2018 Vuelta a Espana - Stage 12

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Even though riders would not be climbing very high, stage 12 from Mondonedo to Faro de Estaca de Bares was going to be a tough 181km ride. Stage 12 of this years Vuelta a Espana didn't disappoint with an early break away taking French rider Alexandre Geniez of AG2R La Mondiale taking the stage win, but the big news came as Jesus Herrada of Cofidis managed to stay with the breakaway and take himself into the overall lead, with over 3 minutes break to his nearest rivals. Geniez managed to take the win on the line ahead of Dylan van Baarle of Team Sky and Mark Padun of Bahrain-Merida who came in a close second and third behind him.

Link to stage twelve route map

For the fifth time in this years Vuelta the days break away kicked off the minute riders were on their way, with a group of 18 riders making their way from the peloton in the early climbs of the day. The main team in the peloton were at odds as to who was responsible for chasing, so allowed their lead to extend to over 11 minutes at one stage. Something sparked the peloton in the final hour as they picked up the pace to reduce the gap to 8 minutes.

Within the final 25km of the stage Geniez made sure the work rate of the lead bunch also lifted resulting in the group splitting up and keeping 9 minutes ahead of the peloton. Although Jesus Herrada was not in the front runners of the day, he still managed to stay in the second break away that was only 2 minutes behind the front break. Herrada started 22nd overall but now holds the Red Leaders Jersey for at least tomorrow after his hard work today.

Overall classification after stage Twelve

It will be interesting ot see how teams respond to Jesus Herrada taking over the Red Leaders Jersey. There is still plenty of time for riders to move up in the standing so it will be interesting to see if this happens sooner rather than later and Herrada will keep his position.

1. Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 50 hours 28 minutes 56 seconds
2. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott at 3 minutes 22 seconds
3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team at 3 minutes 23 seconds

Tomorrow - Stage 13 Start From Candas to La Camperona

Stage 13 of the 2018 Vuelta a Espana is a 174km ride from Candas to La Camperona in the Principality of Asturias in the north of Spain.

Link to stage thirteen route map

Riders will take in a flat first 10km from the start, but then that is when their first uphill section of the days stage starts, with the main 17km climb taking the riders up an incline of 5% average. They will complete the climb and still have a further 70km remaining for the stage. The last part of the stage is mostly flat until they come into La Camperona where they face a9km climb averaging an incline of 6.5%. Although this doesn't sound too bad the climb will get to points of 25% at some points of the climb. The final 800m kicks up to 17% incline before flattenning out a little as riders cross the finish line.

I'll be covering each stage of the Vuelta A Espana, giving a breakdown of each days stage, my previous post for @cyclefeed were the results of stage eleven of this years Vuelta, so feel free to have a look:
https://steemit.com/cycling/@run.vince.run/2018-vuelta-a-espana-stage-11

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Please Note all maps are made by myself using Strava