is sitting on the red jersey's wheel and Martin has managed to fight back. But these various different skirmishes are all taking place over 20 perhaps 30 metres: it's that close - and that slow on this killer gradient.
3.5km to go: Mas attacks!
The white jersey is the first to make a move. His acceleration opens up a gap and spells the end for Vingegaard's stint on the front. Kuss eventually leads the chase but Woods has been dropped - and Martin looks to be in trouble.
4km to go: Poels dropped
Carapaz is still on the back but clinging on. Poels, however, has been dropped. Jumbo-Visma are really making it hard for anyone to do anything except cling on for dear life - or sink like a stone.
5km to go: Carapaz in trouble?
The Ecuadorian is at the back of this leading group with only Poels behind him. The Dutchman is struggling to hold on as the Danish tyro Vingegaard continues to set this ferocious pace.
6km to go: 10 men left
The leaders are Roglic, Kuss, Vingegaard, Vlasov, Carapaz, Carthy, Woods, Poels, Mas and Dan Martin. Nieve is about 30 metres back and trying his best to rejoin the party.
7km to go: Gesink giving it some beef
The Dutch veteran is out of the saddle and putting in a shift and a half for Jumbo - you sense this is his parting gift before peeling off to allow the likes of Bennett and Kuss take it up. And he does just that - passing the relay over to Jonas Vingegaard. Bennett has gone so it's Kuss now as last man for Roglic. Woods, Carthy, Vlasov and Poels still here, as well as the big guns. The likes of Nieve are starting to be tailed off...
8.5km to go: Still 5 for Jumbo
If Primoz Roglic doesn't finish this off for Jumbo-Visma the mood around the dinner table could be tense... They continue to boss these early, gentler slopes of the Angliru. It's just flattened out before the final ramp where all those double-digits come. There's a group of five riders that includes Froome and Soler which is currently 1'25" down on the main pack, which is down to just 15 riders.
Wout Poels: 'It's the hardest for suffering'
The Dutchman finished behind stage winner Alberto Contador and alongside Sky teammate Chris Froome when the Vuelta last raced up the Angliru in 2017. Now at Bahrain-McLaren, Poels says the Angliru is most comparable to the Zoncolan for sheer brutality: "I've suffered more on other climbs; it's not the hardest when it comes to suffering, but it is when it comes to steepness," he told me during a chat during lockdown, before elaborating on the unrelenting gradient.
"If you have good legs, it's not so bad. It's simple why it's so hard – it's just a super steep climb and pretty long. It just keeps ramping up – the middle part and towards the end is just so steep, all the time."
10km to go: Break caught
Martin and Sanchez have been swept up. Four Jumbo-Visma riders front the pack with their man in red, Roglic, just behind and being shadowed by Carapaz, Mas in white and Dan Martin in green. There are about another 10 riders in this leading group including the likes of Valverde, Poels, Grossschartner, Carthy... But Chris Froome has now been dropped after his earlier pacing.
12km to go: Cattania dropped
Martin and Sanchez go clear after the Italian fades on the climb. This is one of the hardest climbs in pro cycling. We asked some riders about their expectations this morning. This is what CCC Team's Jan Hirt said before the start today...
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Jan Hirt: I've heard that Angliru is like the Spanish version of Zoncolan, I know it'll be very hard
And here are some thoughts from Vuelta debutant Gino Mader...
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'I've only heard stories of the Angliru, it'll probably be faster walking than riding' - Gino Mader
Froome, Wiggins, Cobo and Poels
Remember this?
And here are some TV images of that memorable day when Wiggins cracked to hand over the race lead to Juan Jose Cobo...
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The day when the Angliru broke Wiggins, and Froome 'lost' the 2011 Vuelta
13.5km to go: Alto de l'Angliru
Right, it's showtime. The leaders are onto the final climb of the day, the Cat Especial Alto de l'Angliru (13.2km at 9.4%). This trio of Martin, Sanchez and Cattania have just 18 seconds on the pack, which is being driven by six Jumbo-Visma riders including the man in red, Primoz Roglic.
