MADRID, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Richard Carapaz of Ineos Grenadiers saved his Vuelta a Espana with victory on the difficult 12th stage of the race on Thursday.
The Ecuadorian had been one of the pre-race favorites, but started the stage over 19 minutes behind overall leader Remco Evenepoel, meaning he was not chased down when he formed part of a 32-man breakaway.
Carapaz finished nine seconds ahead of Bora-Hansgrohe's Wilco Kelderman after the breakaway fell apart on the long climb up the Penas Blancas climb to the finish.
With a relatively flat 170 kilometers followed by the long final climb, the 192 kilometers between Salobrena and Penas Blancas always looked to be the perfect terrain for a breakaway, and so it proved as a group of 32 riders, including Carapaz and Marc Soler of Team UAE Emirates, escaped the main peloton.
As so many riders were in the breakaway, few teams were willing to collaborate in chasing them down and the escapees were able to open a gap of over 11 minutes to duel for the stage over the last 20 kilometers, where Carapaz was able to attack two kilometers from the line.
With the breakaway riding up the road, the other focal point in the day was whether Evenepoel would be able to defend or extend his overall lead against Primoz Roglic of Jumbo Visma and Enric Mas of Movistar.
The Belgian fell badly with just over 40 kilometers left on the stage, scraping his right thigh, but didn't appear to suffer any serious injury and was able to quickly regain contact with the peloton.
On the long Penas Blancas climb, Roglic's Jumbo Visma team tried to pressure Evenepoel's Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team, who on Wednesday lost world champion Julian Alaphilippe with a broken collar bone.
Jose Joaquin Rojas of Movistar then kept the pressure on, but even though Evenepoel was isolated in the closing kilometers, he showed no weakness and even seemed to have a smile on his face as he led the group of favorites over the line to retain his lead of two minutes and 41 seconds over Roglic and three minutes and 3 seconds over Mas.
Friday sees a rolling 168 kilometers between Ronda and Montilla with a finish that should favor a sprinter who can produce a strong uphill finish. ■
