Well I am happy for Joaquim Rodriguez, one of the peloton’s nice guys who had enough of doing others’ donkey work and went for the win, claiming his second victory of this year’s Tour. Comparing himself to Atlético Madrid was an unexpected bonus, too. Under thunder, rain and hail Froome kept his GC advantage intact and his control of the yellow jersey goes on.
Stick around on the site for the race report and more reaction, and come along tomorrow for stage 13 from Muret to Rodez. Thanks for all your emails and tweets. Bye!
Updated
Joaquim Rodriguez on winning stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France at Plateau du Beille: “To win a stage of the Tour is so important to me. It’s a long time since I won my first stage in 2010, so a little like Atlético Madrid you don’t know what to expect from me. I was definitely feeling on that last climb that I was in better condition that [the other breakaway riders], and I know this climb well, so that is why I attacked.”
So no great change at the top of the overall standings. Nibali was caught by the yellow jersey group at the close but does jump back into the top ten +7.47 behind Froome. Van Garderen remains closest to the Team Sky rider at +2.52, with Quintana +3.09 in third and Valverde +3.58 in fourth.
Stage 12 top 5
1. Joaquim Rodriguez
2. Jakob Fuglsang, +1.12
3. Romain Bardet, +1.49
4. Gorka Izagirre, +4.34
5. Louis Meintjes, +4.38
Alejandro Valverde kicks for the line and Froome gives chase, with Quintana close behind. Just as yesterday, Valverde has probably made a second or two on the line but Team Sky will be pleased with their day’s work.
Updated
Here come Team Sky, leading the yellow jersey group towards the line. None of the top ten are going to gain much time on Froome, while others like Tony Gallopin and Warren Barguil have been left behind.
Thomas leads Froome and the 8 other big-name contenders under the 1km to go banner. Looks like a truce at the end.. #AllezTeamSky #TDF2015
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) July 16, 2015
Updated
Back in the yellow jersey group Geraint Thomas is on the front, Froome’s safety blanket bringing him home with aplomb once again. Behind Froome is a list of his main GC contenders: Quintana, Contador and Van Garderen. Team Sky will be happy with this result, with Nibali ahead. “Surely the biggest humiliation of Nibali’s tour so far,” emails Simon Joyce. “Attacking and Team Sky letting him go.”
Updated
Astana’s Fuglsang crosses as the stage 12 runner-up, the Dane a minute behind Rodriguez. Bardet finishes third.
Updated
Joaquim Rodriguez wins stage 12!
The Spaniard crosses the line all on his own, soaked through and exhausted. He sits up and blows kisses, and lets out a roar as he rides over the line for his second stage victory of the Tour.
Updated
1km to go
Rodriguez passes under the flamme rouge and is surely going to win stage 12 with this impressive solo attack.
Froome has been reeled in. Next Valverde pulls one way and his team-mate Quintana comes around the other side to attack Froome. The Briton manages to hold on and out of nowhere his backup arrives in the shape of the ever-impressive Geraint Thomas.
Tongue out, eyes squinting in the rain, this is a memorable effort from Rodriguez. The Katusha rider pumps hard up the mountain and can almost see the finish, fans clad in waterproofs cheering around him. Back down the road Froome attacks! He drives up the road, Quintana chases, as does Van Garderen, and they manage to hold on.
But Quintana’s attack is short-lived. Thomas and Porte react instantly and keep on his wheel until the Colombian gives in and slots back into the pack. Nibali has ridden clear of the group but considering what’s gone before Froome can be pretty happy – the main GC contenders are still around him. At the front Joaquim Rodriguez stays ahead of Fuglsang and looks like he is going to take this stage 12 win with 2.5km to go.
Updated
In the yellow jersey group Contador’s attack is over and he slips back into the pack behind Froome. Nibali is still working a gap to the group and Valverde has managed to get away, too... and now Quintana goes too!
5km to go
Up at the front, 7min ahead of the yellow jersey group, Rodriguez continues to lead the way around 40sec from Fulgsang.
Nibali puffs out his cheeks and glances back down the road: he’s created a little gap to the rest but is still behind Contador. The next to go is Valverde and this time Team Sky react as Richie Porte clings on and drags Thomas and Froome along with the Spaniard.
Contador hasn’t made much of an impression getting no more than 10sec clear, but here’s something: a streak of light blue shoots out from the group to join Contador and it’s Vincenzo Nibali, reminding us that he still has something to offer in this Tour.
