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Politt lands biggest win of his career after solo attack
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Cavendish beats Matthews to extend lead in points
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Pogacar finishes safely in the bunch to keep yellow
Mark Cavendish was made to wait for his chance to match Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 Tour de France stage wins as the breakaway had their day on Thursday.
Nils Politt took the honours after a frantic start allowed a powerful 13-man group to get away and put paid to an anticipated bunch finish at the end of the 159 kilometres stage into Nimes.
The break began to splinter inside the last 50km, with Politt riding clear of Harry Sweeny and Imanol Erviti with 12km to go, soloing to the finish in a stage where the average speed was 47.3kmh.
Cavendish, who moved on to 33 stage wins with his third of this year’s race in Valence on Tuesday, led home the main peloton some 16 minutes later, padding his lead in the green jersey by picking up the final three points, while Tadej Pogacar retained yellow.
The Slovenian continues to lead overall by five minutes and 18 seconds from Rigoberto Uran, with Jonas Vingegaard third a further 14 seconds back.
With the Mistral wind gusting, organisers delayed the start in anticipation of the high pace, and the attacks flew at the start.
But once the group containing the likes of Politt, Julian Alaphilippe, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Brent Van Moer and Stefan Beissegger had started to build an advantage, the peloton sat up and let them go.
Politt’s victory will have cheered his Bora-Hansgrohe team after their three-time former world champion Peter Sagan was forced to withdraw from the race before the stage start with a knee injury.
“It’s a dream to win a stage of the Tour de France,” Politt said. “Today we heard Peter had to leave the race with knee problems so that changed our tactics. At the start with the crosswinds it was a big group that got away.
“I felt good in the last few days, I was trying to do my best today but to come away with a victory is unbelievable.”
Cavendish, a stage winner in Nimes before, might have known it was not to be his day in the morning when race organisers failed to deliver the green skinsuit he favours, forcing him to ride in a less aerodynamic jersey.
In terms of when his next chance might come, Friday’s stage to Carcassonne is another flat one on paper, though the citadel has never in Tour history witnessed a bunch finish and with more crosswinds predicted it could be another one for the breakaway.
That would leave Cavendish needing to survive the Pyrenees before the next sprint opportunity comes on stage 19 to Libourne. PA
03:28 PM
Pogacar retains leader’s yellow jersey
After rolling over the finishing line safely in Nîmes just under 16 minutes down on stage winner Nils Politt, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) kept hold of his maillot jaune. Despite all the pre-stage talk of crosswinds and general classification pile-ons, there were no changes of any note in the overall standings.
Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) won the sprint from the peloton, finishing ahead of Michael Matthews to take 14th spot – and three more points towards the green jersey – a result that saw him gain on the BikeExchange rider who he now leads by 59 points.
With just one categorised featuring today, the category three côte du Belvédère de Tharaux where Politt and Stefan Küng opened their accounts in the mountains classification, there were no changes in that competition that is led by Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic).
Pogacar kept hold of his white jersey as best young rider, obviously.
03:12 PM
Politt wins stage 12 at the Tour!
What a superbly executed move that was from Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) who has just claimed a thoroughly deserved stage win at the Tour de France, the biggest win of his career. After attacking around 11.5km from the line the German barely looked back.
Imanol Erviti (Movistar) beat Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Soudal) in a two-up sprint to take second 31sec after Politt, while Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), who was dropped following an attack from the Australian on the final rise of the stage, finished fourth at 1min 58sec.
03:11 PM
Politt on course for stage win
The German who has just one win, a stage at the 2018 edition of the Deutschland Tour, on his palmarès, goes beneath the flamme rouge and he is already smiling and celebrating for the TV cameras.
03:09 PM
2.5km to go
Nils Politt will, barring disaster, be winning this stage very soon.
03:07 PM
6km to go
Nils Politt, the 27-year-old from Cologne, is absolutely flying. His legs spinning as fast as they can, locked in the biggest gear available to him. Buoyed by a tailwind the Bora-Hansgrohe rider is cooking on gas and he’s leading Imanol Erviti and Harry Sweeny by 23sec.
03:04 PM
8km to go
Nils Politt gains 16sec on Imanol Erviti or Harry Sweeny.
03:00 PM
11.5km to go
Nils Politt has attacked and neither Imanol Erviti or Harry Sweeny were able to follow. Politt, the runner-up to Philippe Gilbert at the 2019 edition of Paris-Roubaix, is gasping for air taking as much as he possibly can. It is going to be a breathless finale for the German and his Bora-Hansgrohe team who lost leader Peter Sagan this morning.
