DISCUSSION Vuelta a España Stage 12 | How many more stage wins can UAE take?

The 12th stage of the Vuelta a España featured a tricky mountain stage that was perfect for a breakaway to succeed. Riders knew that, which caused a fierce battle to get into the break of the day.

There was no team willing to chase, which made it easier for the break to be established. It was 20 riders at the beginning, then 20 more joined them during the first climb of the day (Puerto de Alisas, 8.6km à 5.9%). Another counterattack added 13 more riders, totaling 53 units in front, with the main names being Juan Ayuso, Marc Soler, Santiago Buitrago, Eddie Dunbar, Mikel Landa, Pablo Castrillo, Bruno Armirail and Mads Pedersen.

Israel – Premier Tech was the only team missing in the front group, while Movistar had five riders present. It was the Spanish team the one trying to shake things up, sending Iván García Cortina down the road. His adventure didn’t last long, as Lidl – Trek was pulling to make sure Pedersen could win the intermediate sprint.

The break would stick together until six riders attacked and built a 40-second lead a few kilometers before the start of the fearsome Collada de Brenes (7km à 7.9%). That group survived until Marc Soler launched Juan Ayuso, who attacked in the hardest part of the ascent. Only Movistar’s Javier Romo could follow him, and the two Spaniards flew away together.

Ayuso refused to relay in the final kilometres, and he showed his dominance at the finish line, outsprinting Romo and getting his second win of this edition of the Vuelta. The youngster Brieuc Rolland completed the podium.

Back in the bunch, nobody wanted to try their legs, given that the queen stage and Angliru are awaiting them tomorrow. They arrived all together at the finish line with Jonas Vingegaard keeping the red jersey.

Once the stage finished, we asked some of our writers to share their thoughts and main takeaways about what happened today.

Not much to analyse. The peloton made it home safely at least which is a bonus. In the peloton no-one wanted to try and surprise, understandable as the two queen stages are following now. I had some hope, as this is the sole mountain stage of the race that doesn't have a summit finish, and many teams had riders in front they could bridge across to. But it was expected.

In front UAE played their cards for another breakaway win, which was always going to happen, and they played them right, getting a fourth stage win in almost as many mountain stages. Ayuso was the strongest on the final climb and although the team was outnumbered by others, the chasing group was very big and there were a lot of interests to keep the gap small enough into the climb.

The peloton wanted nothing to do with the stage in the run-up to the Vuelta a España. Many riders took advantage of it to get into the breakaway, where there were more than 50 riders. Juan Ayuso was the smartest of the class. He was clearly the best climber and on the hard first category pass, everyone expected him to go solo.

However, Javi Romo held on and rode with him to the finish. Ayuso was not very generous, but the reality is that he already had a stage win and Romo did not. Therefore, it might seem logical that the Movistar Team rider worked harder.

In the sprint, Ayuso was much faster and scored a second stage win in the Vuelta a España. It is also the fifth of a UAE that came with ambitions to win the overall, which is far from Vingegaard, which is giving more to talk about the extradeportivo than for the sport in recent days, but already has 5 stage wins in this Vuelta.

There was a tacit agreement in peloton to stop the hostilities for a day, which was honestly expected. Today there was just no way that a breakaway didn’t succeed considering the route and, and the queen stage is tomorrow with the Angliru. Too many incentives for the GC men to take the day “off” and save energy for what is coming.

UAE played their cards right in the break, the opposite when it comes to the GC fight. Juan Ayuso was the overwhelming favourite to take the stage and Marc Soler did a great job, first closing the gap with the six men that were in front during the climb to Collada de Brenes, and then launching his teammate. They already got five stage wins and honestly it feels like they can get five more with Ayuso, Vine or even Soler if they keep targeting them.

Ayuso has been showing very inconsistent signals at this Vuelta. Some days he seems completely empty and unable to help his teammates at all, especially Almeida, while other days he has the best legs and obliterates the competition.

I find very strange that someone that allegedly didn’t come well prepared to the Vuelta and looks dead when is supposed to work for others can put up such a display of dominance when he is in the break. Today was the second time he got into the escapee, and also the second time he won. I just wonder why he doesn’t look that powerful when he is in peloton next to Almeida.

We should also praise Movistar, the team has been going through difficult times and had to reevaluate their whole approach to the Vuelta after it was known that Enric Mas would not come, and they are doing a really good job so far. They finished in second place twice with Castrillo and Romo, and Aular has been performing solid as well. Today they had five riders in the break and played their cards well, but Ayuso was simply stronger than Romo.