Back in the yellow jersey group, Contador attacks. He has won a Tour de France stage on this climb before so will have a good measure of when is the moment to go. Froome, Quintana and the rest keep an eye on him but haven’t immediately responded.
Updated
A soaking wet Rodriguez powers past the Pole and leaves the world champion to fend for himself. Lightning flashes above as the Spanish Katusha rider goes for the stage win. This is just Rodriguez’s type of finish but he is still 7km from home.
And just like that the Spaniard say enough is enough and ditches Bardet and Fuglsang! Rodriguez is going for broke 8.7km clear as he tries to reel in the stage 12 leader, Michal Kwiatkowski, who is only about 20sec up the road.
Updated
Fuglsang, Rodriguez and Bardet are arguing amongst each other. I can’t hear them but I imagine Rodriguez is saying to the French AG2R rider “do some bleedin’ work!” as Bardet continues to sit on his wheel.
Updated
The GC contenders continue to ride on Team Sky’s wheel, 9min down from the leaders. Froome remains in good control with regards to his main rivals for the yellow jersey, no team making a serious move yet in that group. Kwiatkowski is still out on his own up front 9km out from the finish, the Etixx rider clear by around 30sec from Fulgsang, Rodriguez and Bardet.
10km to go
Voeckler, Kruijswijk, and Gallopin fall off the back of the peloton too as Team Sky ratchet up the level again. At the front Fulgsang, Rodriguez and Bardet have broken away to chase down Kwiatkowski who is less than a minute clear: the stage 12 winner may well come from this quartet.
“I’m very much looking forward to the new series of ‘Movistars in their eyes’,” emails Matt Kurton. “‘Cannondale Garmin-spector Morse; and ‘It’ll be AG2R La Mondiale-right on the night’. And yes, I definitely have got other things I should be doing.”
The peloton’s pace has increased dramatically in comparison to the front of the stage, chopping a couple of minutes off the gap to the leaders, not that it matters to greatly with all the GC contenders together in the main pack, though some are being shed off the back including Ryder Hesjedal.
Re our line of progressively worse TV shows, Andrew Hewitt emails: “How about ‘Tinkoff, Saxo, Soldier, Spy’?” Or, suggests Arthur Mitchell: “It would be nice if there were a rider named Run on BMC.” Oh, there’s more:
@lawrenceOstlere "Climb Any MTN"? #i'llgetmycoat
— Padraig Corkery (@pcorkery1) July 16, 2015
@LawrenceOstlere Movistars In Their Eyes?
— Simon Webster (@TiredHippo) July 16, 2015
12km to go and Kwiatkowski has a 1min 30sec lead over the chasing group of Fulgsang, Rodriguez, Bardet, Izagirre, cherel, Sicard, Barta, and Meintjes, whom Vanmarcke is slowly drifting back to.
And Kwiatkowski attacks! Up out of his saddle he rides away from Vanmarcke who has no answer.
“That bike ride Geoff Thomas is doing,” emails Paul Griffin. “Why didn’t he pick a Tour winner to ride with?”
The peloton meanwhile is more than 11min back. The dark blue of Sky continue to front the pack with Porte, Thomas and Roche followed closely by a flash of yellow.
“Re Helen and Tous Contre Froome,” emails Neil Bianchi, “it may not be a question of enmity, but the implication ‘all against Froome’ is that he is fighting against his many sceptics as well as his fellow competitors, The sheer number of articles about Froome and potential cheating that you can see on l’Equipe’s front page would back that up.”
Kwiatkowski takes off his sunglasses as he pumps up the long ascent with Vanmarcke on his wheel. Can the eight riders behind them challenge for the stage victory? They’ve 14km to reel in the leading duo’s 1min 35sec advantage.
Team Sky are getting excited for the finish:
The lead duo start the final climb 11:33 ahead of the peloton.We're going to see one battle for the stage win and another for the GC today!
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) July 16, 2015
Is everybody looking forward to fireworks on the Plateau de Beille? Will Froomey attack?? #VaVaFroome #TDF2015
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) July 16, 2015
The leading duo, Kwiatkowski and Vanmarcke, hit the foot of the final, hors catégorie climb to Plateau de Beille. The road is lined with cheering fans, big bright yellow umbrellas at every twist and turn.
