Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) took a memorable solo victory on stage 12 of the Vuelta a España. The British racer won the Alto de l'Angliru to claim his first Grand Tour victory on Spain's toughest climb. He joins Alberto Contador, Jose Maria Jimenez, and Roberto Heras on the list of Langrille winners.

A win at this level is reward enough for any rider, but thanks to a 10-second time bonus and a 16-second time gap from the chasing pack led by Astana's Alexandre Vlasov, Kersey overhauled Israeli start-up national leader Dan Martin to take overall He moved into third place.

On the frighteningly steep slopes of Angliru, Kersee made his first dig with 3km to go, trying to break away from the group of contenders on a steep uphill section with a gradient of over 20%.

This completely failed, but after running in the lead group with Calapaz and Movistar's Enric Mas, the British racer was back in contention with just over 1km to go, and for Kersee, who had suffered on the summit of Farrapona 24 hours earlier and lost 7 seconds to the other favorites, the hell of Angliru Sunday on the climb known as the Hell of Angliru was a different story altogether.

"To win any professional race is a dream come true, but to win a Grand Tour, on a mythical climb, it doesn't get any better than that.

When asked if attacking with 1km to go was the right move, he replied, "Looks like it.

Later at the main press conference, Caja Rural Seguros RGA-turned-pro Carthy spoke in fluent Spanish, recognizing that his victory in Angliru marked a new chapter in his career.

"I think it's time to step up as a racer. I knew it was going to happen, but this victory made my teammates believe in it. It's the best win I've ever had," the 26-year-old said.

Kersee, who also won the 2016 Vuelta a Asturias, said his victory in Angril was "the toughest climb ever" and a return to his roots in Caja Rural, where he began his professional career in 2015.

"Northern Spain is amazing," he said. Here in Asturias, I was reminded of my first professional win in Caja Rural, and the fans reminded me of that today on the way to the start. And at the start today, the fans reminded me of that.

Kersee's victory was also his second EF pro win at the 2020 Vuelta a España, following Michael Woods' breakaway victory at Villenueva de Valdegovia, and, as the British climber noted after the stage, helped minimize the GC

Top 4.

The time bands of the top four are only 35 seconds apart, with the fifth-placed mass at 1:50 and the rest more than 5 minutes behind. Tuesday's time trial will again close the gap significantly, and next Saturday's showdown at Alto de la Covatilla awaits.

"It's exciting and it's the close race everyone wants. It has everything to play for."