La Vuelta a Espana: Stage 12 results, blog

Stage Report:

Trek Factory Racing’s Danny van Poppel proved the strongest on Stage 13 of the 2015 Vuelta a Espana after coming back from a late puncture to win in Lleida.

While the stage was decided in a bunch sprint it was by no means a sure thing with the breakaway almost surviving all the way to the finishing line. Three hundred metres earlier and the stage likely would have been won by MTN Qhubeka’s Jaco Venter or Etixx – Quick-Step’s Maxime Bouet.

Establishing the breakaway of the day less than fifteen kilometres into the stage, the duo were joined by Miguel Angel Rubiano of Team Colombia, Bert-Jan Lindeman of LottoNL – Jumbo and Alexis Gougeard of AG2R Le Mondiale. The five-man breakaway would achieve a maximum time advantage of under six minutes before the peloton began reeling them back in.

Once again Giant – Alpecin emerged empty handed after doing the bulk of the chase work throughout the day with Trek Factory Racing. Stage favourite John Degenkolb finishing the stage in fifth behind Danny van Poppel, Daryl Impey, Tosh Van Der Sande and Nikolas Maes.

“We pulled all day with the Italian guys, and in the end it was a really nice sprint, it was not really a puncture, it was just slowly going down. I changed it and I came back really well. My teammates did a great job to bring me back. I suffered a lot yesterday (during the mountain stage in Andorra) and I really wanted to win today.”” said Danny van Poppel after his hard-fought stage victory.

The major talking point before the stage was the withdrawal of Team Sky’s Chris Froome due to a navicular fracture sustained during yesterday’s crash. Otherwise it was a day without incident for the remaining general classification contenders, with Astana’s Fabio Aru retaining the Maillot Rojo (Red Jersey) heading into the thirteenth stage of La Vuelta a Espana.

Tomorrow’s jersey wearers will be Fabio Aru in the Maillot Rojo, Esteban Chaves in the Maillot Verde (Green Jersey), Omar Fraile in the Maillot de Lunares (Polka-Dot Jersey) and Tom Dumoulin in the Maillot Combinada (White Jersey).

2015 Vuelta a Espana – Stage 12:
01. Danny van Poppel of Trek Factory Racing… 04:02:11″
02. Daryl Impey of Orica – GreenEDGE… ST
03. Tosh Van Der Sande of Lotto Soudal… ST
04. Nikolas Maes of Etixx – Quick-Step… ST
05. John Degenkolb of Giant – Alpecin… ST
06. Jean-Pierre Drucker of BMC Racing… ST
07. Tom Van Asbroeck of LottoNL – Jumbo… ST
08. Kristian Sbaragli of MTN – Qhubeka… ST
09. Jose Joaquin Rojas of Movistar… ST
10. Leonardo Duque of Team Colombia… ST

2015 Vuelta a Espana – General classification after Stage 12:
01. Fabio Aru of Astana… 47:14:30″
02. Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha… +00:27″
03. Tom Dumoulin of Giant – Alpecin… +00:30″
04. Rafal Majka of Tinkoff Saxo… +01:28″
05. Esteban Chaves of Orica – GreenEDGE… +1:29″
06. Alejandro Valverde of Movistar… +01:52″
07. Daniel Moreno of Team Katusha… +01:54″
08. Mikel Nieve of Team Sky… +01:58″
09. Nairo Quintana of Movistar… +03:07″
10. Louis Meintjes of MTN – Qhubeka… +04:15″

Stage Preview:

After a suffer-fest in the Andorran Pyrenees, the peloton leaves Andorra behind for a fast and furious finish in Lleida. Join The Roar for live updates and commentary of Stage 12 of la Vuelta a Espana from 12 midnight (AEST).

The riders begin their day with a gentle 35-kilometre descent from Escaldes-Engordany to the foot of our single categorised climb of the day, the second category Coll de Bóixols.

If the breakaway hasn’t yet established itself during the long descent then it should once the ascent begins.

An irregular climb that measures 15.8 kilometres in length and features an average gradient of five per cent, the opening and final kilometres of the Coll de Bóixols will be the most challenging for the peloton.

Soon after, the peloton begin almost 60 kilometres of descent, going through today’s feed zone, but not before tackling a quick ascent up the uncategorised Coll de Faidella. The descent will lead the riders right into another short, punchy, uncategorised climb that tops out around 50 kilometres from the finish in Lleida.

After a short descent of approximately 10 kilometres, the rest of the run to the finishing line is relatively flat, and features the day’s intermediate sprint, located in Gerb 30 kilometres from the finish.

If the breakaway doesn’t steal the spotlight beforehand, then the sprinters’ teams will be pleased that the run into Lleida is relatively long, straight and flat. However, a 600 metre rise up to the line of around 3-4 per cent will complicate the bunch sprint and make timing, momentum and selecting the right gear crucial.

Out of the remaining sprinters John Degenkolb will be the most eager to notch up a victory, and the uphill finish suits the versatile German. After missing out in Castellón on Stage 10, Giant-Alpecin will be eager to lead Degenkolb to victory, as long as they aren’t left to shoulder the bulk of the chase work.

MTN-Qhubeka and Italian sprinter Kristian Sbaragli will be looking to build upon their stage victory in Castellón and may be Giant-Alpecin’s biggest ally in chasing the breakaway. Other potential candidates for the stage victory include Carlos Barbero of Caja Rural, Danny van Poppel of Trek Factory Racing, Jose Joaquin Rojas of Movistar, Tom van Asbroeck of LottoNL-Jumbo, and Jean-Pierre Drucker of BMC Racing.

Should the sprinters fail however then be on the look out for opportunist attacks from the likes of Alexis Gougeard of AG2R Le Mondiale, Sylvain Chavanel of IAM Cycling, Iljo Keisse and Niki Terpstra of Etixx – Quick-Step, and Leonardo Duque of Team Colombia.

Join us from 12 midnight (AEST) for live updates, commentary and a chat as we follow Stage 12 of the 2015 Vuelta a Espana.