“I concur with that Helen Jones,” concurs Peter Richards. “When Froome did his great feat on the first day in the mountains it was declared ‘laying down a marker’, ‘making a statement of intent’ and so on. OK the intent was there from day 1, but it was a pretty good bit of disambiguation. In any case such ‘statements’ effectively say ‘I am the man to beat’ and everyone else being against you seems logical enough. Thus L’Equipe’s wossname...”
Re our Tour team TV show inventions:
And "Dancing with Astana"? @LawrenceOstlere
— Henry Bloomfield (@DrHenryB) July 16, 2015
Team Sky continue to control the peloton as they ride through Niaux and approach the valley floor before the 16km climb to the finish – 20km to go.
Jon Casemore emails to pose a theoretical question that if a breakaway rider was, say, 12min back in the overall standings rather than 20min like Fulgsang, Bardet and Rodriguez are, would Froome and Team Sky be taking a stand rather than letting such a huge gap develop from the peloton? They would be far more concerned, certainly, though would probably still be content to leave any serious reaction until Plateau de Beille and not before. Even then, I don’t think they would feel overly threatened by those names up at the front, so long as Contador, Quintana and Van Garderen were in the peloton.
Updated
Here is confirmation of the news earlier that Alex Dowsett has abandoned the Tour:
Hailstones continue to hammer down on the finish at Plateau de Beille as thunder claps overhead. The chasing seven, around 1min 10sec down on leaders Kwiatkowski and Vanmarcke, is made up of Fulgsang, Rodriguez, Bardet, Izagirre, cherel, Sicard, Barta, and Meintjes – who has shown great resolve to rejoin the group after his little crash earlier. Back in the peloton Nibali cruises towards the back with a couple of Astana team-mates. Team Sky continue to work up near the front, around 11min back.
Great job by @michalkwiatek & Vanmarcke! They held off seven chasers and have a 1’04” advantage. 10’27” to the peloton. 31.5km to go.
— Etixx - Quick-Step (@Etixx_QuickStep) July 16, 2015
Fully backing The Only Way is Etixx QuickStep @LawrenceOstlere #LeTour2015
— Alice Rigby (@allierigby) July 16, 2015
Updated
The leaders have 30km remaining of this stage 12. A reminder if you’ve just joined that none of the GC contenders are up at the front. They are part of the main yellow jersey group around 10min back so Froome won’t be perturbed by the breakaway. Kwiatkowski and Vanmarcke continue to set the pace no more than 1min clear of the chasing seven, which includes Joaquim Rodriguez.
“I speak fluent French,” emails Helen Jones, “and as far as I’m concerned there’s nothing about the L’équipe headline which is inciting ‘froome hatred’ or inciting the other riders to gang up against him. I think the context is more ‘Froome is clearly the best in the tour so far and so everybody needs to make even more of an effort to try and claw back time in the final Pyrenees stage”. There’s no ‘imperative’ about it in my opinion! He’s in for a hard enough time of it as it is with all the doping questions, so let’s not make enmity where there is none.”
Meintjes crashes, before quickly getting back on his bike. The 23-year-old South African is on his way again but that is the danger that the wet roads pose.
The leaders are 40km from the finish, 9min 37sec clear of the yellow jersey group, and this is what currently awaits them:
⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️☔️#TDF2015 https://t.co/waUJ89YWh1
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 16, 2015
Result at Port de Lers (144km)
Confirmation that Kwiatkowski was first to the top and claimed maximum King of the Mountains points:
1. Michal Kwiatkowski, 10 points
2. Sep Vanmarcke, 8
3. Mikaël Chérel, 6
4. Louis Meintjes, 4
5. Romain Bardet, 2
6. Jakob Fuglsang, 1
It is plummeting down at the finish, not with rain, but with evil clumps of massive ice-rock (OK, hailstones). Not what you need at the end of a 195km stage which finishes with a brutal 16km climb.
#TdF2015 we have just gone over the Port de Lers. Kwiatkowski and Vanmarcke still with a small lead... they now attacking in the descent.
— Team MTN-Qhubeka (@TeamMTNQhubeka) July 16, 2015
Updated
World champion Kwiatkowski leads Vanmarcke down from the top of Port de Lers, only around 15sec clear of the chasing seven.
Paul Twohig emails: “Just a little disappointed that there are no riders called Will riding for IAM cycling.” Shame. I want funding for a Cav documentary called The Only Way Is Etixx QuickStep.
