After a 31km solo ride at the front, Spanish rider Ion Izagirre of the Cofidis squad won Stage 12 of the 2023 Tour de France. Izagirre last won a stage in the Tour in 2016. He also won a stage of the Giro d’Italia in 2012 and La Vuelta in 2020.
After a protracted ride to the depart real, 168 riders took the start for Stage 12 of the 2023 edition. Fabio Jakobsen dropped out of the race overnight after difficulties recovering from his crash in Stage 4. Mads Pedersen made an attack as soon as the flagged dropped and was soon joined by Fred Wright, Alberto Bettiol and Mathieu van der Poel, but it ultimately didn’t last. Soon after, it was Frenchmen Julian Alaphilippe and Pierre Latour going for it.
The attacks continued with no solid break well into the stage. Meanwhile, Caleb Ewan, Peter Sagan and Jasper Philipsen were going off the back, not able to hold the pace. The peloton covered 42.5 kilometers within the first hour.
Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma) went clear at km 55 and were joined by Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) at km 59 but were soon caught. Next up was Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) and Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) going for it at the 65km mark. Mads Pedersen was able to bridge to the duo as well.
A group of 13 soon formed. Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Guillaume Martin, Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Ruben Guerreiro, Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Dylan Teuns (Israel-PremierTech), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny), Tobias Halland Johanessen (Uno-X), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) were 45” ahead of the yellow jersey group at halfway into the stage. Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) and Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) later bridged and the break group eventually rode into a 3’30” lead.
Van der Poel and Amador managed to go clear on the descent from the Col de la Casse Froide and gained a 15” advantage.The duo eventually went to a 40 second lead before Van de Poel went solo with about 50km to go.
1km before the top of côte de Montmain, Van der Poel was 30” ahead of Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost), Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Guillaume Martin, Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Ruben Guerreiro, Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Dylan Teuns (Israel-PremierTech), Tobias Halland Johanessen (Uno-X), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies). Three stragglers: Alaphilippe, Pedersen and Stuyven. The Yellow jersey group was at 3′.
With 32km to go, Pinot and Jorgenson joined up with MVDP and enjoyed a lead of 4’15” over the yellow jersey group. They were soon joined by Benoot, Martin, Izagirre, Guerreiro and Burgaudeau. Shortly after, Izagirre went solo on the climb and opened a small gap. MVDP was not able to hold the pace.
The yellow jersey group led by Ineos was 4’10” behind Izagirre atop the col de la Croix Rosier with 28km to go.
With 16km to go, Izagirre led the chasers by 50″. Matteo Jorgenson tried repeatedly to bridge, but Guillaume Martin was working hard to protect his team-mate.
8km to go and Izagirre had increased his lead to 55″ over the group of six chasers.
Matteo Jorgenson and Mathieu Burgaudeau attacked to race for second and third place with 3km to go.
And Izagirre does it! Solo win after 31km in the lead.
2023 Tour de France: Stage 12 Brief Results
- Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) @ 3h51’42”
- Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) @ 58″
- Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) @ 58″
- Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma)
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X)
- Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ)
General Classification After Stage 12:
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) @ 50h30’23”
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) @ 17″- B : 26″
- Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe) @ 2’40” – B : 18”
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