OFFICIAL Stage 12 Results

[Laurens De Jong]

Hello, Vuelta a España Gamers!

 

STAGE Grade: B

 

I rate today’s stage a B. I’m calling the final four kilometers one long sprint, it was surprising that Marc Soler did domestique work for Juan Ayuso, and any route that loops back onto itself gets at least three stars, no questions asked.

 

Route: 4/5         GC: 0/5             Tactics: 3/5       Sprint: 4/5         Surprises: 2/5

 

 

Il suo nome è Juan Ayuso. His name is Juan Ayuso. Won the stage today, after all the consternation of the last week. It is clear that there is no love lost between Ayuso and his team. But it seems life is good between Ayuso and his team mates.

 

Marc Soler, who, like Ayuso, prefers to ride for himself gave his all for Ayuso today. I’ve seldom see that from Soler. In cycling, you eat the other guy’s lunch before you start on your own. Soler packs a huge lunch every day, and Ayuso ate most of it today. Look at it again: on the climb of the Collada de Brenes, Soler was sprinting in the drops to launch Ayuso. He could barely, barely follow Soler, did Ayuso. He got launched and it was then an almost certainty that he would win the stage. Cycling is a team sport, Soler did his part.

 

Javier Romo was able to follow Ayuso. That tells me that Ayuso was strong, but not great today. Ayuso in great form drops the likes of Romo without a fuss.

 

That Ayuso. He’s 22. The divine child. Young. Romo is four years older. But Ayuso was the wily veteran today. With four kilometers to go, it was clear he would win the stage. By almost-refusing to take any pulls, and soft-pedaling the pulls he did do, he rode practically the entire way to the finish in the draft. Romo didn’t do anything wrong, Ayuso just made the right moves. Romo’s alternative was: refuse to be blackmailed, and be caught by the chasers. Instead, he finished second.

 

Ayuso was part of the breakaway of the day. No Marco Frigo, but at least fifty riders in the breakaway. That’s almost a peloton, but okay.

 

Mads Pedersen is my kind of rider. He’s taking every opportunity to score points. You get twenty points for winning the intermediate sprint. But you also get 30 points for winning stages. Pedersen had a 30-point lead over Jonas Vingegaard before today’s stage. Therefore: Pedersen got into that monster breakaway with a couple of teammates. They worked for him, he won the intermediate sprint. And fifth place at the finish. Ask me how he did that. I have no answer. He was dropped on the climb and then all of a sudden, he was there again. He scored 37 points today — advantage Pedersen. My kind of rider.

 

Victor Campenaerts is everyone’s kind of rider. After spending the day freewheeling in the breakaway — he had no reason to be there, but he wasn’t needed anywhere else, either — he rode away from what was left of the breakaway with two kilometers to go. Ahead of him: Romo, Ayuso, and chasing them, an impressive Brieuc Rolland. I don’t know what Campenaerts’ plan was, here. It’s possible that those three up ahead cancel each other out, and then Campenaerts has a chance to win the stage. It’s also possible he was just having fun.

 

Regardless, he came close to catching Rolland. But he was also nearly caught by Pedersen. A fun bit of long-range sprinting there at the end of stage 12 of the 2025 Vuelta a España.

 

We mentioned him yesterday, Brieuc Rolland. He is also a picked-by-only-one-team rider, this time by Team John. Like Ayuso, he’s 22. He’s no divine child like Ayuso, but he’s decent. Winner of last year’s Giro di Lombardia for the Under-23 riders.

 

He already finished eighth in stage 7. Today, he was in that breakaway when Soler launched Ayuso. Only a few riders could follow. Finlay Pickering. Javier Romo. And Rolland. Pickering cracked almost immediately. Romo made it to Ayuso’s wheel. We know that.

 

But Rolland found himself in a chasse patate. Stuck between the breakaway and the chasers. It probably didn’t feel like that to him. For a while we could see him, behind the two leaders. And then we couldn’t. The final 25 kilometers, we have no idea where he was. The breakaway had fifty seconds, a minute, on the chase group. But where was Rolland?

 

Nobody knows.

 

That kind of effort is its own masterclass. The chase group nearly caught him, but he salvaged a well-deserved third place.

 

Watch the final kilometer HERE.

Watch the official La Vuelta highlights HERE.

Watch the extended NBC Sports highlights HERE.

Read the TNT Sports report HERE.

 

Spoiler alert: Team Josh and Team Dominic are now fourth and fifth, instead of the other way around. Everyone else remains where they were.

 

Team Josh took advantage of being the only team with Javier Romo: first place on the day. Most points overall and also most points from classifications. Behind them, thanks to Victor Campenaerts, Team Sam. They also had most points from the stage and most riders in the Top-25 (seven).

 

Then a gap, then Team Charles in third, followed closely by Team Dominic, Team Ansel, Team Liz, Team Hugo and Team Tadej in places four through eight.

 

Team Sylvia led the rear guard in ninth, followed by Team Grace and Team Samuel who shared tenth. Team Will were twelfth and Team Amalia were thirteenth today.

 

Friday is the summit finish on L’Angliru and Jonas Vingegaard will win that stage and the 2025 Vuelta a España. 

Tom Pidcock has been a challenger this week, but this is L’Angliru. I’m not saying he can’t win on Friday. He’s won l’Alpe d’Huez in 2022 when he beat Vingegaard by more than three minutes. 

But I am saying he can’t possibly win on Friday. This is no Alpe d’Huez. Cycling Cols grades L’Angliru, from the north like we’ll climb it on Friday, with a profile index of 1503. One stretch of five kilometers is 13.7%, the steepest kilometer is 17.4%, we even hit 24% at one point. L’Alpe d’Huez has a profile index of 1039, the steepest five kilometers is 9.2%, the steepest kilometer is 11%, and the maximum gradient is 12%. L’Angliru is the definition of “my grand tour is harder than yours.”

