Juan Ayuso clinches second win at the 2025 Vuelta a España Stage 12 amid talks of team exit

Juan Ayuso won his second stage victory at the 2025 Vuelta a España by defeating Javier Romo at Stage 12 of the competition at Los Corrales de Buelna. 

Ayuso, riding for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG, made his attack away from the peloton and led the race with 26 km left. Romo, riding for Movistar, stayed close to his countryman, but Ayusi timed his sprint perfectly to secure the win. 

With this, Ayuso declared that he had to play smart in the race, and that’s what he had done. “In the sprint, I know this road a lot because this is where it finishes in the junior races also, so I knew how to time my sprint, and yeah, it went out perfectly,” he declared. 

Recently, Ayuso has been the talk of the news because he announced that he will leave his team soon. 

Furthermore, Jonas Vingegaard from Visma-Lease a Bike kept his overall lead in the general classification after the Stage 12 race. 

Highlights of the race

This 144.9-km route has two climbs, one at the beginning of the race and one near the end. During the race, about 40 riders formed a big breakaway early on, which included Juan Ayuso. These riders gained an advantage of six minutes ahead of the main peloton. On the final climb, the intensity of the race started to rise. 

James Shaw tried to outpace the others, but Ayuso was faster and eventually took the lead. Romo followed him closely, and the two stuck together to stay ahead. 

In the final kilometre of the race, Ayuso sprinted past Romo to win the stage. 

Here is the final ranking after the Stage 12 race:

1. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in 3:16:21
2. Javier Romo (Movistar) at the same time
3. Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ) +13s
4. Victor Campanaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) +17s
5. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
6. Nico Denz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) both at the same time 
7. Damian Howson (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +18s
8. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) at the same time 
9. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) 
10. Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), both at the same time

Here is the general classification ranking after the Stage 12 race:

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in 44:36:45
2. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +50s
3. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +56s
4. Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) +1:06s
5. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2:17
6. Bruno Amirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2:23
7. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +2:26
8. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) +2:30
9. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +2:33
10. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) +2:44

In the previous stage, the race was stopped 3 km before the finish line because of pro-Palestinian protesters. Due to this, the race organisers decided not to declare a winner for the eleventh stage. Read more here.