Tour de France 2012: Stage 12

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January 1 - July 22, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Fra, Road - WorldTour

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Welcome back to Le Tour and to today's stage 12 from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Annonay Davézieux. We are heading out of the Alps down to the Rhone valley, which means two Cat. 1 climbs in the first 80 km of the parcours, and then a flat, downhill section until the finale, where another Cat. 3 hill will spice up the finish.

With 226 kilometres on the menu today, this is the Tour's longest stage - and it happens to be on a Friday 13th, which could make some riders nervous.

The stage is starting right now. The riders are rolling out of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in the 3.6km neutral section. The weather is sunny at about 18°C, so we should be up for another summerly stage.
 

The start is expected to be fast as the only chance for non-sprinters today will be to get into a very early breakaway. That being said, the small bump on the profile with 19kms to go (the Côte d'Ardoix) could very well serve as a springboard for late attackers.
 

And they're off! All riders who finished yesterday's queen stage through the Alps are at the start again today, except for Robert Gesink (Rabobank), who is now looking forward to making up for his bad luck at the Vuelta.

At the start, Bernard Hinault also gave his view of today's stage: "Today's is going to be rather laid back. After the two climbs there are more than 100km of flat terrain, so I think the sprinters will be able to pull their card.

220km remaining from 226km

The road is going slightly downhill until we will reach the bottom of the first  climb, the Col du Grand Cucheron (12.5 km @ 6,5%) at km 34.

Will Peter Sagan (Liquigas) continue his takeover of the Tour de France sprints today and make it a fourth victory? Many seem to think so, as the Slovak's odds with the bookmakers vary from 3/1 to 4.4/1 depending which online betting system you look at. But some also seem to think that Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) will use his excellent form for a solo victory, as his odds are estimated at 15/1.

Chavanel continues to try and get away, but they won't let him...

212km remaining from 226km

There are about 19 riders in the breakaway, including Burghardt (BMC), Millar (Garmin), Grivko (Astana), Popovych (RadioShack) and Chavanel (Omega).

The gap to the front of the bunch is still only small, though. They are battling hard.

205km remaining from 226km

Finally, Radio Tour gives us the names of the attackers, there are 17 and no Chavanel:

The breakaway is well-balanced teamwise and working hard right now on the climb. There are four former Tour stage winners in the group: Burghardt, Popovych, N.Sorensen and Millar.

FDJ had been making the tempo until now, and actually reduced the gap from 1'40" to one minute, but now Sky has taken over and is riding a less challenging tempo.

A counter-attack of eight riders has now formed, initiated by Rui Costa (Movistar).

But Costa's move is doomed, and now David Moncoutié (Cofidis) has been able to get away and is at half a minute of the break.

Costa is nevertheless not giving up and now chasing Moncoutié. They are ar about 3 kms from the top of the climb.

The composition of the head group is still not entirely clear. There may actually be 19 riders with Bouet (AG2R), Engoulvent (Saur), and the Argos-Shimano rider is not De Kort but Patrick Gretsch.

The groups are close together. Astana's Kiserlovski has jumped away on the front, while other riders have been caught by the bunch, including BMC's Burghardt.

The bunch has around 30 riders left, as they are one kilometre from the summit.

Kiserlovski takes the ten total points at the Cat. 1 KOM summit. His teammate Kessiakoff is still the mountains classification leader today.

Moncoutié has crashed on the descent!

He's standing up again.

182km remaining from 226km

There are 11 riders left over from the initial break:

Boasson Hagen is still leading out the Sky train, which is at 1'20" of the leaders.

David Moncoutié (Cofidis) is still getting medical attention from the race doctor, he lost of a lot of skin along all the side, and it looks like his collarbone could be broken.

The Frenchman is now confirmed out of the race.

This is a big loss for Cofidis, also in view of the team's Vuelta objectives. If Moncoutié's collarbone is broken, he might not be able to be competitive again by the end of August.

167km remaining from 226km

They have now reached a rather flat part in Pontcharra. There are still about ten kilometres before the start of the next Cat. 1 climb, the Col du Granier (9.7 km @ 8,6%).

