As it happened: Huge time gaps as GC race ignites on the Hautacam on stage 12 of the Tour de France

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The peloton enters the Pyrenees to take on the first hors catégorie ascent of the race on the summit finish to Hautacam

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Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 12 of the 2025 Tour de France as the race heads into the Pyrenees and a first summit finish.

The start of today's stage is still over an hour and a half away, with the neutralised start due at 13:10 local time in Auch.

Here is what's on the menu for the peloton today, with a first summit finish on the hors catégorie climb to the legendary Hautacam.

But before we dive further into what today's stage has in store for us, let's rewind to yesterday's chaotic events in and around Toulouse.

Stage 11 was won by Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), who edged out Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) in a two-up sprint to the line after the pair attacked from the early break.

But there was plenty more drama unfolding behind too.

Fortunately, Pogačar was unscathed from the crash. Meanwhile, yellow jersey Ben Healy called for the GC group to wait up for the Slovenian as a show of respect, ensuring he didn't lose any time.

The team presentation and rider sign-on for stage 12 is underway in Auch.

Today's start town of Auch was the hometown of Team Sky and Ineos directeur sportif Nico Portal, who sadly died from a heart attack on March 3, 2020.

To gear up for today's mountain stage, we spoke with ex-pro Dan Martin about what the Hautacam climb entails and how it might ignite the GC battle.

There's only one non-starter this morning: Cees Bol (XDS Astana) has departed the Tour due to sickness.

While today's ascent of the Hautacam isn't just a two-horse race between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar, there is history here between the two main yellow jersey contenders.

Want to find out even more about today's route? Here's an in-depth preview of today's stage:

A dressing on Tadej Pogačar's left arm after yesterday's crash.

The riders are on the move, setting off the unofficial start in Auch for the neutralised zone.

There was a sombre atmosphere at the unofficial start, as riders paid respect to Samuele Privitera, the young Italian rider who died after crashing at the Giro della Valle d’Aosta.

The finish of yesterday’s stage was disrupted by a protester. He wore a t-shirt saying ‘Israel out of the Tour’, and according to the Le Parisien shouted ‘Israel on the Tour, the Tour is complicit’.

Just a few hundred metres until Christian Prudhomme emerges from his car to fly the flag.

And we're off!

And it's déjà vu from yesterday - once again it’s an Uno-X Mobility rider who is first to attack, right from the flag. Yesterday that man was Jonas Abrahamsen, who went on to spectacularly win the stage.

There won’t be a repeat of that feat, however - the move with the Uno-X Mobility rider was shut down pretty much straight away.

In fact, that Uno-X Mobility rider was in fact Abrahamsen - his appetite is insatiable.

Several more riders are now trying attacks, including green jersey contenders Milan and Girmay.

There’s an intermediate sprint about 90km into the stage, before we reach the Pyrenees. The green jersey contenders may sense an opportunity to gain some points if they can get into the break, before they drop away on the climbs.

Thomas Gachignard is the first rider to gain a gap, and currently leads the race.

Gachignard has been brought back, and the attacks continue, with Visma-Lease a Bike involved.

Alexey Lutsenko attacks and has a gap, with a few riders accompanying him.

Alexandre Delettre and Pascal Eenkhoorn are the two riders with Lutsenko. They’ve also been joined by Marco Haller.

Geraint Thomas is attacking from the peloton.

Ben O'Connor counter-attacks. The terrain is pretty flat for now, but the climbers are trying to get into the break, aware of what's to come.

Neither Thomas nor O'Connor have managed to go clear, while the four-man group featuring Lutsenko has also been brought back.

The scene at the start from Auch today.

The attacks stopped for a moment, but Victor Campanaerts has reignited the race with a move.

He’s brought back quickly, but several counter moves are made in response.

There’s been a split in the peloton, with a big group slipping off the front. It seems the main GC contenders are in the peloton behind.

This front group seems to be about 50 riders big. Is it the peloton, or a breakaway group? It’s certainly big enough to the former, but has none of the main GC riders in it - at least who have been spotted yet.