20km to go: Martin takes KOM points
The man in polka dots caught the leaders before the summit and went over ahead of Sanchez and Cattania to take the maximum 10pts. Job well done for the Frenchman. Take maximum points on the next climb and he'll have won this stage. But that won't happen. This trio has just 30 seconds on the pack, which is down to only 20 riders as Jumbo take up over the top. The pace has seen Marc Soler, yesteday's runner-up, dropped.
22km to go: Froome on the front
Double Vuelta champion Chris Froome has come to the front to set tempo for teammate Richard Carapaz, who is in his back wheel and wearing his usual Ineos kit now that the green is being worn by Dan Martin while Roglic is in red. And look at this - Froome and Carapaz open a small gap over the rest of the field. That came after Movistar decided to knock it off. But Jumbo-Visma are alert to the danger and Robert Gesink closes the gap.
25km to go: Martin in pursuit
Guillaume Martin is chasing those two leaders while compatriot Nans Peters is one of the many escapees to be caught by the pack. Wurf, it's worth adding, put in a pull on the front of the pack ahead of the Movistar train when he was caught.
Meanwhile, Colombia's Esteban Chaves has been dropped by the pack, this infernal tempo from Movistar taking its toll.
26km to go: Alto de Cordal
The break has blown apart as they hit the start of the Cat.1 Alto de Cordal (5.6km at 8.8%) with Cameron Wurf going from front to back as the gradient ramps up. Luis Leon Sanchez and Mattia Cattaneo, meanwhile, press on as the peloton close in.
The discovery of the Angliru...
Eager to add to their roster a climb to rival Alpe d'Huez or Mont Ventoux in the Tour, or the Giro's Passo del Mortirolo, the Vuelta organisers were on the hunt for a showpiece summit finish in the mid-90s as they endeavoured to broaden the appeal of a race still viewed as the least compelling of the three Grand Tours.
Unipublic hoped to add something that could quickly attain the same reputation, resonance, and toughness as the ascent to Lagos de Covadonga, the Asturian climb that had been successfully introduced in 1983. In the event, they didn't have to look too far.
In his book Mountain High, the author and cycling journalist Daniel Friebe explains how a tip from a figure dubbed the "blind visionary" did not fall on deaf ears. Miguel Prietro, the partially-sighted communications director of ONCE, the Spanish charity for the blind (and sponsor of a top cycling team), had just the ticket. In 1996, the Asturian wrote to the organisers:
"There exists in Asturias, in the middle of the Sierra del Aramo, in the municipality of Riosa, around 15km from Oviedo, a mountain whose road is barely marked on maps because it is a cattle road that was only recently paved.
"This mountain is known as La Gamonal and its altitude is 1,570m. The climb is 12km long and ascends just over 1,200m in altitude, which gives it an average gradient of slightly above 10 per cent, higher than the well-known Higa de Monreal.
"Please note in fact that the last seven kilometres of the climb have an average gradient of above 13 per cent, dotted with multiple ramps at 20, 18, 17 and even 23.5 per cent. This ascent, if ever used, is guaranteed to leave unforgettable memories burnt into the retinas of the viewers. Just as people have said the Lagos de Covadonga will become the Spanish Alpe d'Huez, so the Gamonal could equal and, no exaggeration, eclipse the Italian Mortirolo."
Perhaps attracted by the severe 23.5 per cent section of the Cueña de las Cabres, three kilometres from the summit, coupled with a consistent gradient barely dropping below double digits, the organisers were quick to react. The road was paved in 1997 and then, two years later, unveiled on the Vuelta as the Angliru.
More on the history of the Angliru and its first ever winner - and subsequent winners and losers - below...
