Tomasz Marczynski today took his second stage victory in this year's Vuelta a Espana, thereby securing an important race victory for his Lotto-Soudal outfit that, thanks to Andre Greipel's lack of top performances, has been suffering under the consequences of a victory drought that have left team sponsors displeased and riders uneager to extend contracts.

Marczynski soloed across the finish line at the end of the 160.1 kilometer stage 12 from Motril to Antequera Los Dolmenes - a stage that included one category 1 and one category 2 climb. Dimension Data's Omar Fraile finished 52 seconds behind the stage winner and Jose Joaquin Rojas rounded out the podium.

The stage action was dominated by a breakaway group that formed after 45 kilometers of intensive riding. The group featured Brendan Canty (Cannondale-Drapac), Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto-Soudal), Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Pawel Poljanski, Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julien Duval (AG2R-La Mondiale), Michael Morkov (Katusha-Alpecin), Stef Clement (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), Anthony Pérez (Cofidis), David Arroyo (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), and Peter Koning (Aqua Blue Sport).

The action peaked when general classification favorite Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) attacked on the final climb and brought BMC Racing Team's Nicolas Roche with him, thereby forcing other general classification hopefuls to react. The strong and dominant Sky team soon responded to the imminent threat and appeared to have everything under control until its race leader Chris Froome crashed twice on the descent.

Despite powerful support from teammates Wout Poels and Mikel Nieve, Froome proved unable to regain contact with the other general classification favorites following his crashes. He, therefore, lost 20 seconds to Vincenzo Nibali and 42 seconds to Contador, who is proving determined on achieving a strong result in the final race of his professional cycling career.

"I'm dong fine. It was a really dry slippery corner and I just lost my front wheel a bit," Froome told Roadcycling.com.

"It's never good to lose time, but it's good that it's 20 seconds and not one minute. I'm just grateful I'm not more seriously injured and just lost a bit of skin. We'll have to see over the next few days of course. Sleeping on grazes is never too much fun, but I just have to make do now."

Following today's stage 12, Froome leads the 2017 Vuelta a Espana by 59 seconds over Nibali. Esteban Chaves is in third, 02:13 behind Froome. Team Cannondale-Drapac's Michael Woods is continuing to impress with his consistent performance and is 8th in the general classification. Contador is 9th overall, 03:13 behind the race leader.

Stage 13 preview and predictions:
With Froome leading the race by 59 seconds, the 2017 Vuelta a Espana remains undecided before Friday's stage 13 - a 198.4 kilometer ride featuring a category 3 climb and false plateaus. Expect a breakaway group to battle for the stage victory unless the sprinter teams succeed at keeping everything together in the 200 kilometers of riding on the hot roads of Spain.

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2017 Vuelta a Espana - Stage 12 results:
1    Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto-Soudal       03:56:45
2    Omar Fraile Matarranza (Spa) Dimension Data    0:00:52    
3    Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team         
4    Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe         
5    Stef Clement (Ned) Team Lotto NL - Jumbo         
6    Brendan Canty (Aus) Team Cannondale-Drapac    0:01:42    
7    Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis - Solutions Credits    0:02:50    
8    Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates         
9    Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe         
10    David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA    0:03:00    
11    Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport    0:05:03    
12    Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    0:06:49    
13    Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Trek-Segafredo    0:07:25    
14    Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Lotto NL - Jumbo    0:07:47    
15    Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team         
16    David de la Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors         
17    Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida         
18    Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott         
19    Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team         
20    Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin         
21    Michael Mørkøv (Den) Katusha-Alpecin         
22    Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb         
23    Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team         
24    Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates         
25    Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA         
26    Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb         
27    Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac         
28    Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team         
29    Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo         
30    Jaime Roson Garcia (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA         
31    Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team    0:07:54    
32    Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky    0:08:07    
33    Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky         
34    Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo    0:08:14    
35    Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Team Sky

2017 Vuelta a Espana - General classification following stage 12:
1    Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky Pro Cycling       49:22:53
2    Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida    0:00:59    
3    Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott    0:02:13    
4    David de la Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors    0:02:16    
5    Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb    0:02:17    
6    Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin    0:02:18    
7    Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team    0:02:37    
8    Michael Woods (Can) Team Cannondale-Drapac    0:02:41    
9    Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Trek-Segafredo    0:03:13    
10    Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team    0:03:51    
11    Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team    0:04:25    
12    Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team         
13    Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb    0:04:41    
14    Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky Pro Cycling    0:04:54    
15    Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Lotto NL - Jumbo    0:05:50    
16    Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates    0:06:19    
17    Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Team Sky    0:07:54    
18    Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA    0:10:04    
19    Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Dimension Data    0:12:31    
20    Darwin Atapuma (Col) UAE Team Emirates    0:18:46