As it happened: Breakaway succeeds on stage 12 of Vuelta a España 2025

¡Hola! And welcome to the Cyclingnews' live report of stage 12 at La Vuelta 2025.

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.

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.

Sign on is well underway with the neutral start coming in about 15 minutes in Laredo.

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...

>>> Eyewitness: Post-stage interviews, police lines, demonstrators and no winner – How stage 11 of the Vuelta a España blurred into chaos

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 weather is rather moody looking today in Laredo.

📍𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐎 😍😍😍 #LaVuelta25

— @lavuelta.bsky.social (@lavuelta.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-09-04T11:52:59.655Z

Neutral start

The riders will be in the neutralised section for around 13 minutes.

144.9km to go

The race begins on stage 12 of :a Vuelta 2025.

The start was slightly delayed due to a mechanical for one of the riders.

No moves going away early on.

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.

Two riders have a small gap on the peloton.

The group is brought back with a break of 16 riders getting a tiny gap on the pack.

Just 8km in and the break are caught yet again.

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.

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%.

130km to go

A new move gets a gap. Just two riders going up the road but they, once again, get dragged back.

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.

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.

18 riders get a gap on the peloton.

Break:

Soler (UAD)
Kragh (LTK)
Pedersen (LTK)
Canal (MOV)
Hessmann (MOV)
Sheffield (IGD)
Kwiatkowski (IGD)
Shaw (EFE)
De La Cruz (Q36)
Rolland (GFC)
Kung (GFC)
Nicolau (CJR)
O'Brien (JAY)
Herrada (COF)
Van Boven (IWA)
Koerdt (TPP)
De Buyst (LOT)
Segaert (LOT)

There's now 22 riders up the road with about 10" on the peloton.

Pickering (TBV), Guernalec (ARK), Denz (RBH) and Christen (Q36) join the leading group.

The break of 22 riders has 15" on the peloton as they are about to start the first climb of the day.

The weather looks a bit gloomy but the pace is anything but. Rapid racing so far with the average speed over 50kph.

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.

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.

12 riders get a gap on the peloton led by Ayuso with Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) also involved.

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.

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).

Ayuso, Buitrago, Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) all comes across to the break with multiple others and Soler immediately hits the front to pace.

Roughly 35 riders in the breakaway now with 36" on the peloton.

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.

Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) is dropped again. He is having an awful race and is clearly struggling.

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.

The peloton finally allow a minute of a gap up to the break that are said to be around 40 riders in number.

Crash!

Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers)
Matt Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech)
Hugo De La Callle (Burgos-Burpellet-BH)

A few others involved. An unusual uphill crash.

Javier Romo (Movistar), Michiel Hessmann (Movistar) and Alec Segaert (Lotto) tried to get a gap but the group behind is chasing hard.

Romo now pushes on solo and is trying to thin this break out.

KoM (Puerto de Alisas)

1. Marc Soler (ESP) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 5pts
2. Pablo Castrillo (ESP) Movistar 3pts
3. Javier Romo (ESP) Movistar 1pt

100km to go

The road surface quality isn't the best on this descent with 42 riders trying to reform after the ascent of the Alisas climb. Soler leads the group with 45" gap on the peloton.

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.

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.

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".

Racing is back to normal today after the protests of yesterday...

>>> Vuelta a España resumes from stage 12 start as planned, one day on from Pro-Palestine protests halting the race in Bilbao

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.

The gap finally is going out as expected on the flat between the two climbs. The break have 1'50" on the peloton.

80km to go

There are around 50km to the start of the second and final climb of the day. Plenty of flat and rolling terrain before the race get to the Collada de Brenes.

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.

52 riders now together at the front of the race with two minutes on the peloton.

70km to go

About half way through today's stage with 2'21" between the peloton and the break.

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.

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.

Attack in break

Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar)

He is one of the riders who bridged across and got on after the first climb. Pedersen, Armirail and others were caught in the split behind but the chasing group is now together again.

🏁 - 58 km | Stage 1️⃣2️⃣ - Etapa 1️⃣2️⃣ 🔥 Ivan Garcia Cortina attacks and leaves the other breakaway riders in his dust! 4 other Movistar riders among them 👊 ¡Iván García Cortina se va en solitario! Tras él, 51 fugados en los que hay 4 corredores más de @movistarteam.com #LaVuelta25 #VueltaLIVE

— @lavuelta.bsky.social (@lavuelta.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-09-04T14:17:05.830Z

60km to go

The gap to the peloton goes over three minutes but is pretty stable. Garcia now has about 10" on the chasers.