Bardet, Fuglsang and Meintjes have been joined by Joaquim Rodriguez and others as they chase Kwiatkowski and Vanmarcke, 19sec ahead. Rodriguez has bobbed along quietly today, in the sense that he hasn’t done much work pulling from the front and has sat at the back of the breakaway group biding his time. The Spaniard could probably be considered the favourite from this point, given the 10min advantage the leaders have to the yellow jersey group, and his strength on mountain finishes.
#TDF2015 Bardet, Fuglsang, Meintjes, Sicard, Cherel, G. Izagirre and Rodríguez are chasing the 2 leaders, the gap is about 20".
— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) July 16, 2015
Updated
MTN’s Louis Meintjes grabs on to Romain Bardet’s coattails and Astana’s Fuglsang does likewise as they drive uphill towards the leaders. The yellow jersey group is reducing its gap to the front, too, now down to 11min 10sec from around 13min a few km ago.
This category one climb is taking its toll as the breakaway group continues to fragment. Romain Bardet is the latest to attack as he looks to close the gap to the two up front, Kwiatkowski and Vanmarcke.
There are reports that rain is teeming at the finish line 58km away. Jan Barta injects some pace at the front of the big breakaway group as he tries to bridge the gap to the leading trio around 30sec ahead... which is quickly becoming a duo as Preidler falls off the pace, paying the price for his efforts in breaking clear.
The leading trio of Preidler, Kwiatkowski and Vanmarcke are around 1min 4sec clear of the rest of the breakaway, a group of 17 riders which does not contain any of the GC contenders for Froome, Contador and others to concern themselves with. The bigger group is using its man-power well to close that gap at the front, while the peloton remain 13min back. The leaders have 60km to go as they head towards the Port de Lers summit.
“As mentioned by the real Neil Anthony Smith,” emails Jools Burke, “that was filmed in the athletes’ village in Stratford and around the Olympic Park. It was earlier this year on a freezing cold day and that poor bloke had to keep riding up and down the canal pretending it was boiling hot summer. I live round there and rode past on the way to work, wearing layers.”
The peloton continue to let the leading trio go clear, the gap now up to 13mins, which to my memory might just be the furthest the yellow jersey has been from the lead at any stage in this year’s Tour.
“I think something was lost in the translation for the Alpecin ad (don’t they get this looked over by a local agency?)” emails Peter McIntosh. “But the Cannondale one, FFS. I kept waiting for the bit where it was going to puncture itself, have a bit of a laugh and as it progressed I thought (increasingly slack-jawed) ok boys, you’ve laid it on enough now.....But it never happened. There was some epic ‘action’ going on in the meeting that approved that one for release.”
“Also,” Peter adds, “just saw the l’equipe front page, giving Froome (without any evidence, other than being better than the French) a hard time, while French hero Gasquet (banner above) is able to directly inject into his knee. Which is alright and not at all xenophobic.”
He is referring to this, which I posted earlier but then accidentally deleted:
The front page of today's L'Equipe: "Tous contre Froome" #TdF pic.twitter.com/weFQ71E7SE
— Craig Drake (@csdrake) July 16, 2015
The rain has stopped and three riders have pulled clear: Preidler, Kwiatkowski and Vanmarcke. They’ve a 1min 24sec lead over their former breakaway pals and a full 10min over the peloton and the GC contenders, who seem content enough.
“Good afternoon sir,” emails ‘the real Neil Anthony Smith’ (is there a fake one?). “I think I can safely say the worst advert by or including cyclists is the current advert from Wiggle. I haven’t bought anything from them since that monstrosity hit the airwaves (plus they seem to have stopped putting haribo in with the orders). When was the last time a big breakaway like today’s succeed on a mountainous day that could easily affect the GC standings?”
As a quick aside here’s a shameless plea to sponsor our web editor, James Dart, as he takes on the Prudential RideLondon 100 on 2 August to raise money for Youth Sport Trust: “This is an important cause and I wanted to put my opportunity to ride in the event to some good use. I’ll likely be the lanterne rouge, but please don’t let that put you off sponsoring me. I would obviously be hugely grateful for any money that I can raise.” Go on, sponsor him here.
Mikael Cherel and Sep Vanmarcke attack at the front of the breakaway. Kwaitkowski goes with them as do several others but Riblon, Roy, Chavanel, Coppel, Barta, Brun, Navarro, and Westra have fallen off the back.
