Jesús Herrada takes over red in Stage 12 of the Vuelta a España

Twelve stages in, the French have been enjoying a fine Vuelta a España, having tallied three stage victories, a Frenchman in the red leader’s jersey, and after Thursday, two French teams in red. Thursday’s winner was escapee Alexander Geniez of French team AG2R, the Frenchman joining Wednesday’s winner Alessandro De Marchi on three career stage victories. Also in the day’s breakaway, Spaniard Jesús Herrada of wildcard squad Cofidis ripped the red jersey from Simon Yates to add a GC lead to his team’s stage win last Thursday. Another Cofidis Spaniard, Luis Maté, wears the King of the Mountain jersey. French team Groupama-FDJ’s Rudy Molard led the race for four days.

Victoire d'Alexandre Geniez ! Félicitations à l'ancien de la maison ! #LaVuelta18 pic.twitter.com/tuZkQKPURF

— Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ (@GroupamaFDJ) September 6, 2018

The Course

Thursday’s profile was another wavy one, with a Cat. 3 right off the bat and a second peaking 50-km from the finish in Faro de Estaca de Bares. Mañón. The finish was slightly downhill on a narrow road.

#LaVuelta18 stage 12 travels from the small town of Mondoñedo to Faro de Estaca de Bares. Mañón, the northernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula. pic.twitter.com/OfBmOxhTDX

— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) September 6, 2018

The Breakaway

Vincenzo Nibali has had a lousy Vuelta so far, although he has never claimed to be in it to win it. He was among a large raft of riders who stole away on the opening climb of Alto de Cadeiro. With 91-km to go, the gap was 10:00 and fugitive Herrada was the virtual red jersey.

Once more, Movistar and Mitchelton-Scott seemed to quarrel about who should chase.

#LaVuelta18 The likes of @Bahrain_Merida's @vincenzonibali & @PadunMark are in an 18-man break with a plus 5 minute gap after just over 50km of racing on Stage 12. @MitcheltonSCOTT are at the front of the chasing peloton. pic.twitter.com/6KkBVDZn2Z

— Velon CC (@VelonCC) September 6, 2018

At the peak of the last climb, Alto de San Pedro, the gap was 11:00.

Michael Woods crashed with 39-km to go, not for the first time in this race.

The Finale

Numerous attacks flared from the breakaway, streamlining it, but an octet of escapees including 2016 Vuelta stage winner Gianluca Brambilla (Italy/Trek-Segafredo) surged away from the others. In the chase Herrada did the bulk of the work to keep in virtual red. Geniez was the best of a sextet that contested the flowers.

But there was someone not paying attention after the line and the top-3 all hit him, with Dylan van Baarle going over his handlebars.

https://twitter.com/wcstats/status/1037717986650595328

Herrada leads overnight leader Simon Yates by 3:22.

Woods finished in a group +27:25 of Geniez and tumbled out of the top-60.

Friday finishes on an absurdly steep climb 4.6-km long. It’ll be a GC slugfest.

2018 Vuelta a España Stage 12
1) Alexander Geniez (France/AG2R) 4:22:59
2) Dyland van Baarle (The Netherlands/Sky) s.t.
3) Mark Padun (Ukraine/Bahrain-Merida) s.t.
154) Michael Woods (Canada/EF-Drapac) +27:25

2018 Vuelta a España GC
1) Jesús Herrada (Spain/France) 50:28:56
2) Simon Yates (Great Britain/Mitchelton-Scott) +3:22
3) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) +3:23
4) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) +3:36
62) Michael Woods (Canada/EF-Drapac) +42:55