Carlos Rodríguez is in this front group. He’s 12th on GC, at 5:44.

There are plenty of quality climbers, and therefore potential stage winners, also present, who aren’t threats on GC. Such as: Ben O’Connor, Thymen Arensman, Lenny Martinez, Santiago Buitrago, Michael Storer and Aleksandr Vlasov.

This group has a decent gap, too, of about 30 seconds.

And the gap continues to grow - it’s now up to one minute.

After Carlos Rodríguez, the next highest ranked rider on GC in the break is Guillame Martin (10:44 down), followed by O’Connor (who is 11:50) and Skjelmose (12:45).

There’s lots of collaboration in this front group. Ineos are especially keen, pressing on with their GC leader Carlos Rodríguez present.

Back in the peloton, it’s Uno-X Mobility who are leading, rather than any of the major GC teams. It seems UAE and Visma aren’t worried about the threat posed by Rodríguez.

Now Nils Politt takes over at the front of the peloton for UAE, as the deficit reaches 1:30.

As well as having the most dangerous GC man, Ineos are also the best represented in this group with five riders - Swift, Foss, Laurance and Arensman are there with Rodríguez.

Politt’s work has pegged the gap at 1:30, but there’s still a great deal of cohesion in the lead group, with other teams working with Ineos at the front.

Uno-X Mobility are back at the front of the peloton leading the chase. They are presumably working for Tobias Halland Johannessen, whose 10th place on GC is under threat from this group.

Each of the top three GC teams have one rider in the break - Benoot for Visma, Wellens for UAE, and Schachmann for Soudal-QuickStep.

EF are also working with UAE and Uno-X Mobility at the front of the peloton. Healy has a negligible chance of keeping the yellow jersey today, but the team still feel obliged to ride in its defence nonetheless.

The front group is still moving quicker than the peloton. Thor lead has grown to 1:50.

Ineos leading the big breakaway group. This could be a potentially great day for them, if they can propel Rodríguez back into the top ten on GC, and possibly higher.

While Ineos have five riders in the break, three teams have four riders: Cofidis, Tudor and Bahrain, including their respective leaders Martin, Alaphilippe and Buitrago.

The peloton has managed to peg the gap again at 1:50. They’re just about keeping this in control, but it feels perilous.

Pablo Castrillo has had a puncture. He’s one of three Movistar riders in the break who might fancy their chances of a stage win, along with Rubio and Romeo.

The peloton, which is still being led by EF, Uno-X Mobility and UAE.

Mathieu van der Poel is also, yet again, in the break. This surely won’t be another stage win for the Dutchman, but he does have the chance to pick up some points at the intermediate sprint if he fancies it. None of his green jersey rivals are present in the group.

The race is in a holding pattern for now, with the break's lead hovering at just under two minutes.

Only one team has missed the break completely - Picnic PostNL. This move is also dangerous for their GC man, Oscar Onley, but there’s no sign of them working in the peloton for now.

In terms of the King of the Mountains classification, Lenny Martinez has a chance to extend his lead having gotten into the break. There are a lot of points on offer, with a category four, two, one and hors climbs on the menu.

There's no sign that Tadej Pogačar is suffering from his fall yesterday. The real tests are to come later, however, where we'll really see how he's feeling.

Still the gap remains about the same, at 1:45. The pace is very high, with both the lead group and the peloton riding hard.

Evenepoel is getting paced back into the peloton by Eenkhoorn, having dropped back to his team car. He looks relaxed.

The advantage is swinging towards the peloton. The gap’s going down, and is now back to nearly 1:30.

Tadej Pogačar is also now at the team car for something - nothing medical, however. He's looking fine on that front.

The gap's gone up a bit, to 1:40. This fight is going to go on for a long time, with domestiques being used up before the climbing starts come the final phase of the race.

Here's Ben Healy, enjoying what will surely be his last day in the yellow jersey.