02:59 PM
12.5km to go
Movistar move to the front of the peloton. Back up the road, Imanol Erviti, Nils Politt and Harry Sweeny ease off the pace a little, confident that Stefan Küng’s race is over for the day. Further back there appears to be a huge battle between the Julian Alaphilippe group, but they are over a minute down on the stage leaders.
02:56 PM
15km to go
The leading quartet of Imanol Erviti, Stefan Küng, Nils Politt and Harry Sweeny inch their way up the final uncategorised climb of the day before the Australian puts in a dig. Küng, as a result, is dropped. Audacious stuff from the young man who turns 23 tomorrow.
02:52 PM
17.5km to go
Imanol Erviti, Stefan Küng, Nils Politt and Harry Sweeny’s advantage has grown to almost a minute. Surely one of these will win today.
02:44 PM
25km to go
Julian Alaphilippe et al trail the leading quartet by 30sec! None of the leading riders – Imanol Erviti, Stefan Küng, Nils Politt and Harry Sweeny – have ever won a stage at the Tour and just one, Erviti, has any grand tour stage wins on his palmarès having twice raised his arms in celebration at the Vuelta a España (in 2008 and 2010).
02:42 PM
26.5km to go
Edvald Boasson Hagen drops back to his TotalÉnergies team car for a chat and, perhaps, to collect some food or an energy gel. The leading quartet continue working well together as they speed along a beautiful old tree-lined road. Back in the peloton, Ineos Grenadiers shuffle their way a little further up the pack, but Tadej Pogacar holds prime position. Not sure whether Ineos Grenadiers are expecting crosswinds, but thus far I have not seen too many exposed sections of road where any attacks would potentially cause any damage.
02:33 PM
35km
Harry Sweeny, Imanol Erviti, Stefan Küng and Nils Politt are barrelling along, riding through-and-off with a slight tail-crosswind. They lead the maillot jaune by over 14 minutes, but of more importance with regard to the stage win there’s a gap of around 30sec between themselves and the rainbow jersey’s group. I fear, however, that Julian Alaphilippe et al may have missed the decisive move here. Stefan Küng, as mentioned earlier, is an absolute diesel and cannot afford for the other fastmen to bridge over if he wants to win a first stage for Groupama-FDJ at this year’s Tour de France.
02:30 PM
37km to go
The world champion and the rest have already lost 20sec to the leading quartet, but can they be reeled back in? Looking unlikely.
02:29 PM
40km to go
Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Soudal), the Aussie neo-pro, attacks while an energy gel was hanging out of his mouth. Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) got onto his wheel, but Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) missed the move.
02:25 PM
42.5km to go
World champion Julian Alaphilippe is looking twitchy in this leading group, the Frenchman darting around in his usual theatrical manner. He appears to be talking to the others, no doubt making sure everybody does his turn.
02:21 PM
45km to go
The attacks have started! Nils Politt clips off first, the German followed by former British national champion Connor Swift. The pair are chased down by Luka Mezgec. Stefan Bissegger is the next to follow, but as it stands all of the moves have cancelled each other out. Interesting.
02:18 PM
50km to go
I’m not a betting man, but I would put my house on this stage being won today by a rider from the breakaway. Given the mixed bag of very strong riders off up the road, riders will have to play a canny game today. The likes of Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), both strong time trialists, will not want to go all the way to the line alongside the likes of André Greipel (ISN) or Luka Mezgec (BikeExchange), while everybody will be concerned with world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step).
The final 16km of the stage includes a short climb where some may suffer, before a rolling finale to the finishing line in Nîmes.
01:56 PM
65km to go | Sagan speaks
After pulling out of the Tour de France ahead of today’s stage, Peter Sagan, speaking to Eurosport and GCN, said he was focused on getting fit enough to compete at the Olympic Games: “I have a knee problem and two days ago I hit my knee against the bar in the sprint. Yesterday after a hard stage it was swollen and I cannot move my leg.
“For sure I’m sad, I’m disappointed because in the end I survive the day and it looks like it’s getting better but after I hit it again everything is now over,” the three-time world champion added. “I’m sad also for my team because today is very important for the GC [general classification] and Wilco [Kelderman] and it’s also not nice for me to leave the Tour de France. The next few days we will see if the knee is better. Then for sure, I want to be focused and to prepare my best for the Olympics. The doctor can explain better.”
The breakaway’s advantage is still growing, almost nudging 12min.
01:45 PM
74.5km to go
The breakaway has gone over the only categorised climb of the day, the category three côte du Belvédère de Tharaux, and Nils Politt was the first over the top to earn himself two points in the mountains classification, while Stefan Küng took the other up for grabs.
They were the first points won by both riders in the competition after almost two weeks of racing.
