Vuelta a España stage 12: Magnus Cort Nielsen punches to redeeming win

Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education Nippo) won stage 12 of the 2021 Vuelta a España in temperatures near 106F° at the finish line in Córdoba.

After nearly taking the win on the previous day — only to be passed by stage-winner Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) in the closing 100m — the Dane held off a charge by Andrea Bagioli (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) on a long-range sprint and then a bike-throw at the line.

“When the group was reduced and the team believed in me, the whole team did a great job. I was able to sit on the back when everyone was fighting for the breakaway,” said Nielsen “I felt the legs a bit from yesterday, but I managed to get over the two climbs, and Jens [Keukeleire] did an amazing job leading me out for the sprint. We wanted to give it a try, and I am super-happy to take the win,” said Neilsen.

Nielsen also won stage 6 in this edition of the Vuelta.

How it happened

A break including Iturria Segurola (Euskaltel–Euskadi), Sebastian Berwick (Israel Start-Up Nation), and Sander Armee (Qhubeka-NextHash) had slightly more than a minute advantage on the peloton at 90km to go of the 175km route.

Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) tried to bridge up to the three on the front at 88km, but this was an ill-fated attempt. When he came back, another group launched off the front of the main group.

Making it from the peloton to the break was American Chad Haga (Team DSM), Julen Amezqueta (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH), Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citroën), adn Maxim van Gils (Lotto-Soudal). This group of eight established an advantage hovering between 1:07 and 1:15.

A crash at 84km to go brought down two Alpecin-Fenix riders and Euskaltel Euskadi rider, and caught up a rider from Bora-Hansgrohe. Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Fenix) did not get up quickly and needed medical attention. It was later reported that he was lucid when he was transported to a nearby hospital.

Meanwhile, in the front of the race, Chad Haga had been shed on the climb at 60km to go, as the pace at the front accelerated, stretching the gap to nearly 1:45.

Omar Fraile (Astana-Premier Tech) struggled at the back of the peloton as did Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) as the tempo remained above 50kph.

Primož Roglič on the ground, again

Another big crash on the front at 55km to go brought down several Jumbo-Visma riders including Primož Roglič. Also caught up in this tangle were Adam Yates, Dylan van Baarle, Tom Pidcock (all Ineos Grenadiers ), and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar Team), when they went off the road to the right as the peloton swept around a left-hand corner.

Jumbo Visma paced the race favorite back to the bunch, storming through the riders being dropped on the climb, while Oliveira and the three Ineos Grenadiers riders struggled a good distance behind.

UAE-Team Emirates led by Matteo Trentin continued to set an infernal tempo on the front of the big group and did not ease off the gas on the descent, as they were still 1:13 behind the break.

Segurola then attacked on a riser at 50km to go and this split the remaining six at the front into two groups of three on a 70kph descent. This lasted until 37km out when the seven came back together.

The gap between the break and the peloton had lost a minute, and hovered around 30 seconds as UAE-Team Emirates and Team BikeExchange kept a relentless rhythm.

Berwick was shed from the front at 27km to go, and then Segurola, and Bol, leaving van Gils to go solo.

Break brought back, new break forms

Race leader Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), second-place in the GC, were at the back of the main bunch, while Jumbo-Visma and EF Education-Nippo let Bahrain-Victorious and UAE Team Emirates do the pace-making.

Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) could not sustain this speed and dropped from the back of the big group.

The remains of the group on the front were brought back, and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) immediately counter-attacked, with Romain Bardet (Team DSM), Zwifty Academy winner Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), and Sebastien Henao (Qhubeka-NextHash) going with him.

The disorganized chasing peloton was lead by Matteo Trentin (UAE-Team Emirates) and Ion Izaguirre (Astana-Premier Tech) who tried to bring the gap below 30 seconds with a bridging move, however, this attempt did not last long when Team BikeExchange brought Michael Matthews to the front of the final, flat 10km.

Redeeming win

A 37-second margin remained with 8km to go, with Team BikeExchange doing all of the work to shave time from the four of the front and set up “Bling” Matthews for a win.

The chaotic pursuit was lead by Team BikeExchange and UAE-Team Emirates, but the four on the front were 100 percent committed, keeping their heads down and taking short pulls on the front to keep the speed high.

The gap came down to 10 seconds at 3km to go, and the inevitable catch was made at 1.5km from the line while the Jumbo-Visma and Movistar squads had their GC favorites at the front of the race to keep them safe.

Only Vine tried to stay out at 1km to go when EF Education-Nippo and Team BikeExchange came to the head of the race at the red kite. But he, too, was finally engulfed by the peloton.

Keukeleire dragged Nielsen — with Bagioli on his wheel — around traffic and into position with 800m to go, while Michael Matthews lurked several wheels back.

The final 300m was a long, straight and wide stretch, and Nielsen went for the win, just getting his wheel ahead of Bagioli’s with a well-timed bike-stab.

“I was able to rest at the back early on while there were escapes going on,” said Nielsen. “I could still feel the force from yesterday, that and a bit of luck did it.”

What’s to come

Stage 13, 203km from Belmez to Villanueva de la Serena, has a few small rolling hills in the first half of the stage before a finale perfect for sprinters.

With a relatively flat parcours by Vuelta standards, there should be no changes to the GC. Look for Deceuninck-Quick-Step to set up Fabio Jakobsen for another win to pad his lead in the green jersey competition.