After the disturbances of Wednesday’s stage, Stage 12 of the Vuelta a España got the race back to normal. An equally beleaguered Juan Ayuso continued his roller coaster path, with the Spaniard taking a stage double from a massive breakaway. It was UAE-Emirates’ fifth victory of the 80th edition. Jonas Vingegaard kept the race lead, the GC riders utterly uninterested before Friday’s summit finish on Angliru.
The Course
After an early Cat. 2 on Thursday, a Cat. 1 climb in the middle of a 40-km circuit of Los Corrales de Buelna peaked 22 km from the finish line.
There were a few breakaway attempts that fizzled in the opening kilometres. A group of 22 fugitives approached Cat. 2 Puerto de Alisas with the slenderest of leads. A chase lit out after the break when the road tilted to the sky and soon there was a whole platoon heading for the peak. Marc Soler snagged the maximum KOM points.
There was a lot of real estate between classified climbs. Midway through the section there was a 53-strong escape 2:30 up the road from the red jersey. Bruno Armirail was the mob’s highest-place on GC at 15th–he would leap up to sixth. The fugitives started to attack one another on the way to the circuit, six riders flaring away.
The gap favored the breakaway when it started up the narrow road of Los Corrales de Buelna. Visma hauled along the peloton five minutes in arrears. After Soler and Juan Ayuso caught the sextet, Ayuso attacked, drawing Romo of Movistar. This Spanish duo stayed clear of chasers’ intentions on the descent. The pressure was on the only Spanish WorldTeam to take a win, so Ayuso let Romo do a lot of the work.
Ayuso swept by Romo in the sprint to take a brace of wins.
Do you like huge summit finishes? Then you’ll love Angliru on Friday.
2025 Vuelta a España Stage 12
1) Juan Ayuso (Spain/UAE-Emirates) 3:16:21
2) Javier Romo (Spain/Movistar) s.t.
3) Brieuc Rolland (France/Groupama-FDJ +0;13
2025 Vuelta a España GC
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-Lease a Bike)
2) João Almeida (Portugal/UAE-Emirates) +0:52
3) Tom Pidcock (Great Britain/Q36.5) +0:56
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