Less than 90km remain, but two challenging climbs lie between the riders and the finish at Plateau de Bielle. The leaders sweep through Seix a little disjointedly and will need to regroup for the Port de Lers category one climb. The rain has ceased and although the roads are a little wet the conditions for descending are not so treacherous. The peloton is 8min 46sec back.
Result at Col de la Core (93km)
Lampre-Merida’s Kristijan Durasek was first to the top and claims the maximum 10 King of the Mountain points:
1. Kristjian Durasek, 10 pts
2. Georg Preidler, 8 pts
3. Mikaël Chérel, 6 pts
4. Matthieu Ladagnous, 4 pts
5. Sylvain Chavanel, 2 pts
6. Romain Bardet, 1 pt
Updated
Team Sky remain at the front of the peloton as they descend from the top of Col de la Core. They seem pretty content to let the breakaway streak clear, the gap at 8min 30sec, safe in the knowledge that their rivals for the yellow jersey are all on their wheel.
“Is that advert with John Degenkolb for Alpecin the worst ever ‘celebrity’ appearance in an advert? emails James Austin. “I can’t think of a worse one. It’s actually painful watching it several times an hour.” You’re right it’s not great, though I think that’s the point isn’t it? Here’s a better one:
The rain continues to fall lightly as the peloton swoops around a tight hairpin 2km from the summit of the Col de la Core, 8min 30sec from the breakaway and 104km from the finish at Plateau de Beille.
Take a look at some peloton footage from the Pyrenees, courtesy of Orica GreenEdge on YouTube:
A spot of rain starts to fall in the Pyrenees, which could play havoc on the descent from the Col de la Core. Riblon is closing back towards the lead group now:
#TDF2015 The front group is reunited. Only Riblon is 20" behind the leaders. Yet 4 kilometres to the summit of the Col de la Core.
— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) July 16, 2015
The breakaway group have slowed down a little and nearly all the riders who had fallen off the back when Westra upped the pace have caught up. Only AG2R’s Christophe Riblon appears not to have rejoined.
Road race world champion Michal Kwiatkowski appeared to be in a little bit of trouble a moment ago and fell away from the breakaway group briefly when Westra upped the pace, but has reattached himself along with Frederic Brun to make a group of around 17 riders at the front. They are eight minutes clear of the Sky-led peloton with 107km to go.
It seems like half of Astana ride for Nibali and the other half ride against him at times. Westra leads a group of around 13 riders on this 14km climb to the top of Col de la Core, a category one climb. Seven minutes back in what remains of the peloton, Team Sky head the peloton with Richie Porte and must feel fairly comfortable given their main GC rivals are with them.
#TDF2015 The leaders are on the Col de la Core. Westra attacked, the front group splits in several groups. pic.twitter.com/ciRS3Lpv0V
— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) July 16, 2015
Updated
An interesting development in the breakaway: Astana’s Lieuwe Westra attacks off the front and brings around half of the 22 with him, leaving the rest trailing behind.
Updated
Before stage 12 today American Tejay van Garderen, second overall behind Chris Froome, said: “I think we have to see a little bit what the other teams are doing; when some of my close rivals are in trouble I’ll try to take advantage. [The climb to Plateau de Beille] is really steady and that’s kind of my strength. I need to try and stay within my own rhythm. I’m sure [Tinkoff] Saxo and Movistar might band together to try and isolate Froome a bit, but the way Froome and Team Sky’s looking, it’s going to be pretty hard.”
The two-rider counterattack has had a wee fallout as Marcel Sieberg kicks away leaving Tulik Angelo rather in no man’s land. Sieberg is still 1min 30sec or more from the 22-rider breakaway, with the peloton and yellow jersey contenders around 6min back from the leaders.
“Shameless hussy that Armstrong,” emails Christine Herbert. “Can’t believe he turned up at a race that will live under the shadow of his shame for years to come. And to pretend he is there for charity? Shame, shame, shame. Please no more pics and mentions....” Except for this one, of course.
The Australian rider Zak Dempster has also called it a day and has abandoned the Tour.
Alex Dowsett abandons the Tour de France
Sad but unsurprising news that the former hour record holder’s battle with this Tour is over. The Movistar rider, who was brought into the team mainly for his time trial ability, has suffered since the opening stages with an elbow injury and after falling off the back of the peloton a little earlier, he has decided enough is enough.
#TDF2015: Unfortunately, @alexdowsett has abandoned the race. We'll update you accordingly.
