12:30 PM
125km to go
Not too far away from the day’s intermediate sprint in Fontès. It will be interesting to see who challenges for the points and see if anybody uses the key point in this stage as a launchpad for any attacks. I’m guessing they will not, but who knows?
12:20 PM
130km to go
The breakaway’s advantage has dropped to below three minutes.
12:06 PM
140km to go
Another 10km clicked off, another couple of roundabouts navigated by the peloton safely. By the way, there are a staggering number of roundabouts – 97 to be precise – in today’s stage. The breakaway’s lead has dropped slightly to 3min 15sec as Deceuninck-Quick Step share the work on front of the peloton with Alpecin-Fenix.
11:55 AM
150km to go
All fairly calm out on the road right now. The leading trio of Sean Bennett, Omer Goldstein and Pierre Latour have an advantage of 3min 40sec on the peloton which is currently tapping away in a long strung out line. A few riders have slight bulges in the rear of their jerseys which will be where they have stuffed ice packs in order to cool down in the heat. Others are swigging away from their bidons filled with energy drinks or just plain old water.
11:41 AM
Beautiful blue skies down in the south
11:34 AM
168.4km to go | Latour cashes in
Sean Bennett, the 25-year-old who is making his Tour de France debut this year, attacked from the breakaway off in pursuit of the single point atop the côte du Pic Saint-Loup, but the American was closed down by Pierre Latour. The Frenchman who arrived as TotalÉnergies’ main general classification challenger, overhauled Bennett before adding to his tally of points while also trousering a cash bonus of €300.
11:20 AM
172km to go
Sean Bennett (Qhubeka-NextHash), Omer Goldstein (ISN) and Pierre Latour (TotalÉnergies) are onto the only categorised climb of the day, the côte du Pic Saint-Loup which is
5.6km long with an average gradient of 3.60%. There is just one point available on the summit in the mountains classification. The best placed breakaway rider in that competition is Latour who started the day in 22nd place with five points and so should he add a point to his tally today he will finish the day… in 22nd place with six points.
11:07 AM
180km to go
Once again, Deceuninck-Quick Step have fanned across the road in an attempt to block any further attacks. The Belgian squad, which has the maillot vert of Mark Cavendish riding on the frontline, is getting some help from Alpecin-Fenix and UAE Team Emirates. Alpecin-Fenix, of course, have sprinter Jasper Philipsen within their ranks and will be hoping their Belgian can challenge for the line honours later on this afternoon, while UAE Team Emirates, the team of overall leader Tadej Pogacar, will be more than happy for a calm couple of hours ahead of a couple of days in the hills / mountains before Monday’s rest day.
11:00 AM
185km to go
Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) has clipped off in pursuit of that three-man break, but he may have left it too late. Sean Bennett, Omer Goldstein and Pierre Latour are riding at full pelt and have 2min 15sec on the peloton. A number of riders from DSM, Trek-Segafredo have attacked off the front of the bunch but Deceuninck-Quick Step straight away put a man onto them.
10:51 AM
192km to go
Sean Bennett (Qhubeka-NextHash), Omer Goldstein (ISN) and Pierre Latour (TotalÉnergies) have attacked and Deceuninck-Quick Step appear to have blocked the front of the bunch at the very point where the road narrowed. That could be the breakaway of the day. Deceuninck-Quick Step played that perfectly, an absolute tactical masterclass in race management and using their numbers.
10:49 AM
195km to go
Oliver Naesen (Ag2r-Citroën) has been forced to stop and take a new wheel, the former Belgian national champion having picked up a rear puncture. That trio has been reined back in, and now plenty of others are loitering near the front waiting for the day’s move to go. Deceuninck-Quick Step, however, are monitoring everything very closely. Interesting to not that Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) has been sniffing around, but he will not be given an inch by Mark Cavendish’s team – the Belgian is a favourite for this stage.
10:41 AM
200km to go
Max Walscheid (Qhubeka-NextHash) is the next to attack and the German is joined by Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), the 2019 world champion, and Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux). Apparently the riders are currently going into a block headwind. Deceuninck-Quick Step and Mark Cavendish, one assumes, would be delighted if this group were to hang out the front all day. But one suspects others may want to bridge over, or the breakaway’s composition may completely change in a short while.
10:34 AM
205km to go
Next to clip off the front is Nils Eekhoff (DSM), but the Dutch neo-pro is marked out by Marco Haller (Bahrain Victorious).
10:31 AM
Deceuninck-Quick Step on the front
Interesting to note that from the start Deceuninck-Quick Step riders Kasper Asgreen and Tim Declercq have ridden on the front. One assumes they are not looking to get into a breakaway, but instead setting such a pace that it is difficult for one to form just yet – ideally a break will go, but the team of Mark Cavendish will want to monitor who goes in it and manage the size of it.
10:29 AM
210km to go
A flurry of riders have put in a few little efforts on the front, and there are some clear signs of crosswinds – small groups have been riding in echelons leading to a few splits – but as yet nothing has stuck.
10:19 AM
And they’re off!
Having navigated their way safely through the neutralised section of road out from the centre of Nîmes, race director Christian Prudhomme has popped 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. As is mandatory, all of the classification leaders started the short ride tucked in behind Prudhomme, while a handful of others shunted themselves towards the front. Some may be thinking of getting into a breakaway, while others will simply be wanting to stay out of harm’s way either thinking about themselves or their team’s protected rider. Today, as you will know, is a very long stage and with 1,960 metres in vertical elevation is far from being panflat. Running as it does parallel to the coastline, there is a threat of crosswinds which may be key to how the day plays out.
Incidentally, Michael Gogl was a non-starter today making the Austrian the third Qhubeka-NextHash rider to leave this year’s Tour de France after Nicholas Dlamini was eliminated after stage nine and Victor Campenaerts abandoned on the slopes of Mont Ventoux.
09:45 AM
Bonjour!
Hello and welcome to our live rolling blog from stage 12 at the Tour de France, the 219.9-kilometre run from Nîmes to Carcassonne.
As transitional stages go Thursday’s was a relatively satisfactory one, especially for Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) who clipped off the front of a small three-man group before going solo all the way to the line in Nîmes. Whether or not today’s stage is won by a breakaway rider or comes down to a bunch sprint remains to be seen.
With the threat of crosswinds teams hoping to contest the stage win and those challenging in the general classification will be minded to have their diesel engines as near the the front of the bunch as is humanly possible. Likewise, protected riders will need to be shielded from any dangers if they are to finish their jobs off.
Here’s a quick reminder of who will be wearing what as respective leader in each of the four main classifications – in other words those that have jerseys. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) will be dressed in the maillot jaune, the leader’s yellow jersey, for the fifth consecutive day with a healthy margin of over five minutes.
Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step), who many are tipping to win today’s stage, is still in the maillot vert, the green jersey, as leader in the points classification.
Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) will again be dressed in the maillot à pois, or polka dot jersey, as leader in the mountains classification. With just one category four featuring today all he needs to do is complete the stage within the time cut to retain it.
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 Politt’s finest hour with his solo ride into Nîmes on Thursday, you can 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?