Spain’s Enric Mas extended his overall lead in the Vuelta a Espana with a late attack as Slovenia’s Jakob Omrzel won stage 12 to Calar Alto.
Omrzel, 20, secured his first Grand Tour stage victory in imperious fashion, riding clear of his remaining breakaway companions on the 17km final climb to finish nearly two minutes clear of Urko Berrade, with Colombia’s Santiago Buitrago in third.
In the process Omrzel moved within 30 seconds of Oscar Onley in the best young rider’s classification after a difficult day for the Briton.
The Netcompany Ineos rider suffered an early crash and was then dropped by his main rivals early on the final climb, eventually finishing over two minutes behind Mas and slipping a place to fifth in the GC.
Movistar rider Mas broke from a small pack including four-time champion Primoz Roglic and Felix Gall with about 13km of the mountainous 166.6km course left.
Slovenian Roglic and Austrian Gall, who sit second and third in the general classification, could not respond as Mas increased his advantage by a further 27 seconds on a day of searing heat on a mountainous course that featured five categorised climbs.
Mas finished sixth, just under three minutes adrift of Ormzel, but extended his overall lead to one minute 56 seconds.
Tadej Pogacar had been leading the Vuelta by almost four minutes but crashed out on stage eight, breaking his collarbone in what may be a season-ending injury.
The race ends in Andalusia on Sunday, 13 September with stages to come in the mountains and hills around Malaga and Granada’s Sierra Nevada.