 

The only rider who can beat Vingegaard here is not here. And he’s not won L’Angliru before: in 2023, we had that mad finish here where Primož Roglič and Vingegaard were attacking their own teammate, Sepp Kuss. Looking back, Roglič was the bad actor that day and Vingegaard could have won the stage. Tomorrow he can prove it.

 

Standings after stage 12:

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Hugo*	2013	1	0
2	Team Ansel*	2009	2	0
3	Team Charles*	1987	3	0
4	Team Josh*	1934	5	1
5	Team Dominic*	1906	4	-1
6	Team Tadej*	1856	6	0
7	Team Grace*	1835	7	0
8	Team Amalia*	1803	8	0
9	Team Samuel*	1773	9	0
10	Team Sam*	1461	10	0
11	Team Will*	1324	11	0
12	Team Liz*	1286	12	0
13	Team Sylvia*	1221	13	0

 

Standings after stage 12 (including adults):

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Kari	2110	1	0
2	Team Craig	2089	3	1
3	Team Kent	2085	2	-1
4	Team Hugo*	2013	4	0
5	Team Ansel*	2009	5	0
6	Team Mitchinson	2002	9	3
7	Team Charles*	1987	6	-1
8	Team Feng	1981	8	0
9	Team Adam	1976	6	-3
10	Team Corsa	1963	10	0
11	Team Josh*	1934	14	3
12	Team Amelia	1914	13	1
13	Team Chuck	1909	11	-2
14	Team Dominic*	1906	12	-2
15	Team Tadej*	1856	15	0
16	Team Grace*	1835	16	0
17	Team Laurens	1816	18	1
18	Team Amalia*	1803	17	-1
19	Team Samuel*	1773	19	0
20	Team Corey	1746	20	0
21	Team Rob	1736	21	0
22	Team Joe	1686	22	0
23	Team Wes	1648	23	0
24	Team Jonwaine	1595	25	1
25	Team John	1585	26	1
26	Team Julie	1580	24	-2
27	Team Sam*	1461	27	0
28	Team Will*	1324	29	1
29	Team JB	1314	28	-1
30	Team Liz*	1286	30	0
31	Team Doug	1270	31	0
32	Team Sylvia*	1221	32	0
33	Team Kate	597	33	0

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 12:

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	PINK JERSEY	PURPLE JERSEY	BLUE JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Amalia*	33	40	6	0	5	51	84	1719	1803
Team Ansel*	64	42	11	9	0	64	128	1881	2009
Team Charles*	68	43	11	4	5	65	133	1854	1987
Team Dominic*	68	39	11	4	5	61	129	1777	1906
Team Grace*	42	42	6	9	0	57	99	1736	1835
Team Hugo*	64	36	11	9	0	58	122	1891	2013
Team Josh*	103	41	11	11	0	65	168	1766	1934
Team Liz*	81	25	8	9	0	44	125	1161	1286
Team Sam*	105	31	10	9	0	52	157	1304	1461
Team Samuel*	38	40	14	5	0	61	99	1674	1773
Team Sylvia*	67	28	3	9	0	40	107	1114	1221
Team Tadej*	57	35	11	4	9	61	118	1738	1856
Team Will*	47	40	3	4	0	47	94	1230	1324

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 12 (including adults):

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	PINK JERSEY	PURPLE JERSEY	BLUE JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Adam	68	39	6	4	5	54	122	1854	1976
Team Amalia*	33	40	6	0	5	51	84	1719	1803
Team Amelia	80	32	11	9	5	59	139	1775	1914
Team Ansel*	64	42	11	9	0	64	128	1881	2009
Team Charles*	68	43	11	4	5	65	133	1854	1987
Team Chuck	64	35	10	9	5	61	125	1784	1909
Team Corey	61	36	4	9	0	49	110	1636	1746
Team Corsa	96	42	11	4	0	59	155	1808	1963
Team Craig	99	37	11	4	9	63	162	1927	2089
Team Dominic*	68	39	11	4	5	61	129	1777	1906
Team Doug	77	28	10	0	0	40	117	1153	1270
Team Feng	82	42	11	4	0	59	141	1840	1981
Team Grace*	42	42	6	9	0	57	99	1736	1835
Team Hugo*	64	36	11	9	0	58	122	1891	2013
Team JB	36	36	4	0	0	40	76	1238	1314
Team Joe	72	31	11	5	0	49	121	1565	1686
Team John	90	31	14	4	0	51	141	1444	1585
Team Jonwaine	80	31	10	9	0	52	132	1463	1595
Team Josh*	103	41	11	11	0	65	168	1766	1934
Team Julie	34	32	14	5	5	58	92	1488	1580
Team Kari	64	43	11	4	9	69	133	1977	2110
Team Kate	10	15	0	0	0	15	25	572	597
Team Kent	68	39	11	9	9	70	138	1947	2085
Team Laurens	82	32	11	4	5	54	136	1680	1816
Team Liz*	81	25	8	9	0	44	125	1161	1286
Team Mitchinson	110	42	11	9	0	64	174	1828	2002
Team Rob	68	31	11	4	4	52	120	1616	1736
Team Sam*	105	31	10	9	0	52	157	1304	1461
Team Samuel*	38	40	14	5	0	61	99	1674	1773
Team Sylvia*	67	28	3	9	0	40	107	1114	1221
Team Tadej*	57	35	11	4	9	61	118	1738	1856
Team Wes	59	33	6	9	0	48	107	1541	1648
Team Will*	47	40	3	4	0	47	94	1230	1324

 

¡Viva la Vuelta!

 

-Laurens.