The race passes Chateau Bayard, which was built as of 1404...

Susan jumping in, so Hedi can eat lunch without getting crumbs all over her keyboard.

158km remaining from 226km

They will soon start up the second cat. 1 climb of the day, the Col du Granier.  After that, the field will face only a cat.3 climb about 20 km from the finish.

We have our next abandon: Tom Veelers of Argos-Shimano is now out.

Only eight of the 22 teams are still full-strength: BMC, Europcar, Liquigas, Lotto Belisol, FDJ- Big Mat, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, Astana and Orica-GreenEdge.

154km remaining from 226km

Of the teams who have lost riders, Raboank is the hardest hit. The Dutch team has lost five riders, leaving them only four in the race.

As the peloton heads up this next climb, Jeremy Roy of FDJ-Big Mat attacks. Christophe Kern of Europcar goes with him.

There are also three teams, which have each lost four riders: Euskaltel, Lampre and Vacansoleil.

Martinez has moved up to the lead group, while Perez has fallen back to the field.

Another handful of riders have jumped, including Jens Voigt, and are on their way up to the two Frenchmen.

Six Sky riders at the front of the peloton, calmly watching the proceedings.

We now have a group of six giving chase.  Gathering the names now...

149km remaining from 226km

The six man chase group is Voigt, Roy, Kern, Feillu, Kashechkin and Levarlet.

More and more riders are falling off the back of the field, including Pinot and Gilbert.

The field is only 1:13 back now, and they are about to catch the small break group ahead of them.

And of course this climb is tearing apart the lead group as well.

Bouet and Gusev have just dropped back from the lead group.

148km remaining from 226km

Pinot is falling further back with every meter, but at least he has a teammate with him.

Hedwig is back from her lunch break. Sörensen is dopped out of the lead group...

Pierre Rolland and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) are also paying for their previous efforts and letting go from the tail end of the bunch. Polkadot jersey Fredrik Kessiakoff is with them.

The bunch is only 50 seconds away from the leaders. Voeckler is pacing for Rolland to catch up again, there are about eight riders with them including Kessiakoff an Valverde. They can still see the end of the bunch though.

Kiserlovski started the sprint just before the KOM summit, and takes the points in front of Péraud.

140km remaining from 226km

Liquigas' Peter Sagan has attacked on the descent, joined by Taaramae (Cofidis). Other riders are also looking to drop the peloton around the yellow jersey.

Sagan has dropped Taramaae and is trying to catch the leaders. The intermediate sprint is still 70 kilometres away, though!

Now he's sitting up, waiting for Taramaae and Chris Anker Sörensen.

130km remaining from 226km

Vorganov and Popovych were still in between the two groups and have now been caught by the Sagan group.

For sure, if the Sagan group can catch up with the leaders they would make a good little bunch to hold off the peloton until the finish.

Sagan is incredible. He has two teammates with him to try and get him at least to the intermediate sprint in front.

118km remaining from 226km

The leaders are now at the feed zone in Saint Joseph de Rivière.

And the Australian squad is successful: they have caught the group around Sagan.

The race is now driving through the Gorges de Crossey, massive rocks on both sides of the road. Magnificent secenry throughout the day today.

110km remaining from 226km

With Sagan back in the bunch, the race situation is of course very different now. There are only five riders left up the road, who are no threat to Sky or GreenEdge. The quintet is definitely being let go now, as its advantage is already up to 4'45".

The bunch is riding through the town of Voiron, cheered on by a lot of spectators. This is where the "Chartreuse" herbal liqueur is distilled, named after the mountain range the Tour has been driving through today.

Rumour has it Millar has picked this stage as an objective because it comes 45 years on the day that his compatriot Tom Simpson died on the slopes of Mont Ventoux, on July 13, 1967.

The peloton is definitely taking it easy since Sagan got caught. The break has extended its lead to 7'40". With little less than 100 kilometres left to go, the sprinters teams will have to organise a chase soon if they want to remain in contention for the stage.

Team Sky is waiting to see if another squad decides to organise a chase. The team directors will be arguing over the issue right now... The gap is up to ten minutes!

