Spectacular victory of Ion Izagirre in the most disputed stage of the Tour de France

A truly crazy stage on a day marked by a mid-mountain route. A very high level breakaway, which took more than two hours to consolidate, in which the strongest and ready to choose the moment to play his cards was the Cofidis rider from Guipuzcoa, Ion Izagirre, who was able to beat names like Thibaut Pinot or Tiesj Benoot.

Ion Izagirre takes his second Tour de France victory after Morzine in 2016

A few days ago we talked about the end of the long drought of Spanish victories in the Tour de France. But the streak has been broken and the tap has been opened. If the other day it was a Biscayan, Pello Bilbao, who achieved one of the coveted victories of each edition of the Tour today, a Guipuzcoan Ion Izagirre managed to finish a stage as the best of a select breakaway.

As happened on Tuesday's stage after the rest day, after yesterday's stage, in which the peloton took it easy, a new day of intense fighting was expected. Above all, because it was a stage more suitable for the middle class of the peloton, since the race will enter the Alps at the weekend, where the interest for the general classification will surely take precedence.

Under these conditions, the 168. km stage, between Roanne and Belleville in Beaujolais, with a medium mountain profile and 5 passes of 3rd and 2nd category, was a real slog from the very first kilometer. There were countless attacks and counter-attacks during the first two hours of the race, none of which were successful. All this at a crazy speed of 47 km / h, a few kilometers of real madness that left victimized David de la Cruz who, trying to get into the breakaway suffered a crash in one of the descents resulting in broken collarbone, third identical injury for Astana riders in this Tour after Luis Leon Sanchez and Mark Cavendish. Fabio Jakobsen also abandoned the race after days of limping, also due to a crash.

Finally, a group of about fifteen riders of the highest level, including Tiesj Benoot, Julian Alaphilippe, Mads Pedersen, Jasper Stuyven, Gillaume Martin, Ion Izagirre, Ruben Guerreiro, Matteo Jorgenson, Victor Campenaerts, Andrey Amador and Mathieu van der Poel, was able to consolidate.

Behind, the very high speed had also taken its toll on the main peloton, reduced to just about thirty riders with people like Mikel Landa or Egan Bernal cut behind but would end up entering in the final part of the day.

On the third climb, the Casse Froide, hostilities began when, just at the top, Mathieu van der Poel stood out a few meters ahead showing his exquisite technique. Andrey Amador saw the move and stuck to his wheel and, little by little, they managed to open a gap of about twenty seconds but that would not go any further. There were 55 kilometers to the finish and we were already rubbing our hands with the desired exhibition of the Dutchman.

In fact, 10 kilometers later, on the ascent to the col de la Croix de Montmain, seeing that his adventure was not prospering, Van der Poel attacked and left his partner in the adventure looking for the feat, although his pursuers left him no margin and he could barely crown with 23 seconds of advantage with still another pass ahead.

On this next climb, the Croix de Rosier, Thibaut Pinot and Matteo Jorgenson jumped for him, selecting the breakaway in passing, and a little further on, Izagirre, Martin, Benoot, Burgaudeau and Tobiass Johannessen would end up reaching them. With little time to think and rethink tactics, Ion Izagirre did not think twice and launched a hard attack that, in the first instance, Van der Poel tried to follow but would eventually give in on a terrain that is not his. The Cofidis rider began to open a slight gap thanks to the extraordinary teamwork of his teammate Guillaume Martin, who was in charge of drying up each of the counterattacks that came after him.

If this was not enough advantage, on the other side of the pass he found a narrow and technical descent in which to bring out his skill, inevitably reminding us of his victory in Morzine in 2016, although this time without rain. A descent that served him to consolidate his lead, which by the end of it was already 46 seconds and allowed him to begin to savor the victory.

The constant attacks by Pinot, Burgaudeau or Jorgenson, who always ended up with Guillaume Martin in their wake, were of no use. Ion Izagirre thus achieved his 18th professional victory and fourth in grand tours after the aforementioned victory in Morzine, the one achieved in the Giro d'Italia in 2012 and the one he won in La Vuelta in 2020 in a day with a finish in Formigal. Ion arrived at the finish line visibly moved, dedicating the victory to one of his daughters, who turned 4 years old today.

No movement in the peloton that finished the day at the pace set by INEOS Grenadiers, with riders who surely had their minds already set on tomorrow's stage that will take them to a new high finish, in this case, to the Grand Colombier.

Stage 12 Classification

1. Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) 3h51’42’’
2. Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) +58’’
3. Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team) +58’’
4. Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) +01’06’’
5. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) +01’11’’
6. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +01’13’’
7. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) +01’13’’
8. Dylan Teuns (Israel-PremierTech) +01’27’’
9. Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar Team) +01’27’’

Overall Classification

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 50h30’23’’
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +17’’
3. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +02’40’’
4. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +04’22’’
5. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +04’34’’
6. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +04’39’’
7. Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) +04’44’’
8. Thomas Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) +05’26’’
9. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +06’01’’
10. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +06’33’’