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) July 16, 2015
Updated
Result at col du Portet d’Aspet (57.5km)
At the first of four summits on stage 12, Giant-Alpecin’s Austrian rider, Georg Preidler, picks up the maximum King of the Mountains points:
1. Georg Preidler, 5 points
2. Jérémy Roy, 3
3. Lieuwe Westra, 2
4. Anthony Delaplace, 1
The counterattack of Seiberg and Tulic have made quick progress and are only around 1min down on the breakaway now. The peloton containing Froome, Contador (a previous winner at Plateau de Beille) and company has made up some time too, within five minutes of the leaders for the first time in while. 130km remain.
A reminder of the group of 22 that have made a break for it: Lieuwe Westra, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Matthieu Ladagnous, Jérémy Roy (FDJ), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx), Romain Bardet, Mickaël Chérel, Christophe Riblon (AG2R), Jan Barta (Bora), Bryan Coquard, Romain Sicard (Europcar), Kristjian Durasek (Lampre), Dani Navarro (Cofidis), Sylvain Chavanel, Jérôme Coppel (IAM), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Frédéric Brun, Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne-Séché), Louis Meintjes (MTN), Georg Preidler (Giant), Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo).
Oh, and just in case you hadn’t heard enough about Lance Armstrong recently:
Alex Dowsett is struggling again today. Clearly injury has taken its toll on the Movistar rider and he has slipped away from the back of the peloton again. Completing the Tour will be an impressive achievement for the former hour record holder from this tough position he is in.
The peloton pass the Fabio Casartelli memorial:
Le peloton passe devant la stèle Fabio Casartelli, 20 ans déjà / The pack passed in front of the F.Casartelli stele. pic.twitter.com/tT7QDLJJkD
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 16, 2015
The breakaway group are through 55km with 140km to go, and closing in on the summit of the Col de Portet-d’Aspet with a 2min 15sec advantage over Sieberg and Tulik, and a 5min 28sec lead over the peloton containing the GC contenders.
Rest in peace, Fabio Casartelli. #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/FXuFtgs7mk
— LottoNLJumbo Cycling (@LottoJumbo_road) July 16, 2015
The breakaway riders are on the ascent of the Col de Portet d’Aspet, and pass the mark for the tragedy of Fabio Casartelli’s death in 1995. The reverse route was used as a descent that day and several riders crashed on a sweeping left turn, in which the 24-year-old Italian suffered a fatal head injury. The following day the peloton rode slowly as one as a silent tribute, with his Motorola team-mates crossing the line together arm in arm. A cluster of fans at the site applaud as the group ride past.
The lead group of 22 riders does not feature any of the GC riders. Six minutes behind them Sky have moved to the front of the peloton and upped the pace a little. Fuglsang is at the front of the breakaway group, and he is the highest placed overall in 18th.
Here’s a look at the best images from yesterday’s stage 11, which Rafal Majka stormed to victory.
#TdF2015 interesting fact from yesterday's @letour stage: @Jacquesjvren hit a max speed of 113.4km/h. See it here: http://t.co/QK9Bq9HFlq
— Team MTN-Qhubeka (@TeamMTNQhubeka) July 16, 2015
Back to stage 12, where Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Soudal) and Angelo Tulik (Europcar) have embarked on a counterattack to bridge the gap to the breakaway. They are about two minutes back from the 22 leading riders, and around four minutes clear of the peloton.
Armstrong, by the way, will return to the roads of the Tour tomorrow for a 12-person charity ride. The group will take on stage 13 from Muret to Rodez, and stage 14 from Rodez to Mende on Friday, which should bring an interesting reaction...
That news came as Geraint Thomas said the peloton is “paying the price” for cycling’s disgraced Armstrong era:
The fifth-placed rider said he and his competitors were still “paying the price for what [Lance] has done anyway. I couldn’t care less what he’s doing to be honest. He has done enough harm. But whatever, we are just in our own little world here having a laugh and doing what we’re doing and Lance and all them can do what they want.”
After holding on to the leader’s yellow jersey through the second Pyrenean stage, Froome responded to the Armstrong question with his usual courtesy. “We definitely don’t see it as him being back at the Tour,” underlined Froome.
“He’s not on the start line with us or anything like that. You’ve got to look at what he’s doing, which is Geoff Thomas’s cause to raise money for blood cancer research. As I’ve said earlier I support his cause, it’s a cause that’s very close to my heart. I wish Geoff Thomas and the guys all the best in raising as much money as they can. But about Lance he’s not on the line with us, we’re not going to see him, it’s a non-event for us.”
