The 2025 Vuelta a Espana continued Thursday with stage 12 – a short 144.9-kilometer stage in additional mountainous terrain on a route from Laredo to Los Corrales de Buelna. The stage would finish with a fast and dangerous downhill effort after the riders had conquered one Category 2 climb and a Category 1 climb. The Category 1 climb of Collada de Brenes would feature sections of up to fifteen percent and GC favorites and outsiders such as Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) could use the steep sections as a launch ramp for brave attacks on their rivals. Sprinters, who also possessed climbing skills, such as Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) could also play a part in the downhill stage finale.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard was leading the general classification of La Vuelta before today’s stage 12. He had increased his advantage over Joao Almeida in yesterday’s stage 11 in Bilbao. The Portuguese GC favorite was now fifty seconds behind Vingegaard. Tom Pidcock had advanced to third place in the general classification after his brave and race animating effort in yesterday’s stage.

Stage 12 got off to a fast start in Laredo, which is situated on the Cantabrian Coast and is one of its most popular tourist destinations during the summer months. Multiple attacks were launched as riders were eager to participate in breakaways and animate the action following yesterday’s neutralized stage. However, no viable breakaway group had been established after fifteen kilometers of fast racing.

A large breakaway group got established as the race approached Puerto de Alisas, which was the first of two categorized climbs in the stage. The Category 2 climb would be contested when the riders were 112 kilometers from the stage finish. Other groups of riders launched from the front of the main peloton and bridged the gap to the frontmen and a 23-rider group got formed, which featured noteworthy riders such as Magnus Sheffield (Team Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis Team), Carlos Canal (Movistar Team), and David de la Cruz (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team).

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) attacked with Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) from the main peloton while hoping to bridge the gap to the front group on the climb. The quest proved successful. Soler moved to the front of the breakaway group and increased the tempo. Four kilometers remained to the summit, and 107 kilometers remained to the finish line. Meanwhile, riders from Team Visma-Lease a Bike were leading the chase from the front of the main peloton group while protecting the interests of team captain and GC leader Jonas Vingegaard.

Marc Soler was the first rider to reach the summit of Puerto de Alisas and earned the most points for the KOM classification. The Spanish rider was followed by Javier Romo and Carlos Canal of Movistar Team.

The race situation with 85 kilometers of the stage remaining saw a 42-man front group have a two-minute advantage over the main peloton, while nine riders were racing in between the front group and main peloton with a one-minute distance in both directions.

Ivan Garcia Cortina attacked from the front group with 62 kilometers remaining and the Movistar rider fought his way to a gap of 16 seconds over the chase group, which featured more than fifty riders. The main peloton was now 03:20 minutes behind frontman Garcia Cortina.

Garcia Cortina had delivered a courageous performance, but the Spanish rider had almost been reeled in ten kilometers later. The front group of more than fifty riders was approaching a short and uncategorized climb, which would be followed by an intermediate sprint after a brief descent.

Javier Romo attempted to replace teammate Garcia Cortina in front and Mads Pedersen immediately responded. Pedersen was protecting his interests in the intermediate sprint and his chances of a stage victory after multiple failed attempts in this year’s La Vuelta a Espana.

The riders approached the intermediate sprint. Soren Kragh-Andersen moved to the front of the breakaway group to set a fast pace and support Lidl-Trek teammate Pedersen in the sprint, where the Dane could secure more points for the points classification. Frenchman Julien Bernard also supported Pedersen.

The intermediate sprint was won by Mads Pedersen followed by Alec Segaert of Team Lotto-Caps, who tried to trick Pedersen in the sprint. Pedersen chose to fight on and use the advantage he had gained in the intermediate sprint to launch an attack. He was joined by a few other riders, including Segaert and Craps from Team Lotto-Caps.

The situation in front got reshuffled, and a six-man group featuring Michel Hessmann, Magnus Sheffield, James Shaw, Finlay Pickering, Brieuc Rolland, and Victor Guernalec was now ahead of a larger breakaway group featuring Juan Ayuso, Marc Soler, Mads Pedersen, Victor Campenaerts, and many other riders.

35 kilometers remained of stage 12, and the front group was approaching Collada de Brenes - the Category 1 climb would feature sections of up to fifteen percent and it was expected to have an influence on the stage outcome.

The six-man front group entered the Collada de Brenes climb with a time advantage of more than forty seconds over chase group 1. The main peloton was more than five minutes behind at this point.

Great Britain’s James Shaw attacked for EF Education-EasyPost on the climb and was followed by Brieuc Rolland of Groupama-FDJ. Finlay Pickering also joined the hard work in the breakaway group on the climb.

Marc Soler and Juan Ayuso decided to show the other breakaway riders who’s boss. The duo accelerated on the climb, caught Shaw, Pickering and Rolland, and Ayuso carried on solo. It appeared, however, that Javier Romo of Team Movistar had other plans. The Spanish rider joined his countryman in front.

Romo and Ayuso were still together with one kilometer of Collada de Brenes remaining. Rolland was chasing five seconds back, while Pickering was ten seconds behind the front duo. Soler, Castrillo, Mikel Landa, Markel Beloki, Eddie Dunbar and Abel Balderstone were 35 seconds behind.

Javier Romo crossed the summit line ahead of Juan Ayuso and banked the most points for the KOM classification. Rolland followed solo later, while the Landa-Soler group reached the summit fifty seconds behind Romo and Ayuso. A fast and technical descent now awaited the riders.

Ayuso and Romo reached the bottom of the descent without suffering any accidents and the front duo was now thirteen kilometers from the finish line in Los Corrales de Buelna with an advantage of almost a minute over the chasers.

Mads Pedersen attacked from the Soler-Landa group. The strong and proud Dane wanted to make the most of his efforts in the stage after seemingly having missed out on the stage win. Other riders caught up with him.

Ayuso and Romo were seventeen seconds ahead of Rolland when five kilometers remained to the finish line. A chase group featuring Soler, Pedersen, Campenaerts, Landa, Nico Denz and other riders were 49 seconds behind the front duo. Romo appeared strong in the front group and Ayuso was intentionally increasing the pace to force Romo to spend his valuable energy before the stage finale.

Romo and Ayuso entered the final kilometer. It would be a sprint-a-deux for the stage win.

Romo was leading Auyso in the final two hundred meters. Ayuso launched his sprint and Romo followed. Juan Ayuso proved the strongest rider of the two and secured his second stage victory in this year’s Vuelta a Espana. Javier Romo finished second for Movistar Team, while Brieuc Rolland took the final spot on the stage podium for Groupama-FDJ.

Jonas Vingegaard remains general classification leader after stage 12. Joao Almeida is second, while Tom Pidcock is third in the GC.

Friday’s stage 13 of Vuelta a Espana 2025 will be a 202.7-kilometerstage in seriously mountainous terrain on a route from Cabezon de la Sal to the summit of the much-feared L’Angliru. Expect general classification favorites such as Jonas Vingegaard, Tom Pidcock and Joao Almeida to engage in a fierce battle for time gains and a stage victory.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Vuelta a Espana.