Richard Carapaz cut a delighted figure winning stage 12 of La Vuelta today, the first time he had crossed the line first in a road race since his Olympics win last year.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider didn't hold back with his celebration, with a mixture of delight and relief on show atop Peñas Blancas after misfiring in the opening week of this race and slipping out of contention. Even his eight minute gain on the general classification riders today does not put Carapaz back in the hunt in the overall.
Related News
While Carapaz was winning up ahead - from a huge breakaway that dominated today's stage - Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl) was defending his race lead with real class. The Movistar and Jumbo Visma teams - of Enric Mas and Primož Roglič - hit the front in a bid to make it the ascent hard for Evenepoel.
Advertisement
However, while Mas tried to get clear with an attack on the upper slopes, Evenepoel easily covered that move and looked very comfortable all the way, despite a crash rounding a bend with about 50km to go. Roglič was the one who looked vulnerable on the climb, losing some group a number of times but getting back on and never looking in crisis.
In the end, when the Movistar and Jumbo Visma team mates had all fallen away from the front group, it was race leader Evenepoel who took up the pace-setting on the front of the select group over the final 3km of the climb to the finish.
The young Belgian squeezed a little harder on the pedals just before the line, with Mas and Roglič the only two riders able to stay glued to his back wheel. While Evenepoel looked the strongest again today, Mas and Roglič and their teams have clearly no given up on taking the fight to the race leader, despite his dominance so far.
More to come.
