OFFICIAL Stage 12 Results: Jay Vine ABANDONS
Laurens De Jong
Hello, Vuelta a España Gamers!
STAGE Grade: B+
I rate today’s stage a B-. It was a nice course, with a top-notch climb to the finish. In GC terms, we now know that Enric Mas can win the 2026 Vuelta a España. I don’t go into it, but both Movistar Team and Decathlon CMA CGM Team rode tactically perfect races. There wasn’t any kind of sprint, but Jakob Omrzel winning the stage is a surprise — even if he said it wasn’t a surprise to him.
Route: 4/5 GC: 3/5 Tactics: 3/5 Sprint: 1/5 Surprises: 4/5
Jakob Omrzel was 18 when he started stage 1 of the Giro della Lunigiana. Paul Seixas would win that stage and the general classification four days later, but Omrzel crashed into motorbike and would not finish the stage. That crash nearly finished his life. His heart stopped beating several times, he was resuscitated on the spot and on his way to the hospital in La Spezia.
That was September 25, he was racing again in March of the next year. His first pro win was the 2025 Slovenian national road race championship, and today he added win number two. When he says post-race that he’s not surprised he won because “he worked hard towards this,” that’s what he means.
He’s younger now than Tadej Pogačar was when he won his first grand tour stage. Whatever they put in the water in Slovenia, we should go over there and have us some.
Yesterday Buitrago expressed surprise and puzzlement that Wout van Aert had sprinted for three mountain classification points. Today van Aert was in the breakaway with Buitrago, and beat him in every sprint to the summit, then he won the intermediate sprint, and then he dropped back. Santiago got third place, though, salvaging enough points to actually increase his lead over van Aert by 10 points. But he is in second place now, van Aert.
First place in the mountain classification pays out 21,800 euros and 180 UCI points. Second place is worth zero euros and zero UCI points. I cannot name any second place in any of the secondary competitions in the entire history of grand tour cycling. Tadej Pogačar was second in the 2026 Tour de France and I have heard of him, but not because of his second place in the mountain classification in this year’s Tour.
In 2019 Ángel Madrazo was second in the mountain classification of that year’s Vuelta. I don’t remember that and I don’t remember him. Geoffrey Bouchard won it, and I barely remember him, I certainly don’t remember he won the polka dot jersey in the 2019 Vuelta a España.
If anyone can explain why van Aert is battling Santiago in the mountain competition, do tell. It almost feels personal, but I don’t remember any feud between them.
I’ve often campaigned against the practice of satellite riders in the breakaway. Domestiques ahead of the peloton who can help in the final kilometers, when their leader catches up with them. More often than not, it doesn’t work. Today it did work. Mas came across Raúl García Pierna and, Felix Gall came across Léo Bisiaux, and Primož Roglič found help from Luke Tuckwell. The only top rider without a satellite rider was Oscar Onley. Isolated, having to do all the work by himself, he was in fact dropped by the others. He finished twelfth, five minutes down and he dropped a place in the standings. Cycling is a team sport and Onley had no team around him.
To be fair, that was true for Mattias Skjelmose and Sepp Kuss as well, and they did even worse than Onley. Like I said, today the practice of satellite riders did pay off.
The 2024 Vuelta a España was the breakthrough year for our focus team Equipo Kern Pharma. They won two stages with Pablo Castrillo, and in stage 18 they finished first, third, and eighth. Castrillo was eighth, Pau Miquel was third, and Urko Berrade won that stage.
Miquel was then relegated to ninth. He now races for Bahrain – Victorious, taking second place in stage 2 of this year’s Vuelta. Castrillo is now doing domestique work for as and for Movistar to win the Vuelta. But Berrade is still with Kern Pharma.
He was in the breakaway today and determined to win. Apparently, they did take it easy on Wednesday to be able to shine on Thursday.
Berrade made sure I knew he was my kind of guy in the finale today. With just Omrzel, Buitrago, and Bisiaux left, Santiago suggested that Berrade take a pull. Buitrago had just made the race hard for his teammate Omrzel. That’s fine, but if you then ask anyone else to take a pull, it would be your teammate. Which is also dumb. The whole situation was dumb. Berrade said no, but I think it got under his skin.
Later on he and Omrzel were the last riders to survive from the breakaway, but Berrade refused to take any pulls. I think he knew that he would crack if he tried, but perhaps he was still mad that Buitrago asked him to work earlier. Cyclists are like that. Omrzel rode away from him and Berrade got second place, he lost almost two minutes in the final twelve kilometers.
