Pablo Castrillo claimed the biggest win of his career with a brilliant summit finish to beat Britain’s Max Poole on stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana.
The 23-year-old Equipo Kern Pharma rider, making his Grand Tour debut, approached the final kilometre with a lead of around half a minute but held off 21-year-old Poole on the gruelling ascent to Montana de Manzaneda to win by eight seconds.
UAE Team Emirates’ Marc Soler finished third to complete the stage podium.
Australian Ben O’Connor maintained his three minutes and 16 seconds lead over Primoz Roglic in the general classification.
Castrillo’s victory was an emotional one as it came on the day it was announced that Kern Pharma’s former team president, Manolo Azcona, had died following an illness.
“It’s unbelievable,” Castrillo said. “It’s for the team, and it’s for the staff.
“I was very nervous for the final but I decided to attack in the flat and take victory.”
Stage 12 results
1. Pablo Castrillo (Spa/Equipo Kern Pharma) Three hours 36mins 12secs
2. Max Poole (GB/Team dsm-firmenich-PostNL) +8secs
3. Marc Soler (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +16secs
4. Mauro Schmid (Sui/Team Jayco-AlUla) +23secs
5. Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu/INEOS Grenadiers) +34secs
6. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel/Soudal-Quick-Step) +40secs
7. Harold Tejada (Col/Astana-Qazaqstan Team) +49secs
8. Carlos Verona (Spa/Lidl-Trek) +1min 3secs
9. Louis Meintjes (Rsa/Intermarché-Wanty) +1min 14secs
10. Oscar Rodriguez (Spa/INEOS Grenadiers) +1min 52secs
General classification after stage 12
1. Ben O’Connor (Aus/Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale Team) 47hrs 37mins 35secs
2. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +3mins 16secs
3. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar Team) +3mins 58secs
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) +4mins 10secs
5. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal-Quick-Step) +4mins 40secs
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa/INEOS Grenadiers) +5mins 23secs
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +5mins 29secs
8. Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) +5mins 30secs
9. Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale Team) Same time
10. George Bennett (Nzl/Israel-Premier Tech) +5mins 46secs