Ion Izagirre of Cofidis wins stage 12 on solo attack(Image credit: Marco BERTORELLO / AFP Getty Images)
Ion Izagirre of Cofidis celebrates at finish line as stage 12 winner in Belleville en Beaujolais(Image credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)
Ion Izagirre of Cofidis heads solo to the finish line as stage 12 winner(Image credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)
Another look as Ion Izagirre of Cofidis wins stage 12(Image credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Matteo Jorgenson of Movistar Team (left) is beaten to the line for second place by Mathieu Burgaudeau of Team TotalEnergies(Image credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)
Tadej Pogacar (left) of UAE Team Emirates among chase group in sprint at finish line finishing 4:14 back(Image credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) crosses the finish line in sixth place(Image credit: Marco BERTORELLO / AFP Getty Images)
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) crosses the finish line in Belleville-en-Beaujolais in 51st position(Image credit: Marco BERTORELLO / AFP Getty Images)
After a group of eight reformed at the front of the race with 32km to go, Ion Izaguirre (Cofidis) attacked on the ascent of the Col de la Croix Rosier to take a solo lead(Image credit: Thomas SAMSON / AFP Getty Images)
Mathieu van der Poel attacks from the breakaway with 50km to go before the climb of Col de la Croix Montmain(Image credit: Thomas SAMSON / AFP Getty Images)
On solo attack, Mathieu van der Poel sprays himself with water to cool down(Image credit: Thomas SAMSON / AFP Getty Images)
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) set the pace at the front of the breakaway on the climb of top of the Col de la Casse Froide(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Race leader Jonas Vingegaard rides ahead of Jumbo-Visma teammate Wilco Kelderman in group 2:40 behind the breakaway with under 70km to go (Image credit: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP Getty Images)
Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team) rides at the front of the breakaway as they take on Col de la Casse Froide with under 65km to race(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Three riders in a turn leading the breakaway group of 15 (L to R) - Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) and Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
The front of the breakaway with 100km to go include Andrey Amador of EF Education-EasyPost and Mathieu Burgaudeau of TotalEnergies (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
The attacks came thick and fast on stage 12(Image credit: Getty Images)
Wout van Aert leads the attack in the large chase group with under 100km to go(Image credit: Getty Images)
Wout Van Aert of Jumbo-Visma and Alex Aranburu of Movistar Team lead the chase group in an attack during the stage 12(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) leads the chase on the road from Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Mike Teunissen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny), Juan Pedro Lopez (LidlTrek) trail Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar Team) on the climb to the Côte de Thizy-les-Bourgs with 145km to go(Image credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)
Jumbo-Visma's Wilco Kelderman (R) and Lidl -Trek's Mattias Jensen Skjelmose (L) ride ahead of the pack (Image credit: Getty Images)
Astana Qazaqstan rider David De La Cruz (on ground) and Groupama - FDJ's Quentin Pacher crash with around 140km to go(Image credit: Thomas SAMSON / AFP Getty Images)
Decoration during the stage 12 of the 110th Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Jonas Vingegaard at the start talks with Jasper Philipsen(Image credit: Getty Images)
Matteo Jorgenson of Movistar Team meets the press after finishing third on the stage(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Cofidis' Ion Izaguirre celebrates on the podium after winning stage 12 with solo attack(Image credit: Thomas SAMSON / AFP Getty Images)
Mathieu Burgaudeau of Team TotalEnergies shows exhaustion after finishing second on stage 12(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Matteo Jorgenson of Movistar Team crosses the finish line in third place(Image credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Race leader Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma retains the Yellow leader jersey after the stage(Image credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) took an incredible 30-kilometre solo victory on stage 12 of the Tour de France after one of the hardest days of racing in the 2023 race. In an action-packed opening to the hilly stage, it took 80 kilometres for a breakaway to finally form.
The Basque rider attacked the remnants of the breakaway 2.4km from the summit of the final climb and safely navigated the 28km undulating descent into Belleville-en-Beaujolais. It was Cofidis' second Tour de France stage victory in 2023 after Victor Lafay broke the French team's 15-year drought by winning stage 2.
"It's incredible, we came here with the intention of winning a stage, said Izagirre on Cofidis' great start to the 2023 Tour. "We wanted to try and get in the top ten as well, but we have two victories and Guillaume [Martin] is doing a great Tour as well so it's all going to plan."
Izagirre extended his advantage throughout the final 10km and with Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) stifling any attacks behind, the Basque man closed in on his second Tour de France stage victory after also descending to victory on stage 20 of the 2016 race.
"I've tried to get in the breakaway throughout all of this Tour so far, but today I made it so I wanted to make the best of it," said Izagirre. "We worked really well today all day long and on the last climb I was feeling really strong and I fell behind but then I managed to pull out in front and just held on for victory."
Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) eventually finished second on the day 58 seconds down on Izagirre, with Jorgenson in third and the rest of the break finishing in ones and twos behind.
