"One of my worst days on the bike" - Carlos Rodriguez's tough 2025 Tour de France continues on stage 12

The INEOS Grenadiers' big GC hope at the 2025 Tour de France, Carlos Rodriguez arrived at the Grand Tour with genuine podium ambitions. Sadly however, things have gone far from planned and after more disappointment on stage 12, the Spaniard now sits 12th overall at 17:56 down on Maillot Jaune Tadej Pogacar.

Having been only around five and a half minutes off the Maillot Jaune at the start of the day, things actually went really well for Rodriguez early on. The INEOS leader got himself into the breakaway alongside teammates Tobias Foss, Axel Laurance, Connor Swift and Thymen Arensman. Sensing the opportunity for a GC raid, INEOS took to the front of the break and worked hard in an attempt to get a telling gap from the peloton.

With UAE Team Emirates - XRG supported in their chase by the likes of EF Education-EasyPost and Uno-X Mobility however, the break were never given much leeway, and when Team Visma | Lease a Bike upped the pace further, the break's hopes were doomed. From there, the struggle really began for Rodriguez as he battled on to the finish line, eventually finishing more 12:31 down.

"What started as an ideal and promising situation, ended up as one of my worst days on the bike," admitted the Spaniard in a post-stage 12 reflection posted on his official Instagram page. "Anyway, I’m super grateful to my teammates for all their work, believing and delivering me in the best position possible."

Nevertheless, despite the disappointment of more serious time loss, Rodriguez isn't ready to give up hope of any success just yet. "Plenty of chances to come, we’ll keep fighting," concludes the former stage winner. "Thanks a lot to all the people cheering up on the road, you made my suffering a bit more 'enjoyable'”