Emerging Israeli leader Dan Martin hardly put a foot wrong in the Vuelta a España. After finishing third in the opening stage, Alate, and winning the third stage, La Regna Negra, he dropped back to fourth place on the Alto de l'Angliru climb on stage 12.

Martin was one of seven riders left in the lead group with race leader Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma). Movistar's Enric Mas was the first to attack, pulling away from Richard Karapas (Ineos Grenadiers), Kersee, and Alexandre Vlasov (Astana).

"It was another super hard day," Martin said of the 109-km stage, which included five mountain sections. "I got up every climb really fast, but I felt good. Angliru is more of a time trial than a race. You just pedal hard and see the result at the top."

"I felt good until the steep section near the top, but I didn't have the strength to pedal any further. When Enric Mas attacked I knew there was a hard section coming, so it was important to stay in the red and ride at my speed."

Martin's result was seventh in the stage, behind Roglic and teammate Sepp Kuss.

Kersee took the stage win by 26 seconds, with a time bonus that reduced the 33-second gap to Martin to 3 seconds, moving him into third place overall. Karapas regained the lead from Roglic by 10 seconds, and Kersee overtook Martin for third place by 32 seconds.

The Irish rider was back in fourth place by 35 seconds, but remained upbeat. Mass was the only rider within 2 minutes of the race lead, 1:50, with runner-up Wout Poels (Bahrain McLaren) 5:13 away. In this Vuelta, Martin still has a chance.

"It's another strong performance and it's important that we are still out there fighting. Every second counts because the top group is all so close. I did my best, so I should be happy today."

"If they had told me at the start that I would be 35 seconds behind the leader on the second rest day, I definitely would have done that. Tomorrow I want to relax and recover so that I can have a good time trial on Tuesday."

Stage 13 is a mostly flat 33.7-km individual time trial that is followed by a steep 1.8-km climb.