"It was 30 kilometres [solo] which is a really long way, but I had to trust myself and I didn't know if it was going to be enough, but in the end, although I didn't have any visual references, that meant that I could just put my head down and go for it and I was feeling strong in those last kilometres," Izagirre said. "It was emotional certainly."
Mathieu van der Poel had gone solo 47km from the finish after dropping Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost), before Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) bridged the gap to him on the Col de la Croix Rosier and a large group containing Izagirre joined them soon after.
Van der Poel tried to follow Izagirre's initial acceleration once the group swelled and he launched, but blew himself up in the process and with the climb not yet finished and a descent still to come, he would play no further part in the finale.
Pinot was the big winner in the GC on the day with his sixth-place finish moving him up to 10th overall and only 32 seconds behind his team leader, David Gaudu.
The current overall podium had a nervous start in that explosive opening with race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) all being forced to mark each other within the first hour.
Thankfully for them, things would calm down once our break finally formed 85km from the finish and anyone who had missed out on earlier moves such as Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) was able to rejoin the peloton before a calmer run to the line.
They'll have their chance to make a difference in the GC on tomorrow's stage which finishes atop the Grand Colombier (17.4km at 7.1%) and as it is Bastille Day, expect to see a whole host of French riders fighting for that magical victory for France.
The fight for the breakaway
After the calm of stage 11 yesterday, the Tour de France was reignited with some of the most relentless opening 80 kilometres of racing you will ever see to get the 12th stage underway.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was the first to attack as soon as the flag was dropped, but he would be far from the last, as once we began to head east out of Roanne, the road started to rise on an uncategorised climb and the fireworks started.
There were unsurprising players in the opening phases, with Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) among those most interested in making the break of the day.
The elastic wouldn't snap over the first categorised climb, the Côte de Thizy-les-Bourgs, but we would get an early sign of how attentive the GC riders would have to stay, with both Vingegaard and Pogačar fending for themselves at times in different splits to try and stay out of danger.
There was an unfortunate crash for Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) and David de la Cruz (Astana Qazaqstan) on a descent which forced the Spaniard to abandon the race and leave in an ambulance.
Small trios and quartets would create splits over the opening 40km, but none would be able to gain more of an advantage than 10 seconds.
Our current GC podium of Vingegaard, Pogačar and Hindley were amazingly, already being forced to mark each other with 120km to go, as they were all isolated and in a group around 50 seconds in front of Simon Yates and polka-dot jersey, Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost).
With the peloton absolutely decimated, we started to see the primary signs of our break finally forming when Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) and Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) attacked away prior to a long descending section and Pedersen bridged across.
They were joined by a second trio in Jorgenson, Izagirre and Amador, before our big break finally started to form with Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Vingegaard and Pogačar taking a moment, for the first time in 80km, to calm down.
Pinot, Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) and Alaphilippe would also make it into the big group that contained Van der Poel, Izagirre, Jorgenson and Victor Camapenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) after jumping away late from a peloton now happy to stop racing full gas after one of the most difficult starts to a stage in recent memory.
Jumbo-Visma momentarily assumed control, before AG2R-Citroën curiously took up the mantle of controlling the breakaway. They would stabilise the gap to around 2:35 with 58k to ride, but it's unsure what reason they were riding for with no real GC hopeful.
There was another unfortunate crash in the peloton for five riders and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) stayed down for a moment as the worst affected, but eventually got back on his bike and on his way despite visible pain on his face.
The battle for the stage win
At the head of the race on the descent of the Col de la Casse Froide (5.2km at 6.1%), Van der Poel slid off the front with only Amador for company, but the Costa Rican would get dropped on the Col de la Croix Montmain (5.5km at 6.1%), leaving Van der Poel solo with just under 50km remaining.
Some of those in the break started to pay for their earlier efforts on the first of two category 2 climbs, with Alaphilippe and Pedersen both unable to follow the still infernal tempo.
Van der Poel was giving everything on the descent and taking every risk to maximise his advantage at the front and Jorgenson had set off in pursuit of the flying Dutchman with Pinot close behind.
Jorgenson and Pinot made the catch with 32km of racing remaining, but the group containing Benoot, Martin, Izagirre, Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) about to also make contact.
Jumbo-Visma retook control from AG2R once the French team ran out of riders and realised they couldn't catch the break, which also meant the gap ballooned out to our leaders.
Van der Poel got attacked by Izagirre with 30km to ride and the Spanish rider dropped everyone 2.4km from the crest of the final categorised climb of the day, the Col de la Croix Rosier (5.3km at 7.6%). The Dutch rider blew up after looking so strong throughout the day and the rest of the break all left him behind.
Izagirre would crest the final climb 20 seconds ahead of his pursuers, but with a lack of cooperation and Martin doing his best to disrupt any concerted efforts to chase, that advantage quickly ballooned to over 45 seconds.
Even on the few uphill rises that came on the 28km descent into Belleville-en-Beaujolais, Izagirre still held his advantage and it became clear that he was about to take Cofidis' second stage win at the 2023 Tour de France.
Jorgenson attacked the chasing group inside the final few kilometres with only Burgaudeau able to follow, and the Frenchman got the better of him in the sprint as they rounded out the day's podium.
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