01:37 PM
78km to go
Stefan Küng, the Swiss time trial specialist and strong rouleur, may already be thinking of today’s stage win, but can he lift the gloom surrounding his Groupama-FDJ team? The French squad’s leader Arnaud Démare was eliminated after missing the time cut on stage nine, while their talented young climber David Gaudu suffered horribly during yesterday’s stage. Küng led the stage five time trial for some time, before Tadej Pogacar blew the 27-year-old away, beating his time by a whopping 19sec.
The breakaway’s advantage has now grown to over 11 minutes.
01:27 PM
85km to go
Back in the peloton and UAE Team Emirates are riding on the front to look after the maillot jaune on the shoulders of Tadej Pogacar, ahead of Ineos Grenadiers who, incidentally, reunited with Geraint Thomas sometime back. EF Education-Nippo, riding on behalf of Rigoberto Urán, are the third team on the road.
The breakaway’s advantage has grown out to 10min 30sec.
01:23 PM
90km to go
Of the 13 up the road, Mark Cavendish’s old sparring partner André Greipel (ISN) has won more Tour de France stages than any other rider in the breakaway, but can the 38-year-old German also roll the years back here today? Live Cavendish until last week, Greipel has not raised his arms in celebration at the Tour since 2016. His breakaway rivals, however, will be in no mood to hand out any gifts here today. Their lead has grown out to over 10 minutes now.
01:17 PM
95km to go
The breakaway’s lead grows further still, out to 9min 45sec.
01:07 PM
100km to go
With each pedal stroke taken by those in the breakaway the possibility of Mark Cavendish winning a 34th Tour de France stage today looks increasingly unlikely. As mentioned Cavendish has dark shorts on today, but why, you may ask, does this matter?
For each of the stage wins he has taken at this year’s race, Cavendish has worn a skinsuit and since taking the maillot jaune he opted to wear a full green skinsuit for his subsequent two victories. Having opted for a normal jersey and shorts combination, it would suggest he is not expecting to challenge for the sprint finish. Perhaps I am reading too much into his wardrobe choices? Only time will tell.
12:54 PM
110km to go
Absolutely stunning part of the world the riders are heading through today as it passes through the magical Gorges de l’Ardèche, look at it:
The breakaway’s advantage has increased to a shade under nine minutes as it inches up yet another uncategorised climb.
12:47 PM
115km to go
The breakaway has pulled out a further 30sec on the peloton, while a few minutes ago Mark Cavendish stopped at the roadside for a conflab with a team mechanic. It appeared that he wanted to twiddle with the cleats on one of his shoes. For those that care about these things, Cavendish today is dressed in traditional black shorts as opposed to the green skinsuit he wore during Tuesday’s stage win.
12:40 PM
120km to go
The breakaway has increased its lead on the peloton, where Mark Cavendish is currently nestled, to over seven minutes. Good news for those in the 13-man group up the road, but less good news for Cavendish who may have to wait another day to challenge for a 34th stage win. That is some gap and with the sort of horsepower the breakaway has it would take a huge and concerted effort from Deceuninck-Quick Step to close it down.
12:32 PM
Thumbs up from Cavendish
Mark Cavendish appeared happy enough with life at the start of the stage, but will he be smiling at the finish in Nîmes where he won a stage back in 2008 after finishing ahead of Robbie McEwen. Erik Zabel was also racing that day which feels like a very long time ago.
12:26 PM
130km to go
Rafal Majka is sat near the front of the peloton with race leader and UAE Team Emirates team-mate Tadej Pogacar sat tucked in behind looking very relaxed. The breakaway leads by almost five minutes now, but the maillot jaune does not appear too concerned, and why should he because the highest placed rider in general classification up the road is Sergio Henao who trails by 50min 57sec. Richie Porte is sat beside the army of UAE Team Emirates rider who are protecting their leader and he, too, is looking relaxed, chatting away to Davide Formolo near the front.
12:10 PM
140km to go
All change on the front of the race with a 13-man group now leading the way. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo), Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalÉnergies), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), André Greipel (ISN), Sergio Henao (Qhubeka-NextHash), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Luka Mezgec (BikeExchange), Brent Van Moer (Lotto-Soudal), Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Soudal), Connor Swift (Arkéa-Samsic) and Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) have formed an early breakaway. As it stands they lead the maillot jaune by 21sec, while two other groups trail by 33sec and 58sec respectively – Geraint Thomas is in the fourth group on the road.
12:01 PM
148km to go
Buoyed by a tailwind, Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) clips off the front before the pint-sized grimpeur is joined by Benoît Cosnefroy (Ag2r-Citroën) and a handful of others. The direction of the road changes soon and so that tailwind may change to a crosswind so that leading group is probably the ideal size – too small and there are not enough riders able to take the wind, too many and one or two may be lost after being put into the gutter.
