Britain’s champion Chris Froome didn’t have a very good day on the today’s 12th stage of this season’s Vuelta a Espana. He crashed twice as his lead was cut by nearly 20 seconds!
Froome, team Sky’s best rider, was unable to keep balance as he fell on the downhill stage section during the last 6 kilometers of the 160.1 kilometer stage that started in Montril to Antequera.
Fortunately, he continues to lead the tour as Tomasz Marczynski claimed a clean, solo victory on today’s stage.
It was the incident that involved Froome that made Poland’s rider, Marczynski lead the stage during the last 21 kilometers and winning the stage for the second time this season by 52 seconds.
¿Quieres ganar el maillot de líder? LA ROJA ?
¿Want to win the leader’s jersey? LA ROJA ?
? FOLLOW @lavuelta + RT ? pic.twitter.com/bke4UOqGL2— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 31, 2017
Today’s race saw four-time Tour de France champion fight hard to finish 20 seconds behind the main group of riders in the general classification favorites.
“It’s never nice to crash like that, but I’m just grateful that I’m not injured and everything is good to go tomorrow,” Froome said during an interview for Spanish TV station Teledeporte. It’s never nice to lose time, but I have a fantastic team around me. I had two team-mates with me all the way to the end.”
“The Vuelta is not over yet and there are a lot of big days ahead. The race is not over until we reach Madrid. I just need to be at my best every day now.”
Marczynski, ganador de etapa: “Iba muy bien hoy, he subido El Torcal muy fácil”. https://t.co/AbLqW4RqSI #LV2017 pic.twitter.com/WO8z5kmkvU
— AS Ciclismo (@AS_Ciclismo) August 31, 2017
Stage 12 results
Tomasz Marczynski (Pol/Lotto-Soudal) 3hrs 56mins 45secs
Omar Fraile (Spa/Team Dimension Data) +52secs
Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa/ Movistar Team) Same time
Pawel Poljanski (Pol/BORA-hansgrohe) Same time
Stef Clement (Ned/LottoNL-Jumbo) Same time
Brendan Canty (Aus/Cannondale-Drapac) +1mins 42secs
Anthony Perez (Fra/Cofidis, Solutions Credits) +2mins 50secs
Jan Polanc (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) Same time
Andreas Schillinger (Ger/BORA-hansgrohe) Same time
David Arroyo (Spa/Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) +3mins
General classification after today’s stage
Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) 49hrs 22mins 53secs
Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Bahrain-Merida) +59secs
Esteban Chaves (Col/Orica-Scott) +2mins 13secs
David de la Cruz (Spa/Quick-Step Floors) +2mins 16secs
Wilco Kelderman (Ned/Team Sunweb) +2mins 17secs
Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha-Alpecin) +2mins 18secs
Fabio Aru (Ita/Astana Pro Team) +2mins 37secs
Michael Woods (Can/Cannondale-Drapac) +2mins 41secs
Alberto Contador (Spa/Trek-Segafredo) +3mins 13secs
Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana Pro Team) +3mins 51secs