With the gap still hovering at just below 2 minutes, Carlos Rodríguez has jumped two places on the virtual GC from 12th to 10th, leapfrogging Gall and Johannessen.

Still the gap remains the same, at 1:45 as we move into the second half of the stage.

Bryan Coquard has a problem, seemingly with his wrist. We haven’t seen him go down, but he’s had to stop and drop out of the break, while a medic sees to him.

Some movement in the front group, as one of the Ineos riders accelerates and gets a gap.

Swift was the Ineos rider, and he hasn’t pressed on, and is back in the group. That might be a sign that cohesion is breaking down a little.

Coquard is back up and riding, but has a lot of ground to make up to get into the peloton.

The riders are climbing up a categorised hill for the first time - but it’s small fry compared to what’s to come. This Côte de Labatmale climbs for only 1.3km at 6.8%.

As they climb, the break leads by 1:45.

Fred Wright moves to the front to take the one KOM point. Curiously, his teammate and rider in the polka-dot jersey, Lenny Martinez, did not make a move to take the point - perhaps he's resting himself to ensure he's in the mix to take the greater number of points available on the later, bigger summits today.

The intermediate sprint is coming up, in less than a kilometre. With Van der Poel go for the points?

Yes he does - it was a sprint between himself and Laurenz Rex (on behalf of Girmay) and one of the Lidl-Trek riders (on behalf of Milan).

Rex won the sprint for the 20 points, but Van der Poel finished ahead of Lidl's Nys to take 17 points for himself.

That moves Van der Poel up to second place in the points classification. If he continues to pursue it from now until Paris, he could pose a real threat to Milan’s green jersey. Here are the updated rankings:

We're still in the same holding pattern, with the gap remaining at 1:45. That's likely to change when they start climbing the category one Col du Soulor in about 20km, the foothills of which they're approaching now.

For an idea of just how big this break is - you can pretty much see all of the 51 riders present in this image here.

The road has started to go uphill a little, as we near the official start of the mountain. Still the gap remains 1:45.

Here’s Jonas Vingegaard riding in the peloton. While he and Visma went along with Ben Healy’s call to wait for Pogačar yesterday, you imagine they must be planning to test the Slovenian’s shape in the aftermath of that fall today. Will they wait until the Hautacam, or try something on this upcoming mountain?

Excitement is building. We’ll soon be climbing the Col du Soulor, which is the first mountain of this year’s race. The Tour de France proper is about to get underway!

The pack of riders (peloton) cycles during the 12th stage of the 112th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 180.6 km between Auch and Hautacam, in the Pyrenees mountains of southwestern France, on July 17, 2025. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The gap has gone up on the approach to the climb. As they near the start, it’s risen to over two minutes.

The breakaway group is shedding riders on the foothills of the climb. Many of the non-climbers and those who have done the pace-seeing have been dropped already.

Durbridge is working on the front for O’Connor, dropping riders including Van der Poel.

Now Schmid takes over for Jacyo, still looking fresh despite his efforts finishing second-place yesterday.

He hasn't lasted long though, swinging off just as they're about to start the climb.

Here we go, the breakaway riders are officially on the climb!

It averages a tough 7.6%, but it's the fact it's 11.8km long that makes it different from anything the riders have faced so far at this Tour.

Meanwhile in the peloton, Marc Soler takes over for UAE as they near the start of the climb.

The break has already been halved, with only about 25 riders left.

Here come Visma-Lease a Bike! They take over at the front of the peloton as they start the mountains, in a long line led by Campanaerts.

Alaphilippe has been dropped out of the break. He isn't quite climbing well enough at this Tour to compete in a stage like today's, despite his form at the Tour de Suisse.

Arensman is leading the break for his Ineos leader Carlos Rodríguez. Buchmann is one of the riders dropped as a result.

Bad news for Lenny Martinez, who’s also been dropped. His polka-dot jersey is now under threat.

It’s actually Laurance rather than Arensman doing the work for Ineos. Rodríguez should still have Arensman to work for him once Laurance is done.

