Live Coverage of Vuelta a España - Stage 12

And ditto for GC:

1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 46:53:47
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:07
3 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Pro Team Astana 0:00:09
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:00:10
5 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek 0:00:19
6 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:36
7 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek 0:01:06
8 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC 0:01:27
9 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Team RadioShack 0:01:53
10 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Team RadioShack 0:02:00

No changes in the GC.  Sky's  Wiggins continues to lead Sky's Froome.

Boonen placed sixth on the stage -- good for him! He's been having some extremely painful problems.

Petacchi took fourth.

Degenkolb is second, with third place going to Bennati.

Cancellara opens for Bennati.

This is a slightly upill finish....

Highroad still putting down a blistering pace in the lead.  They have two options, John Degenkolb and Leigh Howard.

The peloton is now traveling at 60 to 63 kmh.

Now riders are trying to get away.  Cofidis' Fuchard wasn't successful, but now Anza of Vacansoleil has a small lead with 5 km to go.

Podgornyy and Mate are doing their best to stay away.

And it is Highroad's turn to take the lead and push the pace as much as possible.  Not only do they want to catch the leaders, they want to keep Kittel from getting up to the front.

Garmin-Cervelo leading the peloton with HTC-Highroad right behind them.

The other two with Velits were Marangoni (LAM), and Gavazzi (LAM). They have all been caught, though.

Only 0ate and Podgornyy are ahead now, by only 15 seconds.

Only 35 seconds now.

The peloton weaves it way through a town, with many turns.

Technical problems for RadioShack's Busche.  Looks like gear problems.    Oops, somehow he ended up on the wrong side of the barrier.  How did he do that??

The gap is now only 1:30.

Sprinter star Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) hasn’t been much under the spotlight so far in the Vuelta but he hasn’t said his last word: “I’ve passed the climbs of the previous days in a good shape. I’ve seen today’s course on the map only but it looks like the hill preceding the finish is
less hard that the one of stage 2, and there isn’t the same kind of dangerous descent before, so I’m up for winning.”

And now it is 21 seconds to Hansen and 2:00 exactly to the peloton.

Garmin-Cervelo, Lampre and HTC-Highroad now at the head of the field.

The trio catches and passes Hansen.

Podgornyy, Mate and Roldan want to catch Hansen, but he is hanging tough a bit ahead of them.

It looks like Hansen has made contact with the road at some point today, as he has some suspicious-looking smear marks on the back of his jersey.

He has now taken off from his three companions.

Stage 7 winner Marcel Kittel (Skil-Shimano) has his last chance today because he plans to quit the Vuelta tonight, as he’s very tired. He’s one of the very few riders who know the finale of Pontevedra, as the Dutch team was staying in an hotel two kilometres away from the finishing line on calle Estreda.

Tom Boonen is having a difficult time, with an open wound in a very delicate area.  Ouch ouch ouch!

The gap is down to 2:30 now, with the field giving serious chase.

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) said: “I hope it’s really a good finish for me. In the past few stages, there were too many hills for me to try and win a second time at the Vuelta. But in the grupetto, I was going much better than Marcel Kittel.”
 

Bradley Wiggins of Sky thinks it is “fantastic” to be leading the Giro. He plans to hold on to that lead all the way to Madrid.

Daniele Bennati (Leopard-Trek) said: “On paper, this is a good stage for me. Let’s hope that I’ll have the legs for winning. I feel good. We’ll control the race with a few other teams who want a bunch sprint finish as well. Wagner and Vigano will set up the sprint for me.”

The four leaders are putting in some climbing here.  Nothing major, but a pretty big hill in town.

Eros Capecchi (Liquigas-Cannondale) said on the start line: “My compatriot Daniele Bennati would have some reasons to keep the race all together. He’s the favourite for today, with my team-mate Peter Sagan. It might be a bit too hard for Marcel Kittel. Heinrich Haussler is another man to watch.”
 

Here is some transfer news for you:  BMC Racing Team has announced the signing of Marco Pinotti and Tejay van Garderen, both of HTC-Highroad.

Does David Moncoutie  (Cofidis) want to win a record-breaking fourth King of the Mountains title at the Vuelta?  Silly question.  He is only in second place right now, one point down, and is looking forward to his chances. 

Pydgornyy also takes the second climb of the day, the cat. 3 Alto Ponte Caldeas, ahead of Hansen and Mate.

The leaders have passed through the feed zone and are starting up the day's second climb.

Meanwhile the gap is down to 5.23.

A look at the other rankings: Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) lead the points ranking; Bauke Mollema of Rabobank is tops in the combination classification; Matteo Montaguti (AG2R) best n the mountains; and RadioShack is the best team.

The gap is coming down (6:07) but the temperature is going up (22.5°C).

Stuart O'Grady of Leopard Trek punctures.

The first intermediate sprint of the day came quite early, and Bauke Mollea sneaked out to pick up the win (and bonus seconds!).  The Rabo rider took it ahead of Nelson Oliviera (RadioShack) with – according to the Vuelta website – Kanstansin Sivtsov of HTC-Highroad taking third.  But they have also  told us he abandoned the race yesterday.....

Hansen, Mate and Roldan got away 14km into the stage, with Pydgorny catching them a bit later.  There were a number of break attempts before this group got away.

We have a foursome with a big lead.  Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Ruslan Pydgorny (Vacansoleil), Jose Roldan (Andalucia – Caja Granada) and Luis Mate (Cofidis) have some eight and a half minutes just after they have topped the first climb of the day.