At least, I think that’s what happened. The TV coverage wasn’t great. We didn’t see that Buitrago fell behind, or why, or how. And because Omrzel was winning the stage ahead of him, and Mas was closing in behind him, we didn’t get to see Berrade from when he was dropped until he finished. It was then that we could see he had salvaged second place ahead of Santiago Buitrago, who probably needed another kilometer to catch and pass him.
Kern Pharma really want to win a stage here in the 2026 Vuelta a España, and second really hurts right now. But it’s 130 UCI points and good publicity all day. They should be happy with this. For them, those UCI points are important. Compare that to Omrzel, who scored 180 points but then lost 25 of those because of littering. Don’t litter, kids, unless your team can afford it!
Watch the final kilometer HERE.
Watch the La Vuelta highlights HERE.
Watch the NBC Extended highlights HERE.
Read the TNT Sports report HERE.
Everyone had Jay Vine, and his absence on UAE Team Emirates – XRG does not present opportunities for anyone else, so his abandon doesn’t affect our game.
Team Ansel won the stage today, thanks to Santiago Buitrago. Most points from the stage, most points from classifications, most points overall, part of a three-way tie for most riders in the Top-25 (eight). They move into second place.
Team Amalia were a Buitrago-sized gap behind, taking second place and holding on to first in the standings. Team Hugo were third and Team Grace fourth, both also had eight riders in the Top-25. Team Hugo drop to third, Team Grace get into sixth again.
Everyone else finished fifth: Team Charles, who remain fifth; Team Tadej, now seventh. And Team Joshua, still fourth.
Stage 13 on Friday looks like a climbing stage but it isn’t. A category one climb, long but not unreasonably steep, and two category two climbs. More than 160 kilometers to go after the first climb. On Saturday we have a category one finish. That’s a climbing stage. On Friday, the climb is too soon for the general classification riders to bother.
So, who then? Everyone is pointing at van Aert, and I understand that. There’s the whole feud now with Buitrago, but Buitrago can follow van Aert up those climbs, he can never win a stage. It’s possible that the peloton kind of stays together, or comes back together, and Matthew Brennan has a chance. That doesn’t feel right, either.
There could be a chance for Equipo Kern Pharma. Iván Ramiro Sosa finished 74th today, the fifth day in a row he’s finished in the back, taking it easy, conserving energy. He was sixth a week ago in stage 7. This is his time.
But more than that, I think it’ll be a Thibau Nys kind of day. He has nothing else to worry about, just win a stage. If he can get over that first climb and lets van Aert chase KOM points and the intermediate sprint, then he can win the stage.
Standings after stage 12:
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Amalia* |
1999 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Ansel* |
1923 |
3 |
1 |
|
3 |
Team Hugo* |
1915 |
2 |
-1 |
|
4 |
Team Joshua* |
1711 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Charles* |
1693 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Grace* |
1570 |
7 |
1 |
|
7 |
Team Tadej* |
1566 |
6 |
-1 |
Standings after stage 12 (including adults):
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Kent |
2117 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Jake |
2086 |
3 |
1 |
|
3 |
Team Sam |
2054 |
2 |
-1 |
|
4 |
Team Andrew |
2022 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Charlotte |