Martin is the latest strong climber dropped from the break. That's another disappointment for the French.

And now even Ben O’Connor is dropped. On paper he was arguably the strongest climber in this group, so that’s a big surprise.

A big development in the GC race, as Remco Evenepoel is dropped out the back of the peloton!

News must be filtering through - we can see Pogačar talking on the team radio.

It’s Visma who are still setting the pace, but it’s still a large peloton, featuring perhaps around 30 riders - including the yellow jersey.

Benoot is the rider leading the peloton, having dropped back from the breakaway.

This is looking bad for Evenepoel. He's 20 seconds down.

Evenepoel has Soudal teammate Van Wilder with him to pace him, but's losing more ground slowly. He's now 25 seconds down.

Enric Mas has now been dropped out the peloton.

The peloton is down to just more than 20 riders. Evenepoel is the only rider from the top ten missing.

Evenepoel is with his team car taking a bidon. It's very hot out there - perhaps he suffering in the heat?

Back at the front, Skjelmose has attacked. He's clearly not struggling in the heat, despite losing time yesterday.

The yellow jersey has been dropped out of the peloton.

Jorgenson has also been dropped, despite Visma setting the pace. This is carnage!

At the front, Skjelmose has Woods and Armirail with him.

Vima have slowed down, to allow Jorgenson to rejoin.

Aurélien Paret-Peintre has made his way to the front group, to join his Decathlon teammate Armirail.

This climb is throwing up all kinds of surprises. Few of the elite climbers on paper you’d expect to have been the strongest in the mountain are at the front of the race.

Visma have regrouped and are leading the peloton again, with Yates, Kuss and Jorgenson all with Vingegaard.

The front group is getting bigger, with Storer and Rubio joining them.

An update on Evenepoel - he's now 40 seconds behind the peloton. He hasn't cracked completely, but is slowly losing time.

That Evenepoel gap is back to the yellow jersey group - he's actually over a minute behind the Pogacar/Vingegaard group. This is looking very bad for the Belgian.

Pogačar still has a couple of teammates with him in the group of favourites.

The 'peloton' is down to just 14 riders.

Kévin Vauquelin is not among the riders in the peloton. He must have been dropped.

The make up of the front group is: Pogačar, Adam Yates, another UAE rider, Vingegaard, Kuss, Simon Yates, Jorgenson, Roglic, Lipowitz, Onley, Johannessen, Gall, and two other riders.

Back at the front, Woods has put in a big attack.

He's got a gap. Skjelmose is the 2nd rider on the road, about five seconds behind.

Storer, Armirail and Rubio are in a group behind Skjelmose.

Woods is nearing the summit of the climb, where he should take all the KOM points.

Woods reaches the summit. That's the first long climbing effort of this Tour done.

Skjelmose reaches the summit 5 seconds later, then the group of Rubio Armirail and Storer about 15 seconds behind.

Visma lead the 14-man peloton over the summit, two minutes after Woods.

At last Healy reaches the top, 2:45 after the peloton.

Evenepoel passed Healy at some point on that climb, and is still within a minute of the peloton. Could yet he make it back into the peloton and save his Tour? If it's the heat he's suffering with rather than his legs, he might yet be able to recover.

As they descend, Woods has been joined by Skjelmose and Armirail at the front. They lead the peloton by about 2 minutes - will that be enough for them to have a chance of the stage win?

Armirail has attacked and now leads the race alone.

The lead breakaway cycles in the ascent of Col du Soulor during the 12th stage of the 112th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 180.6 km between Auch and Hautacam, in the Pyrenees mountains of southwestern France, on July 17, 2025. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The riders are climbing the penultimate climb of the day the category three Col des Bordères (3.3km ay 8.1%).

Evenepoel is inching his way back - he's now about 25 seconds behind the peloton.

At the front, Armirail has built a big lead of over 30 seconds over Skjelmose, Woods and Storer. He's flying today, on terrain you wouldn't expect him to.

