Twenty-year-old Slovenian Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) crowned his first season in the WorldTour with an impressive solo victory in the mountains of stage 12 in the Vuelta a España.
He attacked with more than 11 kilometres of the final climb remaining and held off the remains of the day’s breakaway all the way to the finish to win by nearly two minutes. It was his first pro-level victory.
As expected, the GC battle ignited behind him on the slopes to Calar Alto, with Enric Mas (Movistar) putting time into his rivals for the overall with an unanswerable attack.
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Asked after the stage whether he had surprised himself, Omrzel said, “I’m not surprised, because I know how much work I’ve put in. I knew this day would come sooner or later, but for sure I was not expecting it 100 per cent in the first Grand Tour.”
Looking amazingly fresh as he performed a cool-down on the trainer, he added: “I still can’t believe what I did, but I felt super good, I’m still feeling OK, I’m not tired. I don’t know, I’m just enjoying it at the moment.
He said his Bahrain Victorious team – which had had a doubly good day with fellow breakaway Santiago Buitrago taking the mountains jersey – understood each other really well, and were locked in an imaginary Playstation game.
“The whole team is just perfect,” he said. “We said that we’re playing Playstation and that’s what we’re doing at the moment, what we want. We go in the breakaway with Pello [Bilbao], Santi [Buitrago] and other guys, it’s just amazing and I’m really proud.”
He was also informed that he is the youngest ever Slovenian to win a Grand Tour stage – younger even than a certain other in 2020, who in different circumstances might have been expected to win here today.
“It’s just a statistic,” smiled Omrzel, “but it’s a nice statistic.”
More to follow…
