Ion Izagirre seals rare win as Vingegaard retains Tour de France lead

Second victory for Izagirre's team Cofidis after stage 12

Spanish rider Ion Izagirre of team Cofidis after winning stage 12 of the Tour de France. EPA

Basque rider Ion Izagirre broke away for a solo triumph on stage 12 of the Tour de France on Thursday.

Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard retained a slender 17 seconds lead over UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogacar in the overall standings on a fast-paced day of relentless attacking before three mountain stages.

It was a second win for Izagirre's team Cofidis after Victor Lafay won in San Sebastian, and also a second Basque victory after Pello Bilbao won stage 10 on Tuesday.

"It's great for the Basques, three stages there and two wins for us [the Basques]," Izagirre said.

"I had good legs on the last climb. Tonight we're going to have a party."

There was around 25km of climbing on the run from Roanne to Belleville as the peloton tore across the hilly 189km route with the pack splintering.

An elite escape group formed only 80km from home and even this splintered many times before the 34-year-old Izagirre made his decisive move on the fifth and toughest ascent.

Mathieu Burgaudeau was second in the stage, with Matteo Jorgenson completing the podium.

Izagirre's previous win at the Tour was in 2016 when he claimed a stage in the Alpine town of Morzine. He also won stages at the Giro d’Italia and Spanish Vuelta.

"He's one of the engines of the team. He passes on his ambition to his team mates," Cofidis team manager Cedric Vasseur, who recruited Izagirre last year, said.

"Today we had decided to put several riders in the breakaway and the presence of [Frenchman] Guillaume Martin in it helped us. It took us years to win a stage on the Tour [after 2018] and this year we already have two, it's amazing.

"What a day, what a Tour."

After countless foiled attempts, a 15-man breakaway took shape midway through the stage, which got to an explosive start with the chasing pack reduced to some 40 riders.

All the top guns were in there but Vingegaard's Jumbo Visma and Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates riders let the advantage grow to 3:30 until AG2R-Citroen started pulling in front in a dodgy strategic move as they had virtually no chance of bridging the gap.

Mathieu van der Poel jumped away from the leading group, followed by Andrey Amador but the Dutch rider went solo before the Col de la Croix Montmain.

Izagirre attacked 2.4km from the top and never looked back, leaving France's Burgaudeau and Jorgensen over a minute behind to finish second and third respectively.

Friday's stage marks the French national holiday of July 14 with a marquee route and an iconic summit finish at Le Grand Colombier in the Jura mountain range - a regular obstacle on recent Tours.