You can read the full story here.
While the breakaway zips on towards the first of the day’s increasingly testing climbs, the category two Col de Portet-d’Aspet, we have time to have a little look at the most recent news from the Tour.
Lance Armstrong yesterday admitted that he is the reason Chris Froome is facing such scrutiny and accusations of doping:
Speaking on his arrival in France on Wednesday, Armstrong told Sky Sports News: “Anything regarding a bike race is going to be closely scrutinised and questioned. I get those questions all the time, and the question is: ‘Can this be believed? Are these guys clean? Is everybody like you Lance?’
“I put it out there as, ‘Don’t ask me that question because I don’t know that answer’. I tried to clarify it even later by saying I don’t have any credibility on that issue, I know that.
“I know what it’s like for a guy like Chris to be in the middle of a Tour to deal with the constant questions which of course he is, and to be fair and to be honest to him a lot of that is my fault.
“Whoever is winning the Tour de France in 2015 should not be answering questions about somebody that won it 10 or 15 years ago. That’s just not legitimate, that’s not true.”
You can read the full story here.
1. Clearly Froome/Porte/Sky are very strong. Too strong to be clean? Don't ask me, I have no clue.
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) July 14, 2015
Since the sprint a breakaway has formed of 22 riders: Lieuwe Westra, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Matthieu Ladagnous, Jérémy Roy (FDJ), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx), Romain Bardet, Mickaël Chérel, Christophe Riblon (AG2R), Jan Barta (Bora), Bryan Coquard, Romain Sicard (Europcar), Kristjian Durasek (Lampre), Dani Navarro (Cofidis), Sylvain Chavanel, Jérôme Coppel (IAM), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Frédéric Brun, Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne-Séché), Louis Meintjes (MTN), Georg Preidler (Giant), Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo).
Plenty of big names but none of the yellow jersey contenders have gone with them, who remain in the peloton exactly 5min back down the road.
#TdF2015 22 riders in the break inc. @LouisMeintjes. Bardet, Rodriguez, Fuglsang, Kwiatkowski, & Barta, Navarro some other noticeable names.
— Team MTN-Qhubeka (@TeamMTNQhubeka) July 16, 2015
So far in stage 12
The riders have already completed 35km of this stage and the main moment of significance cane at Saint Bertrand de Comminges, the 20km intermediate sprint point. Giant-Alpecin’s John Degenkolb led out the sprinters with Peter Sagan, André Greipel and Mark Cavendish closely in tow. Suddenly Sagan broke the line and the race was on for the green jersey points: Sagan passed Degenkolb on his right but Greipel ripped by on the left and won by a length. Sagan, in green today, still leads the sprint standings but that advantage has been eaten into a little.
Hello! Welcome along to stage 12 of the 2015 Tour de France. This might just be the most difficult day in the Pyrenees for the peloton: a brutal stage with four draining climbs in succession awaits, acting as vast hurdles before the finish at Plateau du Beille.
The hors catégorie climb to the line is a 15.8km ascent at an average gradient of 7.9%, the sixth occasion it is has marked the end of a Tour stage. In the past it has been an opportunity for the eventual overall winner to attack and claim a stage victory – previous winners at Plateau du Beille include Marco Pantani in 1998, Alberto Contador in 2007, and Lance Armstrong in 2002 and 2004 . Our man who generated plenty of discussion yesterday, Tommy Voeckler, finished second here on a couple of occasions.
Temperatures are expected to reach around 35 degrees Celsius on the route from Lannemezan today, so in turn we can expect big names to be clinging to the back of the peloton, like the sight of last year’s yellow jersey winner, Vincenzo Nibali, letting his GC contenders ride away on the climb to La Pierre-Saint-Martin yesterday.
Stage 12 – Lannemezan to Plateau de Beille (195km)
A third day’s climbing in a row, with the toughest left for last. A mountain top finish on a super-category climb preceded by two first categories, the Col de Core and the Port de Lers, plus the steep Portet d’Aspet to make an early selection.
This is a key location to stake a claim to the overall title, so the favourites will expect to get to the foot of Plateau de Beille together, but after five hours in the saddle they will want team mates around them, and in this department Nibali’s Astana and Froome’s Sky look best placed.
The final climb is long enough to reel in an early break, so the stage winner could well be one of the big four favourites.
Read more from our stage-by-stage guide.
