Tour de France 2012: Stage 12 Preview

St-Jean de Maurienne – Annonay Davézieux

Distance: 226km
Highest point: 1,188m
Category: Medium mountains

Complicated for the sprinters

The sprinters will have been quiet for a few days now – and some of them may well have fallen by the wayside – but this one could go their way depending on how the first 80km goes. Some riders are sure to view the Grand Cucheron and Granier as the ideal opportunity to break clear and perhaps build a stage-winning advantage. It’s the kind of day Thomas Voeckler will appreciate if he’s not in overall contention. After the climbs, though, the sprinters have got plenty of terrain on which to set their rouleurs to work. The final cat 3 climb might foil the sprinters, especially after 200km and two weeks of racing.

Janez Brajkovic:"This is somewhere that a break can stay away all day and take the stage victory. If the day’s break hasn’t gone by the first climb it will be pretty hard to go after that. I don’t think there will be major changes to the GC here."

Maps and profiles courtesy of ASO