Visma-Lease a Bike are still setting the tempo in the peloton with two riders. UAE Team Emirates-XRG immediately behind them then Q36.5 after them. Vingegaard quite a few riders back.
The break is so large with splits constantly opening up and being closed back together again as riders pull out of the line or try to force someone through.
52 riders now together at the front of the race with two minutes on the peloton.
That chase group is now 11 riders strong and are about 20" off the back of the 40 man group. The peloton are 1'57" down.
The gap finally is going out as expected on the flat between the two climbs. The break have 1'50" on the peloton.
There are 42 riders at the front with 9 more coming across. They would make the leading group 51 riders strong. That would mean there would be two pelotons.
Racing is back to normal today after the protests of yesterday...
Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) is in the breakaway as is Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale). The Frenchman is the best placed rider at +8'27".
The break is really stretched out and splitting thanks to the pace set by Hessmann but not a big enough gap to form a new group just yet.
Visma-Lease a Bike are just setting the pace they want on the ascent and descent and it will all be obvious what the race situation is when the riders get to the flat.
Romo now pushes on solo and is trying to thin this break out.
Javier Romo (Movistar), Michiel Hessmann (Movistar) and Alec Segaert (Lotto) tried to get a gap but the group behind is chasing hard.
The peloton finally allow a minute of a gap up to the break that are said to be around 40 riders in number.
Lars Craps (Lotto) attacks the peloton as he tries to join the break of almost 40 riders but the peloton aren't letting anyone else go.
Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) is dropped again. He is having an awful race and is clearly struggling.
Visma-Lease a Bike now take control of the peloton and are setting a solid tempo on the front with Dylan van Baarle controlling things.
Roughly 35 riders in the breakaway now with 36" on the peloton.
Ayuso, Buitrago, Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) all comes across to the break with multiple others and Soler immediately hits the front to pace.
This is chaos. Riders all over the road with several groups up the road but also riders off the back as well including Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla).
Several more riders going up the road out of the peloton. This is utter carnage as Ayuso and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) leading this counter move to join the 22 riders up the road.
12 riders get a gap on the peloton led by Ayuso with Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) also involved.
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) launches in the peloton with Soudal-QuickStep), XDS-Astana and Bahrain Victorious all involved but Movistar are dragging it back as they are happy with the race situation having Canal and Hessmann up the road.
Onto the Puerto de Alisas go the riders with just 20" on the peloton. Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) is leading the break at the moment. However, XDS-Astana are chasing behind to try and get the gap small enough to bridge.
The weather looks a bit gloomy but the pace is anything but. Rapid racing so far with the average speed over 50kph.
The break of 22 riders has 15" on the peloton as they are about to start the first climb of the day.
Pickering (TBV), Guernalec (ARK), Denz (RBH) and Christen (Q36) join the leading group.
There's now 22 riders up the road with about 10" on the peloton.
Break:
18 riders get a gap on the peloton.
Another move is made with a small gap once again. It is a tough ask to form this break as Lidl-Trek and Q36.5 may want to control for potential stage wins for Pidcock and Mads Pedersen.
The bunch is still intact after 20km of racing. It is a very intriguing start. If the break hasn't gone by the Alisas climb it could be a very tough ascent for some of the riders built more for flat.
The start of the climb is only 20km away from the riders now. The Puerto de Alisas is 8.6km long with an average gradient of 5.8%.
After that brief flurry of attacks in the peloton it has all calmed down again with the bunch rolling along. Average speed so far is 55kph, so they are not hanging around.
Just 8km in and the break are caught yet again.
The group is brought back with a break of 16 riders getting a tiny gap on the pack.
Two riders have a small gap on the peloton.
It is a big chance for riders who may want to go into the day's break today, so the start is being rather cagey.
No moves going away early on.
The start was slightly delayed due to a mechanical for one of the riders.
Neutral start
📍𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐎☺️ Stage 1⃣2⃣ neutral start!🙌 ¡Salida neutralizada para la etapa 1⃣2⃣ !#LaVuelta25 pic.twitter.com/aRcHBJsM3ISeptember 4, 2025
The weather is rather moody looking today in Laredo.
📍𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐎 😍😍😍 #LaVuelta25
— @lavuelta.bsky.social (@lavuelta.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-09-04T11:52:59.655Z
Yesterday was the first time that Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) has looked under pressure with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) managing to distance the race leader. However, the red jersey was able to get back to the Yorkshireman both times.
The main talking point yesterday was, of course, the protests. The stage was cancelled with no stage winner. We have several news stories on our website with all the reaction and statements from riders, teams, the race and the UCI. Find one of the articles below...
Sign on is well underway with the neutral start coming in about 15 minutes in Laredo.
The day starts in Laredo and makes it's way to Los Corrales de Buelna over a distance of 143.9km. It could be a reduced sprint from either the break or peloton. Perhaps a solo break can get away to victory.
Today's stage looks like an ideal day for the breakaway with two categorised climbs on the menu. However, they are around 70km apart on what is a largely flat stage aside from that.
¡Hola! And welcome to the Cyclingnews' live report of stage 12 at La Vuelta 2025.
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