2021 |
6 |
1 |
|
6 |
Team Amalia* |
1999 |
5 |
-1 |
|
7 |
Team Valerie |
1985 |
7 |
0 |
|
8 |
Team Kurt |
1964 |
8 |
0 |
|
9 |
Team Laurens |
1956 |
11 |
2 |
|
10 |
Team Amelia Katanski |
1953 |
9 |
-1 |
|
11 |
Team Ansel* |
1923 |
12 |
1 |
|
12 |
Team Hugo* |
1915 |
10 |
-2 |
|
13 |
Team Cameron |
1829 |
15 |
2 |
|
14 |
Team Corsa |
1800 |
13 |
-1 |
|
15 |
Team Jonwaine |
1791 |
14 |
-1 |
|
16 |
Team Rob |
1738 |
18 |
2 |
|
17 |
Team Roberto |
1737 |
17 |
0 |
|
18 |
Team Joshua* |
1711 |
16 |
-2 |
|
19 |
Team Charles* |
1693 |
19 |
0 |
|
20 |
Team Melanie |
1585 |
20 |
0 |
|
21 |
Team Doug |
1579 |
21 |
0 |
|
22 |
Team Grace* |
1570 |
23 |
1 |
|
23 |
Team Adam |
1569 |
24 |
1 |
|
24 |
Team Tadej* |
1566 |
22 |
-2 |
|
25 |
Team Craig |
1421 |
25 |
0 |
|
26 |
Team Julie |
1365 |
26 |
0 |
|
27 |
Team Suzanne |
1079 |
28 |
1 |
|
28 |
Team Amelia Bondie |
1068 |
27 |
-1 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 12:
|
Name |
STAGE RESULTS |
YELLOW JERSEY |
GREEN JERSEY |
POLKA DOT JERSEY |
WHITE JERSEY |
POINTS/CLASS |
TOTAL |
PREVIOUS |
CUM. TOTAL |
|
Team Amalia* |
104 |
47 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
60 |
164 |
1835 |
1999 |
|
Team Ansel* |
130 |
47 |
5 |
12 |
5 |
71 |
201 |
1722 |
1923 |
|
Team Charles* |
84 |
37 |
9 |
4 |
5 |
57 |
141 |
1552 |
1693 |
|
Team Grace* |
106 |
28 |
5 |
9 |
5 |
49 |
155 |
1415 |
1570 |
|
Team Hugo* |
101 |
37 |
9 |
4 |
8 |
60 |
161 |
1754 |
1915 |
|
Team Joshua* |
85 |
34 |
9 |
4 |
7 |
56 |
141 |
1570 |
1711 |
|
Team Tadej* |
96 |
25 |
9 |
9 |
0 |
45 |
141 |
1425 |
1566 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 12 (including adults):
|
110 |
38 |
5 |
12 |
0 |
57 |
167 |
1402 |
1569 |
|
|
Team Amalia* |
104 |
47 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
60 |
164 |
1835 |
1999 |
|
Team Amelia Bondie |
34 |
11 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
25 |
59 |
1009 |
1068 |
|
Team Amelia Katanski |
122 |
47 |
9 |
7 |
7 |
72 |
194 |
1759 |
1953 |
|
Team Andrew |
111 |
47 |
9 |
7 |
7 |
72 |
183 |
1839 |
2022 |
|
Team Ansel* |
130 |
47 |
5 |
12 |
5 |
71 |
201 |
1722 |
1923 |
|
Team Cameron |
137 |
47 |
5 |
12 |
7 |
73 |
210 |
1619 |
1829 |
|
Team Charles* |
84 |
37 |
9 |
4 |
5 |
57 |
141 |
1552 |
1693 |
|
Team Charlotte |
122 |
47 |
9 |
7 |
8 |
73 |
195 |
1826 |
2021 |
|
Team Corsa |
103 |
31 |
11 |
9 |
2 |
55 |
158 |
1642 |
1800 |
|
Team Craig |
75 |
30 |
4 |
0 |
7 |
41 |
116 |
1305 |
1421 |
|
Team Doug |
96 |
32 |
7 |
9 |
0 |
50 |
146 |
1433 |
1579 |
|
Team Grace* |
106 |
28 |
5 |
9 |
5 |
49 |
155 |
1415 |
1570 |
|
Team Hugo* |
101 |
37 |
9 |
4 |
8 |
60 |
161 |
1754 |
1915 |
|
Team Jake |
137 |
47 |
9 |
12 |
7 |
77 |
214 |
1872 |
2086 |
|
Team Jonwaine |
104 |
47 |
5 |
7 |
5 |
66 |
170 |
1621 |
1791 |
|
Team Joshua* |
85 |
34 |
9 |
4 |
7 |
56 |
141 |
1570 |
1711 |
|
Team Julie |
62 |
27 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
38 |
100 |
1265 |
1365 |
|
Team Kent |
111 |
47 |
9 |
7 |
7 |
72 |
183 |
1934 |
2117 |
|
Team Kurt |
111 |
47 |
9 |
8 |
7 |
73 |
184 |
1780 |
1964 |
|
Team Laurens |
142 |
48 |
5 |
12 |
7 |
74 |
216 |
1740 |
1956 |
|
Team Melanie |
73 |
28 |
9 |
4 |
7 |
50 |
123 |
1462 |
1585 |
|
Team Rob |
119 |
38 |
5 |
12 |
7 |
64 |
183 |
1555 |
1738 |
|
Team Roberto |
111 |
47 |
4 |
3 |
7 |
61 |
172 |
1565 |
1737 |
|
Team Sam |
104 |
47 |
9 |
7 |
5 |
70 |
174 |
1880 |
2054 |
|
Team Suzanne |
49 |
16 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
27 |
76 |
1003 |
1079 |
|
Team Tadej* |
96 |
25 |
9 |
9 |
0 |
45 |
141 |
1425 |
1566 |
|
Team Valerie |
116 |
44 |
10 |
7 |
8 |
71 |
187 |
1798 |
1985 |
-Laurens.