20-year-old Slovenian wins Vuelta stage after bold breakaway

Jakob Omrzel delivered the biggest victory of his young career by winning Stage 12 of the Vuelta a España after breaking away in southern Spain.

The 20-year-old Bahrain Victorious rider began the stage 10th overall. After the front group split across two demanding Category 1 climbs, Omrzel went clear with around 12 kilometers left and held his lead to the finish.

He gained several minutes on his rivals in the overall standings and climbed to sixth place. A breakaway group of 30 riders had formed earlier, including Denmark’s Andreas Kron, but the decisive climbs broke it apart. Omrzel was among roughly 10 riders over the penultimate ascent.

For a time, the escapees held an advantage of nearly eight minutes over the general classification leaders, raising the possibility of an even bigger move by Omrzel. The favorites eventually recovered several minutes, but not enough to prevent his rise in the standings.

Enric Mas of Movistar was again the strongest of the overall contenders on the final climb. He increased his lead to 1 minute 45 seconds over Primož Roglič and 2 minutes 6 seconds over Felix Gall. Denmark’s Mattias Skjelmose lost more time and dropped to seventh, trailing Mas by 7 minutes 42 seconds.

The result came in the absence of Omrzel’s fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogačar. The UAE Emirates star crashed on Stage 8 and abandoned the race despite holding a commanding lead, leaving the overall victory and major mountain stages more open.