Nibali is getting his radio fixed at the team car, While Wiggins is at the very front of the bunch, still riding at a leisurely speed.

It look really good for the five-man breakaway. The bunch is 11'45" back with 87 kilometres to go.

The gruppetto, including world champ Cavendish, is meanwhile back inside the bunch.

In the break, Millar is asking for his team car. The riders are now moving along pretty flat roads. As they drive through the villages, they are greeted by the spectators alongside the Départementale.

78km remaining from 226km

Millar passes the sprint in front. It's located in the middle of nowhere, not even in a village.

But Sagan, back in the bunch, is eeing the sixth place at the sprint. He's followed by Matt Goss (GreenEdge). Sixth spot is still worth ten points for the green jersey.

The gap has barely come down, it is still over 11 minutes, so the lead goup is pretty safe.

Goss won the sprint ahead of Greipel and Sagan. First time the German also mingles in the intermediate sprints.

Nice training ride there for the bunch. Wiggins is in a small group far behind the peloton, coming back in the team car caravan. He's not worried about any attacks...

Much has been said about Sky's performance yesterday, and Froome's apparent superiority in comparison with Wiggins. For those who have been thinking that the Brit already had a firm grip on the yellow jersey before the Tour even entered its final week, this team configuration will at least add new spice to the race.

47km remaining from 226km

Bernie Eisel continues to lead out the bunch. A lot of riders will be grateful for the easy pace today in order to recover a bit.

Millar could add a fourth Tour de France stage victory to his palmarès today. Or will Europcar's Gautier make it the third win for his team in a row at this Tour?

28km remaining from 226km

The breakaway is riding through the village of Sarras. In a few clicks, they'll be headed uphill, while the bunch now crosses the old hanging bridge over the Rhone river.

The leaders are tackling the 5km-climb now. Average gradient is 3.4 percent, so it's not very steep.

No attacks at this point...

At this pace, the climb doesn't seem to be challenging enough for anyone to try and make a move.

Back in the bunch, a Lotto train has formed alongside the Sky lead-out.

The crowds on this climb are massive, though; it's nice to see so many people have made it to the roadside once again.

They are on a plateau now, there is no descent as such after this climb. Within the last five kilometres, the stage profile shows a small drop and another very short uphill part but we don't know if this represents any attack opportunity.

Needless to say, the peloton is riding up the Côte d'Ardoix with seemingly no effort...

14km remaining from 226km

No-one of the five has any particularly fast finishing speed that we know of. If it comes to a sprint, it will really be about who has the most energy left, and the best tactical position to take it to the finish.

The leaders come through the 10km-mark. Martinez at the front but all five are still taking their turns as they should.

Martinez shakes his thighs. They're getting ready and starting to seriously look at each other. Allies become enemies...

They are rdiding downhill now, so the short climb should be coming up very soon.

Here it is. Martinez attacks! And Millar marks him. All together.

They slow down, look at each other. Millar leads out. Kiserlovski attacks and Péraud chases him down again.

3km remaining from 226km

But Millar takes the others up to him again. Péraud tries his luck now and gets a gap together with Millar.

Péraud is also an excellent time triallist, just like Millar.

The trio behind is trying to come back, but the gap is substantial.

Millar still leads Péraud, now the Frenchman takes over.

Péraud is a former mountainbiker, so he may have more explosiveness in the end...

Gautier is trying hard to come back, but they are too far away.

Finish line! Millar leads Péraud.

Péraud starts his sprint at with 250 metres to go, but Millar finally has more strength and pulls through to take the stage!

Millar gets his fourth Tour de France stage win, and we can see he's exhausted.

The bunch now comes up to the finishing kilometres. The crowds cheer them on as they finish up a rather leisurely day, at least for the last 100 kilometres.

Sagan is towards the front of the bunch though, as there are still some points for the green jersey at stake.

Top five:

Wggins leads the bunch into the last roundabout before the finishing straight.

Thanks for having joined us again today. Tomorrow's stage 13 to Cap d'Agde will be another opportunity for the sprinters to battle it out, and we'll very porbably see more of Sagan vs. Goss!

Here are the brief results of stage 12:

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