A whole day at the front on the lumpy and windy roads of Galicia granted Alexandre Geniez (AG2R-La Mondiale) the victory on Thursday at Mañon. The Frenchman dominated his breakaway companions Dylan Van Baarle (Team Sky) and Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida) to claim his third win at La Vuelta, two years after the latest. Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) is the other winner of the day - the Spanish all-rounder enjoyed the breakaway to win 9 minutes on Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and become the first Spanish rider to wear the red jersey since 2016.
The lumpy wind-exposed roads of Galicia once again inspired attackers. Attacks went on from the start and the first climb of the day, the Alto de Cadeira (3rd cat), saw a strong group of 18 riders get away after 10km of aggressive racing. Already on the move in the previous days, Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) managed to break away with his teammate Mark Padun, Alexandre Geniez (AG2R-La Mondiale), Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing Team), Davide Formolo (Bora-Hansgrohe), Victor Campenaerts, Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Dries Devenyns (Quick-Step Floors), Amanuel Gebregziabher (Dimenstion Data), Tiago Machado (Katusha Alpecin), Dylan Van Baarle (Team Sky), Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates), Pablo Torres (Burgos-BH), Jonathan Lastra, Lluis Mas (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) and Mikel Bizkarra (Euskadi-Murias).
Yates abandons the red jersey
Simon Yates’ Mitchelton Scott set the pace at the front of the bunch but the gap steadily increased. It was up to 10’ when the teammates of the wearer of the red jersey picked up the pace in the last 95km. Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) looked set to fight for the overall leadership as he was only trailing by 5’45’’ on GC before making it to the front on stage 12. Movistar started pulling the peloton when the attackers’ lead reached 10’55’’ in the second climb of the day, Alto de San Pedro (3rd cat), summited 49km away from the finish.
Attackers battled it out in the final 35km and a group of eight riders eventually got away with 20km to go: Mark Padun, Alexandre Geniez, Dylan Teuns, Davide Formolo, Victor Campenaerts, Dries Devenyns, Dylan Van Baarle and Gianluca Brambilla. They kept attacking each other until the last kilometre and Geniez eventually dominated the sprint. Jesus Herrada finished with a delay of 2’32’’ and Simon Yates lost his red jersey as the pack finished 9’07’’ further behind.
