Jakob Omrzel Announces Himself with Historic Calar Alto Victory
VERA > CALAR ALTO (September 3, 2026) – At 2,153 metres above sea level, Calar Alto provided the highest finish of this year’s La Vuelta and the setting for Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) to announce himself as a Grand Tour rider to watch. The 20-year-old Slovenian claimed a historic stage victory after joining the breakaway and riding the final 12 kilometres alone.
Omrzel’s victory also rewrote the Slovenian record books. At 20 years, 5 months and 13 days old, he became the youngest Slovenian to win a Grand Tour stage, surpassing the mark set by Tadej Pogacar at La Vuelta 19, when Pogacar was 20 years, 11 months and 10 days old. Omrzel was also the youngest Grand Tour stage winner since Celestino Prieto won stage 4 of La Vuelta 1981 at 20 years, 2 months and 27 days old.
The 20 year old wunderkind was ecstatic,
“I’m not surprised, because I know how much work I’ve put in. I knew that this day was gonna come sooner or later, but for sure I wasn’t expecting it 100% on the first Grand Tour. I still can’t believe what I did, but I felt super good. I’m still feeling okay; I’m not tired. I’m just enjoying it at the moment.
Actually, the team, at Bahrain, we are really great. We, the riders, understand each other really well. We’re working so good together, up to perfection. We said it’s like playing playstation. What we want, we do. We go in the breakaways and with Pello [Bilbao], Santi [Buitrago], and other guys, it’s just amazing. I’m really proud.
[Becoming the youngest Slovenian Grand Tour stage winner ahead of Tadej Pogacar] is just a statistic. It doesn’t mean anything else, but it’s a nice statistic.”
The victory moved Omrzel into sixth place overall, while Enric Mas (Movistar) also made significant gains in the general classification. Mas finished nearly three minutes behind Omrzel but distanced his main rivals, gaining 27 seconds on Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost). Roglic remained second overall, 1:45 behind Mas, with Gall third at 2:06 and Carapaz fourth at 3:53.
Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos), who crashed early in the stage, finished more than five minutes behind Omrzel. He dropped to fifth overall but retained the white jersey, holding a 30-second advantage over Omrzel.
A Breakaway Takes Shape
The 12th stage took the peloton from Vera through the Almeria mountains to the summit finish at Calar Alto. The 176-kilometre route featured 4,568 metres of climbing, including the Alto de Velefique before the final ascent to the highest point of the race.
Attacks began immediately after the start. Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), who had already been named the most combative rider on stages 2, 5 and 11, was the first rider to attack. A fierce battle for the breakaway followed.
At kilometer 20, Alexey Lutsenko (NSN) launched another move, with Axel Laurance (Netcompany Ineos) and Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) joining him. Behind them, the attacks continued. Onley crashed at a roundabout but quickly got back on his bike and returned to the peloton.
Eventually, 25 riders bridged to the leading trio, creating a strong breakaway that included Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).
Tobias Johannessen, Andreas Leknessund and Andreas Kron (Uno-X Mobility) were also part of the move, along with Joao Almeida, Ivo Oliveira and Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Emirates XRG). Bahrain Victorious had three riders in the break, with Buitrago joined by Pello Bilbao and Omrzel, who began the day 10th overall at 8:05.
Velefique Splits the Race
Van Aert, wearing the green jersey, led the breakaway over the first three categorized climbs: Alto del Cabecico, Alto de Cobra and Collado Garcia. Buitrago, the mountains classification leader, finished second at each summit, increasing his total to 38 points while Van Aert moved to 30.
Van Aert also won the intermediate sprint at Velefique at the foot of the Alto de Velefique.
Behind the breakaway, Movistar controlled the pace of the peloton. The gap reached a maximum of 7:40 on the opening slopes of the Alto de Velefique, putting Omrzel into second place in the virtual overall standings, only 30 seconds behind Mas.
The pace increased on the climb. Bilbao drove the breakaway while Ivan Romeo (Movistar) set the tempo in the reduced GC group. Buitrago took the 10 KOM points at the summit.
Richard Carapaz then attacked from the GC group and opened a 20-second gap before being brought back by the other contenders. At the summit, the GC group trailed the leaders by 5:25.
Omrzel Goes Solo
Buitrago set the pace at the base of the final climb to Calar Alto. With 15 kilometres remaining, only Omrzel, Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) remained with him.
