Vuelta a Espana 2023: Juan Sebastian Molano beats Kaden Groves to Stage 12 win, Sepp Kuss remains in red

UAE Team Emirates may have three riders in the top 10 with designs on the red jersey but that did not stop them propelling Colombian sprinter Juan Sebastian Molano to an emphatic win in Stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana in Zaragoza.

Led out with aplomb by Portuguese team-mate Rui Oliveira, Molano came from distance to muscle through to the front on the home straight – leaving the task too hard for Australia’s Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

Double stage winner Groves was hampered by a late mechanical but finished fast – but frustrated – to take second place ahead of Dutchman Boy van Poppel (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty).

So imperious was Oliveira’s piloting that the Portuguese soared to fourth place ahead of Belgium’s Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek) at a thrilling end to an otherwise drab 150km stage through the flat planes of central Spain.

Groves thumped his handlebars in anger when he crossed the line – just as he did last week when denied another chance to complete his hat-trick by Frenchman Geoffrey Soupe (TotalEnergies) in Stage 7.

The Australian had warmed up for the finish by taking maximum points in the intermediate sprint just 20km from the finish – where second-place Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) took four bonus seconds on his rivals for red.

Having already reeled in the day’s two-man breakaway, Groves’ Alpecin-Deceuninck team looked well in control entering the final kilometre of the stage. But Groves found himself boxed in ahead of the final corner before a chain-drop hampered his final kick once Molano had darted from the wheel of Oliveira.

“I don’t have too much to say. Jim [Janssens] did a fantastic job but in the end, we got bumped by UAE who came with momentum. And my chain actually dropped, so… I managed to get it on, and I think I showed a really strong sprint, but unfortunately it was too far back, too late.

“I’m super disappointed because it could have been win number three. But we’re still in the hunt for the points [jersey] which is also important for us.”

On a day that was always destined for a bunch sprint finale, two riders – Dutch veteran Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH) and Spanish debutant Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural) – went clear shortly after the start in a move that never held much more than two minutes over the peloton.

A crash involving half a dozen riders – Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Omar Fraile (Ineos Grenadiers), Samuele Battistella (Astana-Qazaqstan), Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep), Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) and Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies) – momentarily halted the progress of the peloton whose pace was being controlled by the Alpecin-Deceunick team of the hot favourite, Groves.

No sooner has the breakaway duo been caught near the summit of an uncategorised climb 44km from the finish than Bol put in a second acceleration to blast clear of the pack. But the Dutch rider’s second bite of the cherry only lasted five more kilometres – although it was enough to snare him the day’s combativity award.

The race finally heated up with the intermediate sprint 20km from the finish where Groves extended his lead in the green jersey competition while Roglic stole a march on his GC rivals. The Slovenian Giro winner took four seconds back on his red jersey rival Evenepoel, whom he trails by 27 seconds going into what is arguably the queen stage on Friday.

Like UAE, Jumbo-Visma have three riders primed in the top 10 with Roglic 1’32” behind team-mate and surprise race leader Sepp Kuss, and Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard 2’22” down in seventh.

American climber Kuss will take a 23-second lead over Spain’s Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and 1’09” over defending champion Evenepoel into Stage 13, which concludes on the legendary Col du Tourmalet in France after ascents of the Col d’Aubisque and the Col de Spandelles.

It’s a stage where the gaps could be four minutes rather than the four seconds Roglic stole back in the dying moments of Thursday’s race into Zaragoza, where Molano denied Groves with a little help from his friend, Oliveira.