The brutal stage in blistering heat saw a breakaway group of eight riders finally form off the front of the peloton, only slipping away after after 75km of racing. The octet were swept up with 21 kilometres left before another attack launched over the Puerto de Locubin, with Australian Jay Vine (Alpecing-Fenix) trying his luck in the late move.
Matthews and his Team BikeExchange teammates survived a fast pace on the final climbs, then set a hard pace to catch the escapees, with Vine the last man to be reeled in within the final kilometre to go all-in for the stage win.
EF Education timed their leadout charge perfectly, Jens Keukeliere accelerated over the top of the Team BikeExchange leadout with Magnus Cort Nielsen in his wheel, with Andrea Bagioli (Deceuninck-QuickStep) the one rider alert to follow in Cort's wheel.
Matthews was caught out of position, and after Luka Mezgec did the final pull into position, the eight-time Grand Tour stage winner had to sprint to try and make up the big gap that formed between the front riders and himself. He sprinted to third place behind stage-winner Cort with Bagioli the runner-up to take third place; his sixth top-10 placing so far at the 2021 Vuelta a España.
"After yesterday, today was always going to be difficult," said Matthews after the finish. "We all came together in the final there and even after I was struggling on the last two climbs to get to the finish, the boys still put it all on the line for me to go for the sprint.
"I already told the team on the first climb I wasn’t going to contest the stage today. I thought it was going to be too much for me, but I gritted my teeth and got myself over the climb and the boys said we will go for me in the sprint."
Matthews was the fastest from the remaining peloton despite having to do quite a long sprint, but couldn't overhaul the pair of Cort and Bagioli, who had crucially gotten a sizeable lead in the finale.
"We just got jumped a little bit in the final from Magnus Cort, they just timed it better than I did in the sprint there, but I think all-in-all we did a really good team performance today," said Matthews.
"When you have a team like this that supports you through the highs and the lows of a Grand Tour, then you always give it your all to try and finish it off.”
Matthews should have a few additional opportunities to take a win in sprints at the 2021 Vuelta, the first as soon as Friday in Villanueva de la Serena. There are also possible sprint stages in the third week of competition, on Tuesday in Santa Cruz de Bezana and on Thursday in Monforte de Lemos.
The Vuelta a España continues tonight on SBS VICELAND, SBS OnDemand and the SKODA Tour Tracker with Stage 13, the broadcast starting from 2300 AEST, with the Tour Tracker kicking in at the earlier time of 2250 AEST.