28km to go: 14 ahead
That leading quartet has been brought to heel and so we now have 14 riders clear with 40 seconds to play with ahead of the Movistar-led pack, which is strung out and cut down to around 50 riders ahead of this penultimate climb.
30km to go: Just 3 riders for Ineos
Richard Carapaz only had two teammates in this main pack now following the crash from Amador earlier. He does have Cameron Wurf in the break 30-odd seconds further up the road. The leaders have passed through the intermediate sprint to little fanfare and are now a few kilometres away from the foot of the next climb.
34km to go: Gaps coming down
Those four leaders have 15 seconds on the rest of the break and just 58 seconds on the pack. UAE Team Emirates picked up the pacing for a bit - but that was at the moment De la Cruz was reabsorbed into the peloton, along with his teammate Formolo, who crashed earlier on the descent.
39km to go: Four clear
Following that crash from Formolo, Perichon took things up on the front of the break and he's now gone clear with three others - teammate Martin, Madrazo and Roux. Thay have about 15 seconds on the rest of the break as they near the end of this descent.
42km to go: ANOTHER CRASH!!
Andrey Amador of Ineos Grenadiers has also skidded out on the fresh, slippery tarmac. He's back on his bike but has slowed to speak to his team car. Movistar continue to push the tempo on the front, cutting the gap to just 1'15".
44km to go: CRASH!
It's quite a slippery descent this and Davide Formolo, who had managed to ride a bit ahead of his fellow escapees, slips in some damp and hits the deck on the corner. He's okay but that would have taken the wind out of his sails.
49km to go: More KOM points for Martin
It's become a bit of a parade, the polka dot jersey competition. Tim Wellens was the only man to rival the Cofidis rider yesterday, but now it seems like a foregone conclusion that he will win it in his debut Vuelta. It's Martin who leads the break over the summit ahead of teammate Perichon and the Spaniard Madrazo. The pack, meanwhile, comes over at 1'25". One more climb and then we have the big one: the Alto de l'Angliru.
50km to go: Good on Movistar
Many will say that Movistar are merely doing Jumbo-Visma's job for them - but that's not necessarily true. Since they have taken it up, the gap of the break has almost halved and many riders have been shed out the back of the pack. The Spanish team have three riders in the top 10 and so they have options - they will need to use them all if they want to dislodge Roglic or Carapaz from the race summit.
52km to go: Movistar come to the front
The entire Movistar team of Enric Mas - except Erviti, their man in the break - has come to the front of the pack to take up the pace-setting duties from Jumbo-Visma. Some riders have been dropped from the break, including that man Garcia. Chaves, too, has been dropped from that chasing quartet, as has Oliveira, so it's De la Cruz and Arensman on their own but with only a small advantage over the pack. The increase in tempo from Movistar has resulted in the break's advantage coming down to under two minutes.
54km to go: First attacks from the pack
David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) and Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) go clear of the pack. They are 13 and 14th on GC, both over five minutes down. There's no response from Jumbo-Visma but there is from two other riders, who manage to bridge over: and it's a teammate for De la Cruz in Ivo Oliveira, plus Thyman Arensman of Team Sunweb.
55km to go: Alto de la Mozqueta
The break is onto the third climb, the Cat.1 Alto de la Mozqueta (6.4km at 8.2%), with a lead of almost three minutes on the pack. Garcia is back in after his incident but he's firmly rooted to the back.
59km to go: 20 leaders
Formolo and Marczynski have managed to join the break, which is back up to 20 riders. Until Jhojan Garcia has a crash, that is. Nothing serious for the Spaniard from Caja Rural, but he'll have to fight back on ahead of the next climb.
67km to go: Another 3pts for Martin
The Frenchman leads the break over the summit ahead of Cameron Wurf to pocket another 3pts in the KOM standings. He's now up to 56pts with his nearest challengers - Richard Carapaz and Sepp Kuss - tied on 24 points.
