Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale) edged a tight final sprint to win stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana on Thursday as Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) surrendered the leader’s red jersey to Jesus Herrada (Cofidis).
A dramatic last 10 kilometres reached its climax when Geniez held off a late push for the line from Team Sky´s Dylan van Baarle, with Mark Padun of Bahrain-Merida coming in third.
Yates, who had worn the red jersey since stage nine, drops to second in the general classification after Herrada formed part of an 18-strong breakaway group during the climb of Alto de Cadeira.
Together with Movistar pair Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana, Yates allowed the gap to exceed 11 minutes and when they finally made their move, it was too late.
At the end of a twisting route between Mondonedo and Manon, Herrada leads Yates by three minutes and 22 seconds, with Valverde one second further back in third.
“It is hard to believe,” Herrada said. “In the end to take the lead is a dream, I couldn’t challenge for the stage because I was exhausted but it is reward for the work we have been doing for a long time.
“I don’t think about the podium now but I’ll take it day by day and at least we have achieved this.”
It was Geniez’s third stage win at the ‘Vuelta’, after previous triumphs in 2013 and 2016.
“It’s a relief,” Geniez said. “The pleasure of winning is days like these when we just ride a bike after training hard and making sacrifices all year long.
“We attacked a lot towards the end of the stage. There was nothing in it on the line. It was a very special sprint.”
The race will continue on Friday with the 13th stage, stretching 174.8km between the town of Candas and La Camperona.
Vuelta a Espana 2018 – stage 12 results (Mondoñedo – Faro de Estaca de Bares. Mañón):
| 1 | Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale) | 4:22:59 |
| 2 | Dylan van Baarle (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 3 | Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 4 | Dylan Teuns (BMC) | ,, |
| 5 | Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) | +02” |
| 6 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +05” |
| 7 | Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) | +24” |
| 8 | Dries Devenyns (Quick-Step Floors) | +48” |
| 9 | Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) | +02’27” |
| 10 | Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) | +02’29” |
| 11 | Luis Guillermo Mas (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | +02’31” |
| 12 | Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | ,, |
| 13 | Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin) | +02’32” |
| 14 | Pablo Torres (Burgos BH) | ,, |
| 15 | Mikel Bizkarra (Euskadi-Murias) | ,, |
| 16 | Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) | ,, |
| 17 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | +02’54” |
| 18 | Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Dimension Data) | +05’17” |
| 19 | Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) | +11’39” |
| 20 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | ,, |
General classification after stage 12:
| 1 | Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) | 50:28:56 |
| 2 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +03’22” |
| 3 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +03’23” |
| 4 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +03’36” |
| 5 | Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) | +03’39” |
| 6 | Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) | +03’46” |
| 7 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 8 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +03’49” |
| 9 | Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac) | +03’54” |
| 10 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +04’05” |
| 11 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +04’09” |
| 12 | Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) | +04’37” |
| 13 | David De La Cruz (Team Sky) | +04’55” |
| 14 | Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) | +05’03” |
| 15 | Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) | +05’11” |
| 16 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +05’12” |
| 17 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) | +05’32” |
| 18 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +05’42” |
| 19 | Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) | +06’46” |
| 20 | Benjamin King (Dimension Data) | +07’04” |