Jorgenson has been dropped out of the peloton.

Vauquelin is back in the peloton, having been dropped earlier.

Simon Yates is pressing on for Visma despite Jorgenson being dropped.

Jorgenson hasn't given up, and has dragged himself back into the peloton, which only consists of about 15 riders.

Armirail leads the race over the climb.

Skjelmose is 2nd to the top followed by Storer, then Woods and Ruibo just behind. They're a whole minute behind Armirail though.

Simon Yates is finished. He’s been dropped, and already caught by Evenepoel, and sat himself on the Belgian’s wheel.

Evenepoel is fighting to save his GC hopes. He’s just 25 seconds behind the peloton, as they reach the top of the climb.

Adam Yates has taken over at the front of the peloton for his UAE, now his twin bother and rival Simon is finished.

Ben Healy has his EF teammate Sweeny with him, here handing him a bidon as he suffers in the heat and on the uphills.

Armirail leads the chasers by 1 minute still, while the peloton is 2:20 behind.

The peloton is now being led by Wellens, who has dropped back from the break.

Evenepoel is almost back in the peloton…

Evenepoel is back! Now it's just the small matter of the Hautacam for him to survive.

Armirail is on a real flyer today. He’s grown his lead to 1:30. He may pay for his efforts come the mighty finishing climb, however.

UAE also have Narváez in the peloton as well as Wellens and Adam Yates to support Pogačar. The virtual yellow jersey looks very well protected.

Armirail seems to be the only breakaway rider still in with a chance of winning this stage. He’s 2:15 ahead of the peloton, while the chase group behind is just 25 seconds ahead.

Just 10km to go until the riders begin the first hors category climb of the race.

There are now about 20 riders in the peloton, including all of the top ten (apart from Healy) now Evenepoel has rejoined.

Armirail has 2 minutes on the peloton, which is about to catch Skjelmose, Storer, Rubio and Woods.

That quartet has been caught, leaving Armirail as the only rider left in front of the peloton.

Armirail is taking a bidon from his car. This has been a fine ride, but 2 minutes doesn’t feel like it’ll be enough on a mountain as hard as the Hautacam.

Armitail has started climbing the Hautacam. He's in for a world of pain!

Wellens leads the peloton on the mountain, 1:30 later.

Riders are being dropped on the mountain straight away - including Simon Yates.

Kuss has also been dropped. Vingegaard is left with just Jorgenson.

Evenepoel has been dropped again. This mountain will be a case of him limiting his losses - how bad will the damage be?

Jhonatan Narváez has taken over from Wellens, and accelerates...

Pogačar and Vingegaard are the only riders able to stay with Narváez, and now the Slovenian attacks and drops them both!

Pogačar accelerated to drop Vingegaard, but the Dane is digging deep. There’ s still 11.5km left to climb.

Vingegaard can still see his rival, but he’s about 10 seconds behind.

Pogačar catches and passes Armirail. The difference in speed is remarkable.

Vingegaard is losing some ground. He's 13 seconds behind now.

Clearly Pogačar is suffering no after-effects from this crash yesterday.

Behind Vingegaard, Roglič, Lipowitz, Onley, Gall and Johannessen have formed a group, about 15 seconds behind.

Evenepoel is 20 seconds behind that group.

Vingegaard is losing more ground, now nearly 30 seconds behind. This could be a huge blow in the race for the yellow jersey.

Vauquelin has made it into the Roglič chase group. The Frenchman is battling hard and looking great yet again.

Over 40 seconds now for Pogačar.

The five-man Roglič chase group is 1:37 behind Pogačar, while Evenepoel is coming back to them, just a few seconds behind, with Gall on his wheel.

Jorgenson is one of the day’s big losers. He’s somewhere further down the mountain.

Everyone in this chase group is 25 or younger, with the exception of the 35-year-old Roglič.

Almost a minute now for Pogačar over Vingegaard, with just over 6km left to climb.

