Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez has dazzled crowds once more on Stage 12 of the Vuelta a España (190.5km Vilagarcía de Arousa – Mirador de Ézaro) with a spectacular win at the end of the gruelling 2km, 13% gradient, Mirador de Ezaro. Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) made a valiant effort to attack Rodriguez’s lead, but ultimately had to settle for second, with Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde placing third. Rodriguez’ total time of 44:50:35 keeps him in overall lead with 9 stages left to run until the action culminates on the streets of Madrid on September 9.
Commenting on his Stage 12 win, Rodriguez said, ‘I’m very happy to be still in red jersey and to improve the gap, but nothing is still decided: the competition is still long, with very hard stages, and everybody can have a bad day and drop, coming out of the fight for general classification. I’m very happy, my shape is great, people supports me a lot: I will try for sure to keep the jersey until Madrid, even if it will be difficult.’
The Vuelta continues today (August 31) with the 172.8km leg from Santiago de Compostela to Ferrol.
