Calar Alto (Spain) (AFP) – The young Slovenian cyclist Jakob Omrzel impressed by winning alone this Thursday the twelfth stage of the Vuelta a España in the demanding climb to Calar Alto, Andalusia, where the Spanish Enric Mas reinforced his overall lead and his status as favorite for the title.

First modification: 09/03/2026 - 18:15 Last modification: 09/03/2026 - 19:55

Omrzel, 20 years old and from the Bahrain Victorious team, was part of the first breakaway of the day and with his final attack he achieved his first victory in a grand round, resisting the chase of the Spanish Urko Berrade, second at 1 minute and 56 seconds, and the Colombian Santiago Buitrago, third at 2 minutes and 13 seconds.

"It's not a surprise, I've worked hard and I knew my day would come, sooner or later. I'm very happy, it's my first victory in a big round and in my first participation. I still can't believe it!" Omrzel told Eurosport television.

This young Slovenian promise, who won the youth Giro d'Italia in 2025, was close to dying at the beginning of his career, in the Giro de Lunigiana in 2024, where he suffered cardiac arrest after a fall.

With their victory, Slovenian fans once again have reasons to celebrate in the Vuelta, after having lost last Saturday their great asset, the star Tadej Pogacar, who had to abandon due to a violent fall when he was the outstanding leader of the general classification.

Leader's Slam

Beyond the fight for the stage win, Mas finished sixth this Thursday, almost three minutes behind Omrzel, and became stronger with the red jersey of general leader, gaining thirty seconds on his main rivals for the title, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic and the Austrian Felix Gall.

Thanks to this advantage in the Almeria mountains, the 31-year-old Mallorcan cyclist, from the Movistar team, widens the gap in the general classification and is now 1 minute and 45 seconds ahead of Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who aspires to win the Vuelta for the fifth time in his career.

Gall (Decathlon-CMA) is now 2 minutes and 6 seconds behind, while the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education), ninth in the stage with the same time as Roglic and Gall, is now fourth, 3 minutes and 53 seconds behind Mas.

"I did two concentrations here (...) There are 27 more seconds and that could be very important in the second week. Today was a long day and I am happy with how it went," Mas celebrated.

Carapaz had launched a first attack but Mas resisted well and his acceleration on the Calar Alto climb (1st category, 17 km at an average gradient of 5.6%), just over 10 kilometers from the finish line, could not be followed by the rest of the favorites.

The big loser of the day in the fight for the top positions was the British Oscar Onley, who finished more than two minutes behind Mas and who gave up fourth place overall to Carapaz, while Omrzel is now sixth, almost five minutes behind the lead.

On Friday, the Vuelta will experience a thirteenth stage that will continue in Andalusian lands, to travel a 192.8 km route between Almuñécar and Loja, near Granada.

© 2026 AFP

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