In spectacular fashion, Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates) won stage twelve of the Vuelta a España 2023. The Colombian sprinter was the fastest in the sprint, after traveling 150.6 kilometers between Ólvega and Zaragoza.
The Boyacá sprinter, who achieved victory number 38 for Colombia in the Iberian round, easily surpassed the Australian Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and the Dutch Boy van Poppel (Intermarché-Circus), who came second and third respectively.
It was an excellent positioning job in the last kilometers of Alpecin-Deceuninck for Kaden Groves and, already in the last 300 m, when the Australian was preparing to make the final start after his launcher moved away, he appeared on the right side of the road, like a missile, Rui Oliveira making a marvelous throw for the fast man of UAE Team Emirates.
When the Portuguese moved away, Juan Sebastián Molano threw with tremendous force, so much so that he even took the rest of the sprinters off the wheel to win undeniably.
“Thanks to my team. They were amazing today. I’m very happy to win a stage in the Vuelta last year and now this year. After the incident it is not easy to return, but now everything is fine and I am very happy,” Molano said after the finish line.
Regarding the individual general classification, Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) remained at the head of the Spanish round for another day. The American is followed by the Spanish Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) at 26 seconds and by the Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick Step) at more than a minute.
The escape of the day was led by the Spanish Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-RGA) and the Dutch Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH), however, towards the end they were supported by the large peloton. Once the breakaway was neutralized, the group advanced towards Zaragoza to resolve the stage in a sprint in which Molano was the fastest.
The Spanish round will continue this Friday with the dispute of stage number 13, a mountainous section of 134.7 kilometers, which will start from the Formigal ski resort to reach the Col du Tourmalet, a special category high finish with 18, 9 km at 7.4 percent.
Classification Stage 12
Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates)
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) m.t.
Boy Van Poppel (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) m.t.
Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) m.t.
Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek) m.t.
Marijn Van den Bergg (EF Education-EasyPost) m.t.
Alberto Dainese (DSM-Firmenich) m.t.
Orluis Aular (Burgos-BH) m.t.
Hugo Page (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) m.t.
Milan Menten (Lotto-Dstny) m.t.
General ranking
Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) +42h51’20”
Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) +26”
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +1’09”
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +1’32”
Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) +2’02”
Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2’16”
Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +2’22”
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2’25”
Enric Mas (Movistar Team) +2’50”
Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +3’14”