Ion Izagirre soloed to an impressive victory in Belleville-en-Beaujolais on stage 12 of the Tour de France.
The Cofidis rider attacked from the breakaway on the final climb - the category two Col de la Croix Rosier - of the hilly 168 kilometre course. Izagirre’s breakaway compatriots, including the likes of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), simply had no answer to the Cofidis man’s vicious acceleration as they reached the summit.
Izagirre continued to increase his advantage on the descent to take his second-ever Tour stage win. Mathieu Burgadeau (TotalEnergies) took second with Jorgenson in third.
Van der Poel put in a big attack on the penultimate climb, but began to fade as the gradients kicked up on the Col de la Croix Rosier.
Behind Izagirre, the general classification group rolled across the line with minimal changes in the overall standings. The only rider to lose out on the day was Jumbo-Visma's Sepp Kuss who slipped out of the top ten to be replaced by Thibaut Pinot in tenth place.
