Cort Nielsen doubles up at Vuelta after near miss

Magnus Cort Nielsen won stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana on Thursday on a 175km run through sunny Andalucia, a day after being foiled in a long range bid just 200m from home.

EF-Nippo's Cort Nielsen also won stage six, and beat Andrea Bagioli and Michael Matthews in a reduced sprint after their group had reeled in a four man escape as the race entered the city centre streets of Cordoba.

There was no change in the overall rankings as Norway's Odd Christian Eiking held the lead by 58sec on Guillaume Martin and 1min 56sec on champion Primoz Roglic.

The hilly run was marked by intense heat of 35C (95F) and two falls, one of them caused as around 20 riders simply followed another rider's misjudged line round a corner.

Both Roglic and Ineos' Adam Yates ended up going head-over-heels into the roadside dust and bushes and both took a few moments to brush themselves down.

For a while it appeared an escape would again win a stage as a clutch including Romain Bardet, Giulio Ciccone and Sergio Henao fought to dispute the finale.

But Matthews' Australian team Bike Exchange led the charge to reel them in only to see the EF rider Cort Nielsen, who had kept his head down all day, suddenly move up the field and outpace everyone.

© 2021 AFP