Pablo Castrillo escaped from a breakaway and held off his pursuers on the climb to the line for an emotional Vuelta a España 2024 stage win Thursday, while Ben O'Connor protected his overall lead.

Castrillo, a Spaniard who rides for Kern Pharma, attacked at just before the 10-kilometer climb to the finish of Stage 12.

The 23-year-old celebrated his first World Tour victory, the first by a Spaniard on this year's Vuelta, by crossing the line pointing skywards.

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He dedicated his success to his team's founder and former president Manolo Azcona, who died during the night at the age of 71.

"I thought about Manolo the whole stage," Castrillo said. "I had his strength by my side in those last few kilometers. I suffered a lot, but to be able to win a stage in the Vuelta is just crazy. I don't have any words. I've gone to the end of my strength."

Castrillo finished eight seconds ahead of Max Poole after the other members of the elite escape group stopped chasing to avoid helping each other.

Poole, a 21-year-old Briton, had been part of the breakaway the previous day when he finished third.

O'Connor, an Australian who rides for AG2R-Decathlon, maintained his lead of 3 minutes, 16 seconds over the Slovenian from Red Bull, Primoz Roglic, as the pack finished 6 minutes, 29 seconds behind Castrillo on a hilly 125.7-kilometer meander through Galicia from Ourense to the Manzaneda ski resort.

With a string of tough stages coming up, Roglic, who had chipped away at O'Connor's lead over the previous two days, did not attempt another late attack.

"We just controlled the race, made some pace on the final climb," O'Connor said. "I felt pretty good today. I never lost confidence. I was annoyed, but it doesn't mean I don't believe in myself."

Yellow Cards

The day started with potentially bad news for his team, as they were punished for the way they had attempted to control the race the day before.

Four members of AG2R received yellow cards under a system being tried out by cycling's governing body, the UCI.

Riders Victor Lafay, Geoffrey Bouchard and Bruno Armirail were punished after AG2R formed a line across the road at the head of the peloton Wednesday to prevent attacks.

When Richard Carapaz, who sits fourth overall, attempted to slip past, Amirail appeared to move across to block, and Carapaz ended up crashing into the ditch.

The UCI picked on Lafay.

They fined the Frenchman 500 Swiss Francs ($590 dollars USD) and deducted a point in the King of the Mountains classification, six points in the points classification and 10 seconds overall.

Since Lafay had collected no mountain points and only four overall points, the deductions left him with minus totals in both categories. Overall, he is almost two hours behind the man he is defending, O'Connor, in the overall.

The fourth yellow card went to team sport director Cyril Dessel, who also was fined 1,000 Swiss Francs.

The UCI has not specified what longer-term punishments might result from yellow cards.

Friday's 13th stage is a 176-kilometer run from Lugo, ending with a nasty climb of Puerto de Ancares, a taster of a series of brutal climbing stages in the mountains of Asturias.

"Tomorrow is an extremely hard finish," O'Connor said.

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