About five minutes behind, Decathlon CMA CGM increased the pace. Gall attacked with 15 kilometres to go, and Mas and Roglic followed.
Omrzel accelerated several times before finally breaking clear with 12 kilometres remaining. He steadily extended his advantage while Mas attacked the GC group, distancing Gall and further strengthening his position in the overall classification.
Omrzel reached the finish alone with a 1:56 advantage over Berrade. His victory made him the youngest Slovenian Grand Tour stage winner and the youngest Grand Tour stage winner since Prieto’s victory in 1981.
Omrzel’s teammate Santiago Buitrago took third on the stage and extended his lead in the Mountains Classification commented, “Honestly, today was a perfect day for us: the stage win plus more points earned, we couldn’t have asked for better. I’m super happy for Jakob [Omrzel], it’s well deserved. He’s a 20-year-old and has great talent. Personally, I had a bit of a battle with Wout [van Aert] for the first mountain points, but it’s fine, I have a bit more of an advantage today.”
Mas finished sixth, 27 seconds ahead of Gall, Roglic and Carapaz. Roglic remained second overall at 1:45, followed by Gall at 2:06 and Carapaz at 3:53.
Mas was happy with extending his lead, “I’m really happy with the team today, I have to be proud of them. If you look again at the stage, they did perfect. Those 27 seconds are really important for next week, we have to be proud of it. I was confident [before my attack], at the end the climb was too long [laughs] but it’s okay, I enjoyed it. Five years ago we did it in the opposite way and I already had a good feeling. We also did two training camps here with the team during the winter, it was really hard and now I enjoyed it a bit more!”
Onley finished more than five minutes behind Omrzel and dropped to fifth overall at 4:29. He retained the white jersey, with Omrzel one minute behind him at 4:59.
Stage 12 Video Highlights:
Stage 12 Results:
| 1 | J. OMRZEL | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 04h 29′ 53” | – | B : 10” | – |
| 2 | U. BERRADE FERNANDEZ | EQUIPO KERN PHARMA | 04h 31′ 49” | + 00h 01′ 56” | B : 6” | – |
| 3 | S. BUITRAGO | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 04h 32′ 06” | + 00h 02′ 13” | B : 10” | – |
| 4 | A. LUTSENKO | NSN CYCLING TEAM | 04h 32′ 42” | + 00h 02′ 49” | B : 4” | – |
| 5 | M. VANSEVENANT | SOUDAL QUICK-STEP | 04h 32′ 46” | + 00h 02′ 53” | – | – |
| 6 | E. MAS | MOVISTAR TEAM | 04h 32′ 49” | + 00h 02′ 56” | – | – |
| 7 | F. GALL | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | 04h 33′ 16” | + 00h 03′ 23” | – | – |
| 8 | P. ROGLIC | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 04h 33′ 16” | + 00h 03′ 23” | – | – |
| 9 | R. CARAPAZ | EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST | 04h 33′ 16” | + 00h 03′ 23” | – | – |
| 10 | G. Mühlberger | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | 04h 33′ 43” | + 00h 03′ 50” | – | – |
General Classification after Stage 12:
| 1 | E. MAS | MOVISTAR TEAM | 40h 31′ 51” | – | B : 22” | – |
| 2 | P. ROGLIC | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 40h 33′ 36” | + 00h 01′ 45” | B : 4” | – |
| 3 | F. GALL | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | 40h 33′ 57” | + 00h 02′ 06” | B : 8” | – |
| 4 | R. CARAPAZ | EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST | 40h 35′ 44” | + 00h 03′ 53” | – | – |
| 5 | O. ONLEY | NETCOMPANY INEOS CYCLING TEAM | 40h 36′ 20” | + 00h 04′ 29” | B : 10” | – |
| 6 | J. OMRZEL | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 40h 36′ 50” | + 00h 04′ 59” | B : 10” | – |
| 7 | M. SKJELMOSE | LIDL-TREK | 40h 39′ 33” | + 00h 07′ 42” | B : 2” | – |
| 8 | S. KUSS | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 40h 39′ 49” | + 00h 07′ 58” | – | – |
| 9 | G. Mühlberger | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | 40h 40′ 18” | + 00h 08′ 27” | – | – |
| 10 | H. TEJADA | XDS ASTANA TEAM | 40h 40′ 24” | + 00h 08′ 33” | – | – |
