Stage 12

The road

At the start

Eight laps of Logroño

Nairo Quintana abandoned yesterday, the shoulder he hurt in the time trial finally beating him, and Thibaut Pinot went home with a virus on the same road. Alberto Contador leads Alejandro Valverde by twenty seconds and Rigoberto Urán by 1:08. Today is as simple as this race gets: eight flat laps of a 21-kilometre circuit around Logroño, in the heart of Rioja, before the mountains resume.

How it was won

1. 112 km to go

   Krizek's long day ends

   Away alone on the first lap in Logroño, the Austrian had nine minutes at his best and is finally swept up twelve kilometres from home.

2. 2At the line

   A crash on the final bend

   Matthews goes down and Bouhanni is held up with him; only fifteen riders come through unaffected. Sinkeldam brings order to what is left, and Degenkolb opens the throttle at 200 metres and kicks all the way to hold off Tom Boonen — his third stage of this Vuelta.

The result