Pablo Castrillo has arrived on the biggest stage of Spanish cycling. After a brilliant breakaway performance on stage 12 of the 2024
Vuelta a Espana, the
Equipo Kern Pharma rider took the summit win.
Just after finishing, in the microphones for the press, Pablo Castrillo, exhausted, spoke emotionally: "In these last kilometres I suffered a lot. It is the best day of my life. I didn't see it until the last meters (the victory), I was at the limit. It's a very special day. I can't believe I won at the Vuelta a España," he says through tears.
His attack came 10 kilometres from the finish line, but he also noted that the plan was to do it "at kilometre 7, I saw the opportunity before and I took it."
The saddest day for Kern Pharma, which began with the news of the death of Manolo Azcona, has become one of celebration thanks to the feat of Pablo Castrillo, who did not want to forget the former president of the Spanish team: "I have been thinking about Manolo during the whole stage. I was thinking about the whole team, about all the hard work he has done. I dedicate the victory to Manolo, who passed away tonight."
Results of stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana 2024
1 | CASTRILLO Pablo | Kern Pharma Team | 03:36:12 |
| POOLE Max | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | + 08 |
| SOLER Marc | UAE Team Emirates | + 16 |
| SCHMID Mauro | Team Jayco-AlUla | + 23 |
5 | NARVAEZ Jhonnatan | INEOS Grenadiers | + 34 |
| VANSEVENANT Mauri | Soudal Quick-Step | + 40 |
| TEJADA Harold | Astana Qazaqstan Team | + 49 |
| VERONA Carlos | Lidl-Trek | + 01:03 |
| MEINTJES Louis | Intermarché-Wanty | + 01:14 |
| RODRIGUEZ Óscar | INEOS Grenadiers | + 01:52 |
| SKJELMOSE Mattias | Lidl-Trek | + 06:29 |
| GALL Felix | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 06:29 |
| SIVAKOV Pavel | UAE Team Emirates | + 06:29 |
| O'CONNOR Ben | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 06:29 |
| MORE Enric | Movistar Team | + 06:29 |
| CARAPAZ Richard | EF Education-EasyPost | + 06:29 |
| RODRIGUEZ Carlos | INEOS Grenadiers | + 06:29 |
| ROGLIC Primoz | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 06:29 |
| GAUDU David | Groupama-FDJ | + 06:29 |
| RODRIGUEZ Cristian | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | + 06:29 |