Gasparotto and Osorio have been caught by the pack so it's just Formolo and Marczynski who are in pursuit now. Theyr'e around a minute down with the Jumbo-led pack 2'25" in arrears.
72km to go: Alto de Santo Emiliano
We're onto the next test, another third-category roller to warm up the legs. It's 5.8km long at an acceptable 4.9%. The peloton seems to have knocked it off a little so the breakaway should stretch its lead on this climb.
75km to go: 18 clear, 4 chasers
The break has lost of a couple of men after that descent: Italian veteran Gasparotto and the Colombian Osorio have been caught by Italy's Formolo and Poland's Marczynski to form a chasing quartet which is 1'15" down on the leaders. The peloton, meanwhile, is now 2'20" back.
When 'El Chava' Jimenez won the first ascent of the Angliru
Today will be the eighth Vuelta finish on the summit of the Alto de l'Angliru, where Alberto Contador won three years ago on his penultimate day as a pro rider. But it's another Spaniard who is the main focus of this retrospective Re-Cycle piece I wrote during the (first) lockdown.
The fearsome Angliru immediately became a Vuelta a España legend on its introduction to the race in 1999, when Spanish climber José María Jiménez was first to conquer the mythical mountain of the Asturias. It was a win shrouded in fog and controversy - one that firmly put the Angliru on the map while confirming the Jiménez's status as one of the best climbers of his generation.
It might lack the history of the so-called Dutch Mountain, but it is often said that the Angliru can become to La Vuelta what Alpe d'Huez is to the Tour de France...
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Re-Cycle: The arrivial of the Angliru - When Jimenez won the first ascent of Vuelta's steepest climb
Image credit: Getty Images
80km to go: Martin takes KOM points
It took me so long to transcribe that the breakaway has already gone over the summit of this early leg-stretcher, led as it was by that man Guillaume Martin, who consolidates his lead in the polka dot jersey standings. The gap is almost two minutes back to the peloton, who have swept up Philipsen. That chasing duo is stuck in the middle.
Meet your breakaway riders
Right, here's a list of who's in this move: Mattia Cattaneo (Deceuninck Quick-Step), Alexandr Riabushenko (UAE Team Emirates), Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Cameron Wuft (Ineos Grenadiers), Robert Stannard and Alex Edmondson (Mitchelton-Scott), Anthony Roux (Groupama-FDJ), Julius van den Berg (EF Pro Cycling), Lukasz Wisniowski (CCC Team), Kobe Goosens and Tosh van der Sande (Lotto Soudal), Nans Peters (Ag2R-La Mondiale), Guillaume Martin and Pierre-Luc Perichon (Cofidis), Enrico Gasparotto (NTT Pro Cycling), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Jhojan Garcia (Caja Rural), Angel Madrazo and Juan Felipe Osorio (Burgos-BH).
The three chasers are Davide Formolo and Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) and Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal).
83km to go: Alto del Padrun
We're onto the first climb of the day, the Cat.3 Alto del Padrun, which is just 3.5km long at an average gradient of 6.6%. This 20-man move has 1'45" now over the pack with that trio still trying to bridge over. Jumbo-Visma, meanwhile, control the tempo in the pack. The Dutch team are one of two teams which don't have a rider in this break, the other being Total Direct Energie (who will no doubt get a roasting from Jean Rene Bernaudeau tonight at the dinner table.
86km to go: Three bridging over
UAE Team Emirates missed the move and they currently have Davide Formolo trying to join the party along with a teammate. Lotto Soudal's Tomasz Marczynski is also in this trio. But the gaps are minimal with the 20 leaders still only 20-odd seconds clear.
Here's what is awaiting the riders at the end of this stage, with the Angliru currently on a cloudy and overcast day - but not the usual mist we associate with the legendary peak.
92km to go: Massive break forms
There's now a large group of around 20 riders with a 15-second gap on the peloton. Initially three riders bridged over to the two leaders but they were join by a raft of others, including the polka dot jersey Guillaume Martin of Cofidis, who is looking to stretch out his lead once again after his big shift yesterday.
Riders issue joint statement
Meanwhile, the row over the UCI's decision to adjust time gap rules on Stage 10 of La Vuelta continues to rumble on. After a staged protest by the peloton on Stage 11, every rider in the race has now issued a joint statement targeted at cycling's governing body ahead of the start of Stage 12, asking for rules to be fairly applied. More here:
And here's the statement in full, with the riders - including Jumbo-Visma, the team which benefited from the retrospective rule change - also signing. The beef is not with the Vuelta organisation but the UCI, who pushed for the change.
100km to go: Just 20 seconds for duo
Those two riders only have 20 seconds on the pack. There was a quartet in pursuit but they got swallowed up by the rampaging pack. Now there are others trying to join the party.
Here's a reminder of the state of play in the GC with Roglic and Carapaz tied for time - 25 seconds clear of Dan Martin, 58 seconds clear of Hugh Carthy, and 1'54" ahead of Enric Mas. Movistar's Marc Soler rose to sixth yesterday after coming second, while Mikel Nieve also entered the top 10 at the expense of his Mitchelton-Scott teammate Esteban Chaves, who struggled on the Alto de la Farrapona.
105km to go: Busy start
Riders from Burgos-BH, Sunweb and Lotto Soudal were pushing it big time at the start - and now we have EF Pro Cycling and Groupama-FDJ trying to force something. The peloton is all strung out and already we have some splits forming. This opening 30km leading into the first climb was always going to be ridden at breakneck speed and the proof is in the pudding.
It's France's Anthony Roux (Groupama-FDJ) and Dutchman Julius Van den Berg (EF Pro Cycling) who have a small gap. Both teams have been successful in this year's Vuelta with EF winning a stage through Michael Woods and FDJ yesterday through David Gaudu.
109.4km to go: They're off!
Javier Guillen waves his red flag and this critical GC test is under way to a flurry of attacks and moves off the front. If a breakaway wants to survive they will need to go clear very soon and build up a big lead because this stage will be over in less than three hours. For the big boys, that is.
Here's the moment the peloton rolled out of Pola de Laviana ahead of the neutral zone...
Hola, amigos! Bring on the Angliru...
Good afternoon. The riders are in the neutral zone and we're ready to get this short but sharp Stage 12 under way... Here's what's on the menu: just 109km but peppered with climbs including those 25% ramps of the mythical Angliru.
Stage 11 recap: Glory for Gaudu as Roglic defends red jersey on monster day in the mountains
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) picked up the biggest win of his career in Stage 11 on the Alto de la Farrapona on a day of stalemate between red jersey Primoz Roglic and his general classification rivals in La Vuelta.
Frenchman Gaudu zipped clear of fellow escapee Marc Soler (Movistar) on the home straight to open up his Grand Tour account in style in the Asturias mountains. Spaniard Soler, already a winner in this race in Stage 2, crossed the line four seconds adrift.
Team Sunweb duo Michael Storer and Mark Donovan came home 52 seconds in arrears for third and fourth, ahead of Frenchman Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), who extended his lead in the polka dot jersey competition on a day which featured four first-category climbs of increasing height and difficulty.
Russia's Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) surged clear of the streamlined main pack in the final kilometre to take sixth place just before Ireland's Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) led a select quartet featuring Roglic in red, the green jersey of Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and white jersey Enric Mas (Movistar) over the line just over a minute down on the winner.
With their minds firmly focused on Sunday's showdown on the Alto de l'Angliru, Slovenia's Roglic and Ecuador's Carapaz stay tied for time at the top of the standings, with triple stage winner Roglic in red by virtue of his superior aggregate stage results.
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Vuelta Stage 11 Highlights - Protests, mountains and breakaways on day that had it all
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