Garcia gets more of a gap and has about 20" on the bunch. There is an unclassified climb coming up. It is 3.2km long with an average gradient of 6.3%.

Lidl-Trek look like they will try and take maximum points at the intermediate sprint with Kragh and Bernard working for Pedersen. They are 10km from Barrios, where the sprint point is held today.

They're on the unclassified climb now with Garcia just sitting off the front by about 5" ahead of a bunch led by Kragh.

50km to go

Garcia is brought back by Lidl-Trek as they look to set up Pedersen.

Attack in break

Javier Romo (Movistar)

He launches after a leadout by Hessmann but he is immediately joined by Mads Pedersen and no-one else. Not ideal for the Spanish rider.

Pedersen and Romo are quickly caught with Küng putting in a counter move but the Swiss TT star is also dragged back.

Just under four and a half minutes split the break of 52 riders and the peloton led by Visma-Lease a Bike.

More attacks come with Luca Van Boven (Inetermarche-Wanty) goes at over 100kph. The only rider of his team tried to go but nothing went and Kragh takes back control of the bunch again.

4km to the intermediate sprint in Barrios.

Intermediate sprint (Barrios)

1. Pedersen (DEN) Lidl-Trek 20pts
2. Liam Slock (BEL) Lotto 17pts
3. Fabio Christen (SUI) Q36.5 15pts
4. Stefan Küng (SUI) Groupama-FDJ 13pts
5. Gianmarco Garofoli (ITA) Soudal-QuickStep 10pts

Pedersen continued his effort after the intermediate sprint and has forced a major split but it does look like it is coming back together again.

Movistar are going all in for a stage today as Hessmann pushes hard on the front again and forces a split.

Hessmann, Sheffield, Pickering, Shaw and Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) get a small gap on the rest of the break.

Victor Guernalec (Arkea-B&B Hotels) makes it across to the leaders to make it six riders at the front. And the Groupama-FDJ rider is actually Brieuc Rolland and not Rudy Molard.

🏁- 32 km | Stage 1️⃣2️⃣ - Etapa 1️⃣2️⃣ 🚨 Six riders open up a gap in the break | 6 corredores cogen ventaja en la fuga 🇫🇷 Brieuc Rolland 🇫🇷 Victor Guernalec 🇬🇧 Finlay Pickering 🇬🇧 James Shaw 🇬🇧 Magnus Sheffield 🇩🇪 Michel Hessmann #LaVuelta25 #VueltaLIVE

— @lavuelta.bsky.social (@lavuelta.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-09-04T14:50:50.767Z

The race is about to head onto the final climb of the day, the 7km long Collada de Brenes which has an average of 7.9% gradient with the leaders having 31" on the Soudal-QuickStep led chase group.

30km to go

XDS-Astana now leading the chase in the chase group who are now 40" down on the six leaders. 5'12" back to the peloton.

Multiple riders drop out of the chase group as Soler hits the front with Ayuso on his wheel. Pedersen on his wheel and looking very strong for the moment.

The gap to the six laders is falling again with 35" splitting them. There are some strong climbers at the front and this will not be easy for Ayuso and co to close.

Herrada now goes to the front of the chase group for Cofidis, interestingly.

Q36.5, Bahrain Victorious and UAE Team Emirates-XRG come to the front of the peloton and are blocking Visma-Lease a bike from the front as they look to protect their leaders.

James Shaw goes clear in the front of the race as Sheffield continues his pace. Rolland pings across the gap like it is nothing.

The important stats of the climb...

Pedersen is finally dropped by the Soler led chase group and they are not far away from the leaders now at all with 4km to the top of the climb.

Pickering joins Shaw and Rolland at the front of the race wuth Sheffied trying to bridge back across.

Soler's pace in the chase is dragging back the leading trio and is splitting the bunch he leads as well.

Attack in break

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

He flew off the wheel of Soler who did a huge acceleration and Ayuso rides away solo. Pickering tried to follow but doesn't have the legs.

⚡️ Soler launches Ayuso! Romo is the only one who sticks with him! 🌪 ¡Ayuso ataca y sólo Romo puede seguirle! #LaVuelta25 #VueltaLIVE

— @lavuelta.bsky.social (@lavuelta.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-09-04T15:06:44.704Z

Romo bridges across to Ayuso again with Pickering and Rolland not too far off the young rider from Barcelona.

It has been a very impressive day in the saddle from Javier Romo and his Movistar teammates.

Meanwhile, back in the peloton that are over 5 minutes back, Ben Tulett leads the Visma-Lease a Bike train with Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard as a solid tempo.

