PABLO CASTRILLO ESCAPED from a breakaway and held off his pursuers on the climb to the line to win the 12th stage of the Vuelta a Espana as Ben O’Connor protected his overall lead.
Castrillo, a Spaniard who rides for Kern Pharma, finished eight seconds ahead of Max Poole, after other members of the elite escape group stopped chasing to avoid helping each other.
A hilly 125.7 kilometre meander through Galicia from Ourense to the Manzaneda ski resort, ended with a short climb.
With a string of tough stages coming up, Primoz Roglic, who had chipped away at O’Connor’s lead over the previous two days, did not attempt another late attack.
O’Connor, an Australian who rides for Decathlon AG2R maintained his 3:16s lead over the Slovenian.
Cork’s Eddie Dunbar, fresh from his maiden Grand Tour stage victory on Wednesday, finished alongside O’Connor and Roglic in the red jersey group, crossing the line in 26th and remaining 18th in the general classification.
Tyrone’s Darren Rafferty finished in 106th place as part of a group more than 16 minutes behind Castrillo.
Friday’s 13th stage is a 176km run from Lugo ending with a nasty climb of Puerto de Ancares, a taster of a series of brutal climbing stages in the mountains of Asturias.
