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Vuelta Stage 12: Hugh Carthy conquers the Angliru, Richard Carapaz back in race lead

EF Pro Cycling's Preston-born rider lands his first Grand Tour stage win on pro cycling's toughest climb...

Hugh Carthy of EF Pro Cycling has landed the first Grand Tour stage win of his career after attacking 1.5 kilometres from the summit of professional cycling's most feared climb, the Angliru, to take victory on Stage 12 of the Vuelta. The 26 year old from Preston moves third overall, with Richard Carapaz of Ineos Grenadiers regaining the leader's red jersey from Jumbo-Visma's Primoz Roglic.

It was a very select group that contested the win on the Asturian ascent at the end of the 109.4 kilometre stage from Pola de Laviana, with Enric Mas of Movistar, who leads the best young rider's competition, the first to show his hand with around 3.5 kilometres remaining.

Only Carthy and Carapaz were able to bridge across to the Spaniard, while behind Israel Start-Up Nation's Dan Martin, third overall this morning, was struggling, as was Roglic, the overnight leader and defending champion.

Carthy crossed the line 16 seconds ahead of a group comprising Astana's Aleksandr Vlasov, Mas and Carapaz, with Roglic finishing a further 10 seconds back.

Carapaz, winner of last year's Giro d'Italia, now leads the Slovenian by 10 seconds, with Carthy in third place, 32 seconds off the race lead and 3 seconds ahead of Martin.

Following tomorrow's rest day, racing resumes on Tuesday with an individual time trial along the Galician coast from Muros to the Mirador de Ezaro which provides a real sting in the tail.

It's a short climb, with the summit only 268 metres above sea level, but with ramps of up to 30 per cent, it's another day that could provide a shake-up at the top of the overall standings.

Reaction to follow.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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10 comments

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Shades | 3 years ago
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Often those climbs look quite appealing if your ever in that part of the world; that just looked utterly pergatorial.  Probably need MTB gearing to get up that!

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Rik Mayals unde... | 3 years ago
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Hugh has had some good roads to train on around Preston. Birdy Brow, Nick 'O Pendle, Waddington Fell, Boundary Hill, Whalley Nab to name but a few. Angliru? Pffff. Whalley Nab is 27% at the beginning. 

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fukawitribe replied to Rik Mayals underpants | 3 years ago
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Well.... the Angliru is about 10x longer with stretches around 20+% for longer than the whole of Whalley Nab but, yeah, pffff

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Mattleng1 replied to fukawitribe | 3 years ago
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I suspect he was being sarcastic.

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fukawitribe replied to Mattleng1 | 3 years ago
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Mattleng1 wrote:

I suspect he was being sarcastic.

Could well be right, didn't read it like that though.

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Rik Mayals unde... replied to fukawitribe | 3 years ago
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He was 100% correct. It was tongue in cheek. 

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fukawitribe replied to Rik Mayals underpants | 3 years ago
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biker phil wrote:

He was 100% correct. It was tongue in cheek. 

Fair play - mea culpa 

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kil0ran | 3 years ago
2 likes

Absolutely delighted for him. What a stage that is. Best riders in the world almost at a standstill on that long 20%+ section. Wonder what gearing setup they went for.

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Welsh boy replied to kil0ran | 3 years ago
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According to the commentary on Eurosport one rider was on a 36 ring and a 34 sprocket. 

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Grahamd replied to kil0ran | 3 years ago
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kil0ran wrote:

Absolutely delighted for him. What a stage that is. Best riders in the world almost at a standstill on that long 20%+ section. Wonder what gearing setup they went for.

On the commentary if I recall correctly it was advised one rider (I forget who) was using 36:34.

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