Ayuso is looking a bit ragged but is still pushing. Romo riding well with him as Pickering and Rolland are starting to lose a little more time now with 2km to the top.

Brieuc Rolland is now trying to kick across to Ayuso and Romo.

Rolland is coming across the gap ever so slowly to Ayuso and Romo. Can the French former winner of the Piccolo Il Lombardia get back to the leaders?

The chase group are only 34" behind the leaders as well and there is over 20km to go once over the top of the climb.

Landa attacks the chase group with Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost) following. Castrillo, Dunbar, Soler and Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) all able to follow as Pickering is caught by them.

20km to go

The chasers led by Beloki are 38" behind the leading duo. The peloto is now 5'45" back.

KoM (Collada de Brenes)

1. Javier Romo (ESP) Movistar 10pts
2. Juan Ayuso (ESP) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 6pts
3. Brieuc Rolland (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 4pts
4. Mikel Landa (ESP) Soudal-QuickStep 2pts
5. Markel Beloki (ESP) EF Education-EasyPost 1pt

Ayuso moves up to second in the KoM standings thanks to his six points taken on that final climb.

Ayuso and Romo make it to the bottom of the descent with 50" gap back to the chasers led by Landa with 15km to go.

The average speed so far is 43.4kph.

The leaders are working very well together and the gap extends to 56" on the chase.

Rolland is still in the gap, however. He is just 16" off the back wheel of the two leaders.

Mads Pedersen is back in the chase group and immediately attacks! He is quite an astonishing rider.

10km to go

The leaders have over a minute on the chase but that may change with Pedersen and Victory Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) returning to the chase group.

Into the final 6km and the chasing group is just looking at each other.

Rolland is still putting in an amazing ride in third at 17" with multiple counter attacks coming behind led by Nico Denz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

Ayuso had a go at Romo for not pulling on the climb so the Movistar rider came through but now Ayuso is now skipping turns with Romo. Interesting tactics from the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider.

3km to go and the gap has dropped to 46" back to the chase group. Rolland still in the gap between the two groups.

Flamme Rouge!

Ayuso is leaving Romo on the front a lot more in the last couple of kilometres as he looks to save his legs for the sprint.

Campenaerts has attacked clear of the chase group and he gets a gap as he rides to a potential 4th place.

Ayuso has Romo pinned on the front but they can't play too much as Rolland is close as are Campenaerts and the Pedersen group.

500 metre to go.

Juan Ayuso of UAE Team Emirates-XRG wins stage 12 of La Vuelta 2025.

Javier Romo of Movistar takes a very good second on the day with an amazing third for Brieuc Rolland of Groupama-FDJ who held off Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) in fourth and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) in fifth.

Top 10

1. Juan Ayuso (ESP) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 3:16'21"
2. Javier Romo (ESP) Movistar S.T.
3. Brieuc Rolland (FRA) Groupama-FDJ +13"
4. Victor Campenaerts (BEL) Visma-Lease a Bike +17"
5. Mads Pedersen (DEN) Lidl-Trek
6. Nico Denz (GER) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
7. Damien Howson (AUS) Q36.5
8. Santiago Buitrago (COL) Bahrain Victorious
9. Markel Beloki (ESP) EF Education-EasyPost
10. Mikel Landa (ESP) Soudal-QuickStep all S.T.

GC after stage 12

1. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Visma-Lease a Bike 44:36'45"
2. João Almeida (POR) UAE Team Emirates-XRG +50"
3. Tom Pidcock (GBR) Q36.5 Pro Cycling +56"
4. Torstein Træen (NOR) Bahrain Victorious +1'06"
5. Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale +2'17"
6. Bruno Armirail (FRA) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale +2'22"
7. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike +2'26"
8. Jai Hindley (AUS) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe +2'30"
9. Giulio Ciccone (ITA) Lidl-Trek +2'33"
10. Giulio Pellizzari (ITA) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe +2'44"

Keep an eye on our home page as all the reactions, analysis and results come in from today's stage and races elsewhere. A good place to start is with the post race report in the link below...

>>> Vuelta a España stage 12: Juan Ayuso beats Javier Romo in two-up breakaway sprint to secure victory

Juan Ayuso takes his second stage win of this race and edges UAE Team Emirates-XRG to the record of most wins in one season.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) keeps his 50" lead over João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and 56" on Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) going into the brutal summit finish on the Angliru tomorrow.

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) extended his lead in the points standings in another amazing performance taking fifth on the stage.

Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) holds onto the KoM jersey by 20 points over teammates Juan Ayuso.

Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) has a 27" lead in the white jersey over Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) and 1'50" over Williams Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep).