Juan Ayuso claimed his second Vuelta a España stage win with a perfectly judged finale in Los Corrales de Buelna, winning from a late two-up move with Javier Romo that formed on the steep slopes of Collada de Brenes. Brieuc Rolland chased stoutly to the line for third, while Victor Campenaerts surged clear of the chasers inside the final kilometres to take fourth. The peloton rolled in more than six minutes down after a day owned by the break.
Photo Credit: Unipublic / Cxcling / Antonio BaixauliHow the race took shape
The start was breathless. Repeated surges over Puerto de Alisas finally produced a vast front split of around 40 to 50 riders, featuring a roll-call of stage hunters and climbers: Ayuso with UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Marc Soler, Mads Pedersen with Lidl-Trek support, Michal Kwiatkowski and Magnus Sheffield for Ineos Grenadiers, Movistar’s Pablo Castrillo and Michel Hessmann, plus Rolland for Groupama-FDJ, Santiago Buitrago for Bahrain Victorious, and Mikel Landa for Soudal Quick-Step. Soler topped Alisas first as Visma | Lease a Bike kept a steady leash on the bunch.
On the long flat and rolling middle third the move never settled. Attacks punctuated the approach to Barrios where Pedersen, teed up by Søren Kragh Andersen and Julien Bernard, banked maximum points at the intermediate sprint ahead of Liam Slock and Fabio Christen. Pedersen then pressed on to force another split, while Hessmann repeatedly thinned the lead group for Movistar. With 70 km remaining the advantage over the peloton edged past two minutes and kept growing on the run towards the decisive climb.
Photo Credit: Unipublic / Cxcling / Antonio BaixauliCollada de Brenes blows the break apart
The 7 km at 7.9% of Collada de Brenes was always going to decide the stage. A six-rider move formed on the lower slopes as Sheffield set a hard tempo and James Shaw flicked clear, Rolland hopping across with ease. Soler then took charge in the group behind, towing Ayuso to the front and snapping the chase to bits. With 3 km to the summit Ayuso launched off Soler’s wheel, Finlay Pickering initially trying to follow before fading. Romo bridged strongly to Ayuso and the pair crested together, Romo taking the KOM for 10 points and 6 bonus seconds ahead of Ayuso’s 6 points and 4 seconds. Rolland, superb on the grade, hovered at 15 to 20 seconds, with Landa leading a reduced chase another 30 to 40 seconds in arrears.
Behind, the red-jersey group never fired – Visma set a solid, even pace through Ben Tulett with Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard in line. The GC favourites rode the climb defensively and were over five minutes down at the top.
Photo Credit: Unipublic / Cxcling / Antonio BaixauliTwo-up on the descent, a cagey last kilometre
Ayuso and Romo dove into the descent with roughly 50 seconds on the Landa-led chase and close to a minute on the larger second group. Their collaboration was tidy on the flat that followed, though Ayuso began skipping turns intermittently inside the last 5 km, forcing Romo to shoulder more of the work while Rolland kept dangling at 15 to 20 seconds. Campenaerts and Pedersen battled back into the chase, the Belgian then springing clear under the 2 km banner to secure the minor placing.
Under the flamme rouge, Ayuso left Romo on the front, surfed the wheel, then kicked decisively in the finishing straight. Romo had no answer. Ayuso sat up to celebrate a calculated win; Romo, immense all afternoon, crossed for second, with Rolland’s relentless pursuit rewarded with third a few seconds later.
2025 Vuelta a Espana Stage 12 result
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Main photo credit: Getty
