On the stage from Arousa, a four minute lead for a breakaway with 20 K to go would normally be a pretty safe bet – but not when Katusha and Movistar go on the rampage.
Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel), Cameron Meyer (GreenEdge), Amael Moinard (BMC) and Kevin De Weert (QuickStep) weren’t pottering along, they were spelling hard and all of them were committed to the move.
But the onslaught from Rodriguez and Valverde’s teams was vicious – Astarloza was last to resist as the race hit the Mirador del Ezaro climb above the village of Dumbria.
Locals reckon the ascent is 1.6 kilometres, but the race manual says 1.9 K; with the average gradient at 13% – somewhere between ‘one in seven’ and ‘one in eight,’ in old money – but on the hairpins it touches 30% which is wearing on for ‘one in three.’
A climb like this was always going to have Rodriguez as favourite.
But talking about winning and the deed actually being done are two different things, especially with ‘dead’ breakaway riders doing standstills on the bends and causing havoc with the chase.
Flecha and then Stannard drove the Sky train on the early slopes, with Gilbert well placed.
Then Rabobank took it up – not a bad finish for Gesink, but maybe a wee bit too short and savage for him.
Anton danced clear with Moreno taking care of Rodriguez, looking back to ensure the boss was where he should be.
It was inside the red kite when Rodriquez made his move, Anton was washed away, Froome was distanced but Contador was vigilant and held that Canyon’s wheel on the brutal slope as Henao tried to get up for Sky.
Moreno wasn’t far behind his team leader and neither was Valverde, but it was clear that the Movistar man wasn’t going to go into the red and risk blowing – there’s no recovery on this climb.
Contador could see that Rodriguez was dosing his effort, not doing too much, just enough to keep them clear but saving his legs just a little for the sprint.
That wasn’t enough for the impatient man from Pinto, near Madrid and he took the reins, dancing and squirming in that not particularly stylish, but very effective style of his.
Rodriguez sat calmly on his wheel as behind, Valverde slogged upwards, with Froome spinning and looking even more like his limbs aren’t properly connected than usual.
Contador’s gear was tiny, Rodriguez’s higher – it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ the red jersey would go, but ‘when.’
And go he did, putting eight seconds into Contador in about as much time as it takes to read this sentence, grabbing the winner’s bonus and taking his GC lead back up to 13 seconds – hardly a yawning margin but much better than a solitary ‘tick’ of the second hand.
Valverde’s cool head limited his losses to 13 seconds; Gesink rode well for fourth at 20 with Froome conceding 23 seconds.
As we keep saying, an excellent bike race.
Today there are 172.7 tough, rolling, hot and windy kilometres from lovely Santiago de Compostela – the city where the thousand year-old pilgrimage, the ‘Way of Saint James’ ends – to Ferrol, birthplace of Franco.
And if you’re ever in Ferrol, check out the phone book; you’ll find McKenzie’s and Robertson’s in there – descendants of Clydeside ship builders who moved to the yard in Ferrol as the Scottish river’s importance declined.
But on the subject of artisans, it’s probably not a day for ‘Sprint Master Degenkolb’ – more for the less spectacular but harder grafting breakaway labourers.
¡Hasta mañana!
Results - La Vuelta a España 2012 - Stage 12
Stage Result
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank 0:00:08
3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:13
4 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:20
5 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:23
6 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team
7 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:00:27
8 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:31
9 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre – ISD 0:00:33
10 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:00:36
11 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling
12 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:39
14 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
15 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
16 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:43
17 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:44
18 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Radioshack-Nissan 0:00:47
19 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre – ISD 0:00:52
20 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre – ISD
21 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:00:57
22 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin – Sharp
23 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
24 Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
25 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
26 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
27 Ivan Velasco Murillo (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
28 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica – GreenEdge 0:01:05
29 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Garmin – Sharp
30 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 0:01:13
31 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
32 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:01:18
33 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Caja Rural
34 Andre Fernando S. Martins Cardoso (Por) Caja Rural
35 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
36 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team
37 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 0:01:26
38 Hernani Broco (Por) Caja Rural 0:01:27
39 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:28
40 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 0:01:32
41 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
42 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) Argos-Shimano
43 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
44 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Movistar Team
45 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Astana Pro Team
46 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling 0:01:41
47 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:01:42
48 Danail Andonov Petrov (Bul) Caja Rural 0:01:44
49 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
50 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol Team
51 Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Spa) Andalucia 0:01:56
52 Marcos Garcia (Spa) Caja Rural
53 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:58
54 Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
55 Cristiano Salerno (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
56 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Garmin – Sharp 0:02:01
57 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Lampre – ISD
58 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:02:08
59 Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
60 Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Liquigas-Cannondale
61 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:02:13
62 Jesus Rosendo Prado (Spa) Andalucia
63 Sergio Carrasco Garcia (Spa) Andalucia 0:02:21
64 Javier Chacon (Spa) Andalucia
65 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Radioshack-Nissan
66 Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
67 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica – GreenEdge
68 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:02:26
69 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:02:29
70 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Argos-Shimano
71 Dominique Rollin (Can) FDJ-Big Mat
72 Simon Geschke (Ger) Argos-Shimano
73 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
74 Rafal Majka (Pol) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank 0:02:41
75 Tiago Machado (Por) Radioshack-Nissan
76 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:02:44
77 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:02:46
78 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
79 Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica – GreenEdge
80 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin – Sharp
81 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin – Sharp
82 Thomas Peterson (USA) Garmin – Sharp
83 Bertjan Lindeman (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:02:53
84 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:03:00
85 Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling
86 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:05
87 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) FDJ-Big Mat 0:03:08
88 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
89 Koen De Kort (Ned) Argos-Shimano
90 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Lotto Belisol Team
91 Matti Breschel (Den) Rabobank Cycling Team
92 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
93 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
94 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team
95 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
96 Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:03:19
97 Laurent Didier (Lux) Radioshack-Nissan
98 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank Cycling Team
99 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team
100 Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa) Movistar Team
101 Tiziano Dall’antonia (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
102 Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) Radioshack-Nissan
103 Egor Silin (Rus) Astana Pro Team
104 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
105 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
106 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
107 Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky Procycling
108 Wouter Mol (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
109 Egoitz Garcia Echeguibel (Spa) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:03:37
110 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:03:41
111 Mauro Da Dalto (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
112 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
113 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team
114 Adrian Palomares Villaplana (Spa) Andalucia
115 Javier Ramirez Abeja (Spa) Andalucia
116 Oleksandr Kvachuk (Ukr) Lampre – ISD
117 Florent Barle (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
118 Marco Marzano (Ita) Lampre – ISD
119 Javier Francisco Aramendia Lorente (Spa) Caja Rural
120 Grégory Rast (Swi) Radioshack-Nissan
121 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
122 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
123 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
124 Yannick Eijssen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
125 Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
126 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Garmin – Sharp 0:04:05
127 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
128 Frantisek Rabon (Cze) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
129 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Radioshack-Nissan
130 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:04:10
131 Frederik Willems (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 0:04:12
132 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
133 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Katusha Team
134 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank 0:04:25
135 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
136 Bruno Pires (Por) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
137 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
138 Stephen Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing Team 0:04:35
139 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
140 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha Team 0:04:41
141 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:04:46
142 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Argos-Shimano
143 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Procycling
144 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:55
145 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Garmin – Sharp 0:04:58
146 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
147 Manuel Antonio Leal Cardoso (Por) Caja Rural
148 Cheng Ji (Chn) Argos-Shimano 0:05:10
149 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
150 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
151 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
152 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Radioshack-Nissan 0:05:19
153 Matt