Cycling-Mas extends Vuelta lead, Omrzel wins stage 12

Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 16 - Montpellier to Mont Ventoux - Mont Ventoux, France - July 22, 2025 Movistar Team's Enric Mas in action during stage 16 REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

Sept 3 (Reuters) - Spain's Enric Mas extended ⁠his overall lead in the Vuelta a Espana with a late attack on his rivals ⁠as Slovenia's Jakob Omrzel won stage 12 to Calar Alto on Thursday.

Movistar rider Mas burst ‌out of a chasing group including red jersey contenders Primoz Roglic and Felix Gall with around 13km of the mountainous 166.6-km ride left and powered away.

Roglic and Gall, who began the day second and third on general classification, could not respond as ​Mas finished 27 seconds clear of Roglic to strengthen his hold ⁠on the race.

Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) attacked from a ⁠whittled-down lead group on the final ascent to Calar Alto and kept the power down to cross ⁠the ‌line almost two minutes clear of Urko Berrade Fernandez with Santiago Buitrago third.

Aged 20, Omrzel is younger than Slovenian great Tadej Pogacar was when he won his first Grand Tour stage.

Mas ⁠took over the leadership when overwhelming favourite and clear race leader ​Pogacar crashed out on stage ‌eight and on a baking hot day in southern Spain on Thursday, he put down a ⁠big statement of ​intent for the remaining stages.

The Mallorcan now leads by one minute and 45 seconds from Roglic with Gall at 2:06.

"I'm really happy with the team today, really proud of them," said Mas, who was helped by Raul Garcia ⁠Pierna on the final climb to the Vuelta's highest summit ​finish this year at 2,153m.

"To take 27 seconds on Roglic is really important for the next week. I was confident today and I knew the climb."

Britain's Oscar Onley was the biggest loser on the day in the ⁠battle for overall victory as a crash meant the Bahrain Victorious rider finished more than two minutes behind Mas.

After some initial climbs, a 30-rider breakaway group formed after 40km including Wout van Aert who took useful points in both the points and mountain categories.

Omrzel and Leo Bisiaux attacked on the day's penultimate ​climb but were brought back near the top, but on Calar Alto, ⁠Omrzel made his move. Berrade Fernandez was the only rider to hang on but could not resist as ​Omrzel powered on.

"I'm not surprised because I know how much work ‌I put in, and I knew that these days ​were going to come sooner or later," Omrzel said. "But for sure, I was not expecting 100% to do it on my first Grand Tour."

(Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Christian Radnedge)

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自行车 - 环法自行车赛 - 第 16 赛段 - 蒙彼利埃至旺图克斯山 - 法国旺图山 - 2025 年 7 月 22 日，Movistar 车队的 Enric Mas 在第 16 赛段比赛中 REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

9 月 3 日（路透社）——西班牙车手恩里克·马斯在环西班牙自行车赛第 12 赛段（卡拉尔阿尔托）中，凭借最后时刻的进攻扩大了总成绩领先优势，而斯洛文尼亚车手雅各布·奥姆泽尔则赢得了该赛段的冠军。

在距离终点还有大约 13 公里时，移动之星车队的马斯从包括红衫争夺者普里莫兹·罗格利奇和菲利克斯·加尔在内的追赶集团中突围而出，在 166.6 公里的山地赛段中一路领先。

罗格利奇和加尔在总成绩榜上分别位列第二和第三，但他们无力反击，马斯最终领先罗格利奇 27 秒冲过终点线，巩固了自己在比赛中的领先优势。

奥姆泽尔（巴林胜利队）在最后爬坡前往卡拉尔阿尔托的途中，从逐渐缩小的领先集团中发起进攻，并保持动力，最终领先乌尔科·贝拉德·费尔南德斯近两分钟冲过终点线，圣地亚哥·布伊特拉戈获得第三名。

20岁的奥姆泽尔比斯洛文尼亚传奇车手塔德伊·波加查赢得他的第一个环法自行车赛赛段冠军时还要年轻。

在夺冠热门兼明显的领跑者波加查于第八赛段摔车退赛后，马斯接管了领先位置。周四，在西班牙南部酷热的天气里，他向剩余的赛段发出了强烈的信号。

马略卡岛车手目前领先罗格利奇 1 分 45 秒，加尔落后 2 分 06 秒。

“我今天对车队的表现非常满意，为他们感到非常自豪，”马斯说道。在今年环西自行车赛最高终点——海拔 2153 米的终点——的最后爬坡中，劳尔·加西亚·皮尔纳给予了他帮助。

“领先罗格利奇27秒对下周的比赛至关重要。我今天很有信心，而且我对爬坡路段很熟悉。”

在争夺总冠军的战斗中，英国车手奥斯卡·昂利是当天最大的输家，一次摔车导致这位巴林胜利车队的车手落后马斯两分多钟完赛。

经过最初的一些爬坡后，40 公里后形成了一个由 30 名车手组成的突围集团，其中包括 Wout van Aert，他在积分榜和爬坡榜上都获得了宝贵的积分。

奥姆泽尔和利奥·比西奥在当天倒数第二个爬坡点发起进攻，但在接近山顶时被追回。然而，在卡拉尔阿尔托爬坡点，奥姆泽尔再次发起进攻。贝拉德·费尔南德斯是唯一一个坚持下来的车手，但他最终还是无法抵挡奥姆泽尔的猛烈攻势。

“我并不感到惊讶，因为我知道自己付出了多少努力，也知道这一天迟早会到来，”奥姆泽尔说。“但可以肯定的是，我没想到第一次参加环法自行车赛就能百分之百成功。”

（Martyn Herman报道，Christian Radnedge编辑）

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