Alto de l'Angliru (Spain) (AFP)
The Briton Hugh Carthy tamed the formidable percentages of Angliru on Sunday to win the 12th stage of the Tour of Spain, in which the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz took over the reins at the expense of the Slovenian Primoz Roglic.
At the end of the 109.4 km between Pola de Laviana and the summit of Asturias, the rider of the Education First team was 16 seconds ahead of Russian Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) and Spaniard Enric Mas (Movistar).
In the general classification, Carapaz (Ineos, 4th Sunday) is now ahead of Roglic (Jumbo-Visma, 5th) by 10 seconds, and Carthy climbs on the podium 22 seconds behind the Slovenian.
Carapaz will not have given up the leader's tunic for long, since it had been dispossessed for a few hundredths on Friday, at the end of the 10th stage.
He is sure to keep it for at least one more day, since the Vuelta takes a break on Monday.
The big loser of the day is the Spaniard Marc Soler, who slipped from 6th to 19th place in the general classification.
Sunday, the stage was led by Frenchman Guillaume Martin, who took the first four climbs of the day in the lead and consolidated his lead in the mountain classification.
With his last two breakaway companions, the Italian Mattia Cattaneo and the Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez, the Cofidis rider was caught in the first few hundred meters of the final ascent, the formidable Angliru.
After a start to the ascent mastered by the riders of the Jumbo-Visma, Carthy placed his decisive banderilla 2 kilometers from the finish line.
He gleaned his first stage victory on a grand Tour on Sunday, his most prestigious success so far having been conquered on a stage of the Tour de Suisse in 2019.
© 2020 AFP