11:59 AM
150km to go | Thomas in third group
I was not 100 per cent right about Ineos Grenadiers. Geraint Thomas missed the split and is in the third group on the road. That’s not great from the Welshman who is ordinarily decent in these conditions.
11:54 AM
Rapid start to the day | Echelons have formed
Straight from the off the race crosses bridge, exposing the riders to an early taste of the wind that is blowing. Some aggressive riding on the front from Bora-Hansgrohe and Deceuninck-Quick Step puts the whole peloton on alert, while stretching it all out in a long line. Already some are struggling and have been spat out the back of the bunch as small echelons start to form. Ineos Grenadiers and Tadej Pogacar are in the leading group so, as it stands, the general classification riders all appear to be riding together.
11:50 AM
And they’re off!
Having tapped their way through the neutralised section that took the peloton out from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, race director Christian Prudhomme poked his head out of the shiny red Skoda that sits at the head of each stage and dropped the flag to signify that this stage is very much on. All of the classification leaders were sat on Prudhomme’s bumper, as was Tao Geoghegan Hart and Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Michal Kwiatkowski and a posse of potential escapees. But will anybody have the nerve, and legs, to attempt to form a breakaway the day after that monster Ventoux stage? This should a be a fascinating day of racing. Hold on to your casquettes.
11:07 AM
Sagan abandons the Tour
News has just come through from Bora-Hansgrohe confirming that Peter Sagan has been forced to abandon the Tour for the first time in his career. In a message sent out by his team, Bora-Hansgrohe doctor Christopher Edler explained Sagan had been suffering with a knee injury since taking a knock during stage three – when the three-time world champion was involved in a crash with Caleb Ewan.
“Peter suffered already an injury during stage three when he hit his hip and his knee.” The doctor goes on to explain how a chainring took some skin off his patella and although concerned over it getting infected, Sagan pushed on before taking another knock on the same knee during Tuesday’s stage 10.
10:38 AM
Stage start delayed | High winds expected
The start of today’s stage has been delayed by 10 minutes due to a strong tailwind. Race organisers will not want the stage finishing earlier than planned for various reasons, many of which will have commercial ramifications, hence the delayed start. From a sporting perspective, though, the very mention of wind has led to talk of echelons forming in today’s stage. In reality tomorrow is better suited to echelons given the nature of the route and its closeness to the coastline, however teams and riders will be on high alert today.
If there is one team in the peloton that can ride well and ride hard in the wind, that team is Deceuninck-Quick Step. The Belgian squad may use the conditions to their advantage by riding hard on the front in an effort to shell the likes of Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic) and any other sprinters whose teams may show any signs of weakness should any crosswinds be strong enough to cause splits. Likewise, the general classification teams may use crosswinds to their advantage as they atteplt to pile the pressure onto Tadej Pogacar. The loss of Luke Rowe who missed the time cut yesterday may prove to be costly for Ineos Grenadiers who historically have coped well in these conditions. Anyway, enough idle speculation, I’ll be back at 12.50pm (GMT) to talk you through the stage, from beginning to end.
10:10 AM
Bonjour!
Hello and welcome to our live rolling blog from stage 12 at the Tour, the 159.4-kilometre run from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes.
A day after race leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) ‘cracked’ yet extended his lead in the general classification by three minutes and 17 seconds, and a rider who has won sprint stages and threatened to win time trial stages triumphed after twice going over Mont Ventoux ahead of the natural grimpeurs – Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) – who knows what today’s racing will throw up? Will it be another victory for Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) who can equal Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 stage wins at the Tour, or is the breakaway going to go all the way? Will the wind blow and can teams combine and form alliances on the road and try and put the pressure on Pogacar and his team-mates should crosswinds liven the day up?
We do not know the answers to these questions, but we do know who will be wearing what as respective leader in each of the four main classifications – in other words those that have jerseys.
No change at the top of the points classification and so Cavendish will, once again, be dressed in the maillot vert, or the green jersey.
Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) failed to earn a single point in the mountains classification yesterday, but the Colombian will again be dressed in the maillot à pois, or polka dot jersey, as leader in that competition. With just one category three climb in today’s stage and a category four on Friday, if Quintana completes both stages within the time cut he is assured to keep hold of the jersey until Saturday.
As overall leader of the race, Pogacar also tops the best young rider classification, although Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) will wear the Slovenian’s maillot blanc, the white jersey, as second best.
And for anybody that missed Van Aert’s masterful display on and over Mont Ventoux on Wednesday, relive the highlights here . . .
So, what’s on today’s menu?
Here’s a look at the all-important numbers from that one climb . . .
But what about those who only have eyes for the green jersey?