Vingegaard might be well off Pog’s level, but he’s also climbing much quicker than the rest. He’s almost a minute ahead of the 3rd group on the road.

Vauquelin has been dropped from the chase group, and Evenepoel is about to catch him.

Attack from Lipowitz in the chase group.

Onley, Johannessen and Roglič have managed to stay with Lipowitz.

Evenepoel has caught and passed Vauqulin. He's riding his own tempo and limiting his losses.

Lipowitz attacks again, and this time has gone clear with Onley.

Still Pogačar's lead over Vingegaard increases, now up to 1:10.

Vingegaard is visibily suffering now. His deficit has grown to 1:20.

Lipowitz has dropped Onley.

Onley has dragged himself back to Lipowitz's wheel. These two riders are third and fourth on the road, and really proving that they're the real deal after an impressive first half of the Tour.

Huge crowds greet Pogačar as he continues to motor up the mountain.

Pogačar's lead grows to 1:30, with 3km left to climb.

Vingegaard is beginning to go backwards now. Onley and Lipowitz are back to within 45 seconds of him.

Evenepoel makes contact with one of the many flags being flown on the roadside, and gestures to the fan in annoyance.

1:40 for Pogačar now, with 2km left to ride.

The roles have been well and truly reversed from the Hautacam three years ago, when Vingegaard dropped Pogačar to all but seal victory at the 2022 Tour.

Lipowitz has dropped Onley and is 20 seconds ahead of him.

Pogačar moves under the flamme rouge with a 1:55 lead ahead of Vingegaard.

Pogačar has looked super-human again, but it does at least look like he’s trying - he’s gurning as he nears the top of the mountain, and beginning to rock from side to side. He’s putting everything into this.

Pogačar's nearly at the finish, while Vingegaard is only just riding under the 1km go go banner.

He's done it again! Win number three of this year's Tour, 20 of his Tour career and 102 of his whole career. Pogačar is simply unstoppable.

All eyes now on Vingegaard, who looks to be really suffering.

Vingegaard reaches the top, mouth open gasping for air. He's lost 2:10 to the new yellow jersey.

Lipowitz is only just behind him, coming home at 2:22.

Johannessen outsprints Onley for fourth place, having caught up to the Scot earlier.

Now Vauqueling arrives at the line with Evenepoel to take 6th and 7th respectively.

Gall comes home 8th, while Roglič is further down in 9th. The Slovenian lost a lot of ground during the second half of the mountain.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates celebrates after winning stage 12 of the 2025 Tour de France cycling, from Auch to Hautacam (181 km), on Thursday 17 July 2025 in France. The 112th edition of the Tour de France starts on Saturday 5 July in Lille, France, and will finish in Paris, France on the 27th of July. BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM (Photo by DIRK WAEM / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

We might have seen this kind of performance from Pogačar a lot in recent years, but that was something else. His winning margin of 2:10 over Vingegaard is his biggest ever at a Grand Tour, improving upon the 2:07 he won the final mountain stage of last year’s Giro d’Italia.

Pogačar now leads Vingegaard by 3:31 on the GC.

Ben Healy has arrived home in the yellow jersey, a long way down from the GC riders. That was a really tough day for the Irishman, but hopefully he enjoyed his second - and final - day in yellow (as far as you can ‘enjoy’ riding in the Pyrenees).

Today might have been the usual story of 1)Pogačar and 2)Vingegaard, but behind them another generation came of age. They’re the eldest riders in the top 6 on GC, with all four riders immediately behind them (Evenepoel, Lipowitz, Vauquelin and Onley) still eligible for the young riders classification.

Vingegaard looked absolutely spent at the finish. He'll try to rally tomorrow for the mountain time trial, but where will he go from there? How can he go about defeating Pogačar, when the deficit is already so big, and the Slovenian is looking so invincible?

Thanks for joining us today, for what lived up to the hype as the most pivotal GC stage of the Tour so far. We now have a clear hierarchy in the top ten, as well as a leader with an iron grip on the yellow jersey.

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