Twenty-five kilometres after the start of the stage, 14 riders, including Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), launched an attack. They were caught two kilometres before the climb of Puerto San Xusto (2nd cat. 10.2 km at 4.2%) in which the peloton exploded. The Italian Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) took the points at the summit before Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) set off alone on the descent towards Puerto Aguasantas (2nd cat. 5.6 km at 6.1%), the second difficulty on the programme, which saw Xandro Meurisse pass first at the summit.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider was still alone in the lead, with a 1:20 lead over the chasing group, during the second ascent of Puerto Aguasantas, which he won. Elected fighter of the day, Meurisse was caught by the pursuers 35 kilometers from the finish.
As the riders faced the Puerto Cruxeiras (3rd cat. 2.8 km at 9%) as the last climb of the day, Primoz Roglic, accompanied by Enric Mas (Movistar), launched an attack to try to distance Ben O’Connor. A successful bet by the Slovenian who made up time on the leader of the general classification.
On Thursday, the riders will return to the mountains with a 137.5 km route that will start at Ourense Termal and end at the Manzaneda Mountain Station. This climb (1st cat. 15.4 km at 4.7%) will be the deciding factor of this 12th stage.