Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Molano won a sprint finish to take stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana as American Sepp Kuss maintained his overall race lead.
Molano, 29, was led out superbly by his UAE Team Emirates team-mate Rui Oliveira and held off Australia’s Kaden Groves on the line.
Dutch rider Boy van Poppel came in third on the flat 150.6km run from Olvega to Zaragoza.
Kuss leads the general classification by 26 seconds from Spain’s Marc Soler.
Reigning champion Remco Evenepoel is third in the GC race, with three-time winner Primoz Roglic, who clawed back four seconds in the intermediate sprint, in fourth.
Hugh Carthy is the highest-placed British rider in 13th, almost five minutes behind Kuss.
On Friday the race travels into France, with a demanding Pyrenees mountain stage finishing on the iconic Col du Tourmalet.
Stage 12 results
1. Juan Sebastian Molano (Col/UAE Team Emirates) 3hrs 23mins 35secs
2. Kaden Groves (Aus/Alpecin-Deceuninck) Same time
3. Boy van Poppel (Ned/Intermarche-Circus-Wanty)
4. Rui Oliveira (Por/UAE Team Emirates)
5. Edward Theuns (Bel/Lidl-Trek)
6. Marijn van den Berg (Ned/EF Education-EasyPost)
7. Alberto Dainese (Ita/DSM-Firmenich)
8. Orluis Aular (Ven/Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)
9. Hugo Page (Fra/ntermarche-Circus-Wanty)
10. Milan Menten (Bel/Lotto-Dstny)
General classification after stage 12
1. Sepp Kuss (Usa/Jumbo-Visma) 42hrs 51mins 20secs
2. Marc Soler (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +26secs
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal-Quick-Step) +1min 09secs
4. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) +1min 32secs
5. Lenny Martinez (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +2mins 02secs
6. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +2mins 16secs
7. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) +2mins 22secs
8. Juan Ayuso (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +2mins 25secs
9. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar Team) +2mins 50secs
10. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus/Bora-Hansgrohe) +3mins 14secs
Selected others:
13. Hugh Carthy (GB/EF Education-Easypost) +4mins 56secs
18. Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +7mins 34secs
