Omrzel won after 166 kilometres, two minutes ahead of his breakaway companion Urko Berrade (Equipo Kern Pharma); a few seconds behind them, Santiago Buitrago, the stage winner’s team-mate, also from the breakaway group, crossed the finish line. Finishing sixth, Enric Mas (Movistar Team), in the red jersey, was the best rider who had not attacked early in the day. He crossed the line 2 minutes and 56 seconds behind, extending his lead over Primož Roglič (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) by half a minute. He now leads his closest rival, Roglic, by 1 minute 45 seconds.

But Omrzel has also made up a lot of ground in the overall standings. Having started the race in tenth place, he is now sixth and just half a minute behind Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS), who should perhaps not feel too secure in his position as the best young rider, especially as he crashed during the race and may still be feeling the effects for a few days.

Omrzel “just like on the PlayStation”

“I know how much work I’ve put in, so I knew this day would come sooner or later,” said Omrzel after his first major victory. “But I didn’t expect it to happen in my first Grand Tour.” In fact, Omrzel is even younger than Pogacar was when he claimed his first Grand Tour stage victory seven years ago. “I’m not even completely exhausted; I still feel good. The team is working brilliantly too. It’s a bit like playing on the PlayStation.”

Team Bahrain is indeed the biggest winner of the stage. As well as Omrzel’s victory, Buitrago has taken a big step towards winning the mountains’ jersey. The Colombian had to battle it out with Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) for points at the first climbs of the day. The Belgian, however, had to sit it out when the big points were up for grabs later in the day and is unlikely to be able to make up the 22-point deficit to the 26-year-old, who has entered the battle for the jersey following Pogacar’s withdrawal. He does, however, retain the Green Jersey, where he remains the undisputed leader.

2026 Vuelta a España – Results of Stage 12

Here’s how the 12th stage of the 2026 Tour of Spain unfolded

Georg Steinhauser (EF Education – EasyPost) was also among the breakaway riders in the opening kilometres of Stage 12, but he too was unable to break away before the day’s first mountain classification (Category 3). So it was van Aert who took the points there ahead of Buitrago, and the race effectively started afresh. It was then Alexey Lutsenko (NSN Cycling Team), Ramses Debruyne (Soudal Quick-Step) and Axel Laurance (Netcompany INEOS) who broke away from the peloton as a trio. However, the attacks continued, allowing numerous other riders to make the break.

After 50 kilometres, 30 riders had built up a lead of two and a half minutes over the peloton. Among those who had joined the breakaway were van Aert and Buitrago, as well as Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Lennard Kämna (Lidl - Trek). Omrzel was leading the general classification. The young Slovenian, in tenth place, was a good eight minutes behind Mas. With 100 kilometres to go, the gap had increased to 5 minutes 30 seconds.

Movistar is widening the gap

Subsequently, the gap widened more slowly, but by 80 kilometres from the finish it had reached six minutes. There, at the Collado Garcia (Category 2), van Aert once again took the points ahead of Buitrago, just as he had done previously. Despite the lead continuing to grow, no one in the peloton initially felt obliged to do anything about the gap. Movistar limited themselves to a token lead, meaning that with 50 kilometres to go, the gap had already reached seven and a half minutes.

It was only on the 13-kilometre climb to Alto de Velefique (Category 1) that the gap began to narrow slowly. The leading group also broke up there and was effectively halved in size. Van Aert, Kämna, as well as the two strong climbers Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) were no longer able to keep up with the front runners.

Carapaz attacks early

With the peloton having also thinned out considerably and consolidated into a group of favourites, Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost) launched an attack five kilometres from the summit. A little later, the two youngsters Omrzel and Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM) broke away from the leading group, but were joined by eight other professionals before reaching the summit. Buitrago was among them, and he went on to secure the mountain points at the summit. His lead there over the group chasing the Red Jersey stood at 5 minutes 30 seconds.

Carapaz was caught again on the final descent of the day; his lead never exceeded half a minute. Meanwhile, the race moved onto the final climb. It started off steeply, and it was here that the strongest climbers – Buitrago, Omrzel, Bisiaux and Berrade – began to emerge. At the back of the peloton, Decathlon pushed the pace again; Mas, Roglic, Onley and Carapaz were isolated, whilst Gall still had three domestiques with him.

Mas goes one better

The Austrian launched an attack 13 kilometres from the finish. Mas and Roglic went with him. At the same time, Omrzel and Berrade left their companions behind; shortly afterwards, the Slovenian also shook off Berrade. Eleven kilometres from the finish, Mas then launched his own attack. Neither Roglic nor Gall were able to respond. Mas, who received support from a team-mate at the front, quickly built up a lead of half a minute.

Roglic subsequently stayed right on Gall’s rear wheel, allowing Carapaz to catch up. At least Roglic and Gall also received support from their domestiques, so the gap to Mas did not widen excessively.