00:00Stage 12 of La Vuelta takes us to Cantabria.
00:03There was no stage winner yesterday, although Tom Pidcock and Jonas Vingegaard did gain
00:08a bit of time on GC.
00:10The day now leads by 50 seconds and even if his team decide to give the breakaway a bit
00:14of freedom today, they'll still have plenty to keep them busy.
00:19Today will be an interesting day like every day here in the Vuelta.
00:21There's always something so we need to see first of all how the start of the race is
00:26and then we will take it from there.
00:28And yeah, there's two hard climbs in this stage so we need to be prepared for a hard
00:33battle again.
00:35Today's roads will be familiar for the Spanish riders in the peloton, many of whom have been
00:39racing and winning in this region since they were young.
00:43Well Cantabria is a well known region for cyclists, especially those of us who have competed here
00:49since we were juniors.
00:51We have La Vuelta a Besaya, a famous junior race where I actually won the final stage in
00:562008.
00:57Hopefully I can repeat that performance today.
01:02It hasn't always been easy predicting which stages at this Vuelta will be good for the
01:06breakaway, but teams who aren't targeting the general classification like EF Education
01:11Easy Post are always keeping their eyes open for opportunities to attack.
01:16I thought there were other days that were going to be a perfect day for a winning breakaway
01:19and then the breakaway didn't go to like yesterday for example.
01:22I thought they'll let 20 guys go and it didn't happen and on that basis I think make a decision
01:30when the race has started and see what the lay of the land is and see how teams are feeling.
01:36Because the textbook doesn't seem to be paying dividend really here.
01:41Stage 12 is another short and high octane stage.
01:50Just 145 kilometres between Laredo and Los Corales de Buelna.
01:55After tackling the Puerta de Alisas early on, the big climb of the day will be La Collada de Brenes,
02:017 kilometres at nearly 8% which will really sting the legs.
02:05It tops out with 23 kilometres remaining before a downhill sweep to the finish line.
02:17Well the riders covered the first 30 kilometres to the base of the first climb without a breakaway
02:22forming.
02:23But once they started going up the Alisas, a group of 25 finally got a gap and more kept
02:28bridging across.
02:30It was more like 40 riders as they approached the summit.
02:35The best placed man overall was Bruno Armouray, almost eight and a half minutes down on Vingegaard
02:40who'd put a team mate, Victor Campenaerts, into the move.
02:43There was a bit of a rumble for the King of the Mountains points at the top.
02:47Marc Soler pouncing ahead of Javier Romo and Carlos Canel to help defend his team mate Jay
02:52Vines' polka dot jersey.
02:57The group heading on to the descent as a dozen more riders attacked from the peloton.
03:02Well among the riders in this big front group were Mads Pedersen looking to tighten his grip
03:06on the green jersey.
03:08And some strong climbers who've been on the attack in recent days.
03:12Juan Ayuso, Santiago Buetrago, Mikel Landa, Pablo Castillo and Mikel Kwiatkowski.
03:17The pole was joined by his team mate Magnus Sheffield with INEOS trying to combine their
03:22GC ambitions for Egan Bernal with a potential stage victory.
03:26It's not just about winning from the punch but also taking other opportunities like in
03:31the breakways.
03:32So I think it's a new and exciting way of racing.
03:35In order to try to be there in the final you have to fight in the beginning and it just
03:42hasn't gone my way to get into the moves but I think we'll just keep on trying.
03:48A host of strong riders then and their gap was soon up to around two minutes.
03:53The pace relentless over the first two hours, an average of 45km an hour despite that climb.
04:00Well the 12 chasers finally caught up to the front group with around 75k remaining.
04:06So we now had a mega breakaway containing more than 50 riders and that's pretty rare on
04:10a grand tour.
04:12Movistar had no fewer than five men in the move in their bid for stage honours.
04:16Romo, Castillo, Hessman, Garcia Cortina and Canal.
04:24One of the five, Garcia Cortina, attacked from the breakaway shortly afterwards.
04:29The gap to the peloton was now up to three minutes with the average speed still over 45km
04:34an hour.
04:36Garcia Cortina's solo effort didn't last long.
04:41He was caught on a small rise just before the intermediate sprint and by now it was obvious
04:45that the breakaway would contest the stage win.
04:48Pedersen adding another 20 points to his green jersey tally ahead of Schlock and Christen.
04:54Well the riders crossing the finish line for the first time before heading out of town towards
05:00the final climb.
05:02And there was more action up at the front with six men attacking.
05:05Roland, Pickering, Sheffield, Shaw, Hessman and Gernelec.
05:10They were 30 seconds clear of the rest of the breakaway as they embarked on the Collada
05:14de Brennes.
05:16There would be no action back in the red jersey group so now it was all about the stage win.
05:22Shaw making his move for EF with Pickering and Roland on his wheel.
05:30They would soon be joined by another group of around 10 riders with Soler preparing to launch
05:35his team mate Ayuso.
05:38Here we go, the big move from UAE Team Emirates XRG, Marc Soler has put Juan Ayuso into a position
05:45to try and win the stage, stage 12 of Love Welter.
05:50Ayuso dropping everybody except Javier Romo.
05:53The two Spaniards going clear on the climb with Roland fighting desperately to get back
05:57to them.
05:58The rest of the chasers soon found themselves around 40 seconds adrift.
06:03Romo leading Ayuso over the summit and the two men flying into the descent and looking to
06:08maintain their advantage.
06:10Roland was still around 15 seconds behind with a large chase group at 50 seconds as they
06:15entered the last 10 kilometres.
06:19Javier Romo starting to play a few games but they had enough of a gap to hold off the rest
06:24and they would sprint for victory in Los Corrales de Buelna.
06:29Romo has to keep an eye over his left hand shoulder.
06:31It's Romo from Villafraga who's going to open up the sprint and meanwhile Juan Ayuso has got
06:37the upper hand.
06:38Javier Romo, can he try and come round and deliver the first victory since 2021?
06:43No he can't.
06:44It's going to be Juan Ayuso, a bang of the bars and Juan Ayuso wins his second individual
06:50Grand Tour stage victory of this Vuelta.
06:55Well Juan Ayuso has probably made more headlines than any other rider at this Vuelta, especially
06:59since news of his departure from UAE broke.
07:02Today though, the Spaniard took centre stage for all the right reasons.
07:06The 22-year-old showing his immense quality to win his second stage of the race and number
07:11five for his team.
07:14After such a hard day you don't know and I have to play my cards, I had to put him also
07:21a bit nervous and play the final case saying that I already won the stage and he had to
07:26pull more if he wanted to arrive.
07:28Sometimes you have to play smart and that's what I did in the final.
07:31I know this road a lot because it's where it finishes in the junior races also.
07:35So I knew how to tie my sprint and yeah, it went out perfectly.
07:39Ayuso taking career win number 16 ahead of Romo who was chasing number two.
07:43Roland finished 13 seconds back.
07:46No sweat for Wiengegaard who finished over six minutes back.
07:49He still leads Almeida by 50 seconds while Amirai jumps nine places up to sixth after his
07:54efforts in the breakaway.
07:57A good day for Pedersen who now has a 61 point lead in green.
08:00He's looking to win that competition for the second time after 2022.
08:07Jay Vine is still on course to defend the polka dot jersey.
08:10He now holds a 20 point lead over his teammate Ayuso.
08:15And no change in white, it's still Giulio Pellizzari leading Matthew Riccitello by 27 seconds.
08:21Tomorrow's the big one, Anglerou, which could have a major impact on the outcome of this
08:25Vuelta.
08:26Don't miss it.
08:27Join us again on Friday and thanks for watching.
