La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2025 Stage 12

September 4, 2025 Today is more of a Vuelta stage that we have been used to over recent years. At just 145KM, the race leaves Laredo to head head South and West to Arredondo to find the first of two climbs today, the Puerto de Alisas. It's a tough one of 8.6KM at just under 6% but from the top, there are over 40KM of descending and rolling roads. The uncategorized Alto de Hijas breaks up the rhythm and adds some difficulty before the intermediate sprint in Barrios with 42KM to go. The riders pass under the finish line in Los Corrales del Buelna going the opposite direction, heading towards a single counter clock-wise lap to tackle the last climb of the day. The Collada de Brenes is the main feature of the lap. It is 7KM long at 8% and with the top coming 23KM from the finish back in Los Corrales del Buelna, it will be interesting to see if anyone tries to go alone with such a distance remaining. Rain was falling across Cantabria in the start town of Laredo. After about 25KM of racing, a group of 22 riders got away and they started the Puerto de Alisas with 111KM to go and only about 20 seconds on the peloton. Many more bridged up on the climb to make a huge group of 40 riders over the top, 1 minute ahead of the peloton. The group was still together at the bottom as the sun came out, shining down on dry roads and lush green forest and pasture. Incredibly, another group got away from the peloton and they joined the front to make 52 riders with 75KM to go. Iván García Cortina of Movistar was the first one to make a move from the break, attacking on an unclassified climb with 63KM to go. Visma-Lease a Bike were riding in the peloton but they did not seem as keen to control as they did yesterday so the gap was allowed to extend to over 3 minutes by the time Cortina attacked. The Spaniard was off the front until 50.5KM to go but Lidl-Trek had numbers in the break and wanted to control any moves to make sure Mads Pedersen could snag more Green Jersey sprint points in Barrios. Movistar also had numbers and decided to counter attack on the Alto de Hijas. Javier Romo went with Pedersen but that was dragged back by Marc Soler of UAE-XRG who had teammate Juan Ayuso in the break with him. Lidl-Trek regained control and started the lead out for Pedersen. The Dane took maximum points and he continued riding hard through the sprint. The break nearly split but they were still together with 39KM to go through the finish line. The stage win was looking likely as Visma-Lease a Bike let the gap grow out to nearly 5 minutes, so everyone was attentive to not let the win go up the road without them. A group did get away however when the break turned off the main road and onto more narrow, rolling roads heading towards the Collada de Brenes. James Shaw of EF-Education EasyPost, Finlay Pickering of Bahrain Victorious, Brieuc Rolland of Groupama-FDJ, Michel Hessmann of Movistar, Magnus Sheffield of Ineos, and Thibault Guernalec of Arkéa-B&B Hotels started the climb with 30KM to go and a 40 second lead on roads barely wide enough for three riders to sit shoulder to shoulder. Shaw, Pickering, and Rolland were the best climbers in the group but Soler was pacing Ayuso and with 3KM to climb, Soler had closed the 40 second gap and unleashed Ayuso. Romo settled into has pace and rode up to Ayuso. The pair worked with each other to the top where they had about 10 seconds on Rolland and 40 seconds to a chase group of seven riders including Soler, Pickering, Pablo Castrillo of Movistar, Mikel Landa of Soudal Quickstep, Markel Beloki of EF-Education EasyPost, Joel Nicolau of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, and Eddie Dunbar of Jayco AlUla. The presence of Soler and Castrillo in the chase killed their chances of catching Ayuso and Romo which left the leaders only to worry about Rolland who was 15 seconds behind with 13KM to go. Gaps between groups was almost identical under the 2KM to go banner. Romo led through the 1KM banner and stayed there until around 250M from the line when Ayuso started his sprint. Romo tried to build the speed to get back on terms but Ayuso had the most left in the tank and produced a stage winning sprint as Romo banged the bars in frustration with a second place. Rolland held on for third as the rest of the break were coming just a few seconds later. Ayuso's win is his second of the race and UAE-XRG's fifth so far. Nothing happened from the peloton and the GC riders all finished on the same time. Bruno Armirail of Decathlon AG2R started the day in 15th overall and by getting in break and finishing over 6 minutes ahead, he jumped to sixth overall, now at 2 minutes 23 seconds.