Danny Van Poppel did not miss his chance to surge in the finale of stage 12 of the Vuelta in Lerida and hand his Trek Factory team their second victory in this edition. The 22-year-old Dutchman, whose father Jean-Paul had already won nine Vuelta stages in the 1990s, overcame a puncture 10 km from the line to reward his team-mates for their efforts all day and emulate Jasper Stuysen, winner of stage 8 in Murcia.
The start was given at 13:34 to 174 riders. Chris Froome (Sky), who suffered a foot fracture in a crash yesterday, did not start.
After 7 km going slightly downhill, five riders broke clear: Maxime Bouet (Etixx-Quick Step), Miguel Ángel Rubiano (Team Colombia), Jaco Venter (MTN - Qhubeka), Bert Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Alexis Gougeard (aGg2r-La Mondiale). Their lead increased rapidly to reach 5:40 after 60 km over a cautious peloton. Bouet came first at the top of the only ascent of the day, the 2nd category Coll de Boixols.
After the climb, Giant-Alpecin came to the front of the bunch to lead the chase. Helped by Trek Factory, they brought the gap down to around three minutes with 50 km to go. But the five continued to work perfectly together and still held a 2:20 edge 20 km further down the road. Rubiano was fastest at the intermediate sprint of the day in Gerb (km 149).
In the last 20 km, with the gap still at two minutes, Lampre riders joined the chase, working for Max Richeze. The lead of the escapees was still nearly one minute at the 10-km mark when Danny Van Poppel was forced to change a wheel after a puncture.
In the finale, Bouet and Venter both tried to attack to hold the peloton at bay but they were pulled back in the last kilometre as an undecided sprint was underway. South-African Daryl Impey (Orica-Greendege) was the first out but he couldn't resist the return of Van Poppel, who took Degenkolb's wheel and jumped irresistibly. Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Soudal) was third ahead of Nikolas Maes (Etixx Quick Step) and Degenkolb.
Fabio Aru retained his leader's red jersey.
