Read Jeremy Whittle's stage 12 report
Our man in Bagnere-de-Bigorre has all the latest on Simon Yates’s first Tour de France stage win and the mysterious abandonment of Rohan Dennis.
🎥 Relieve the last kilometre of Stage 12 and @SimonYatess' win at sprint!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 18, 2019
🎥 Revivez le dernier kilomètre de cette douzième étape et la victoire de Simon Yates dans un sprint à trois !#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/LE9pin82Nz
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Yellow jersey: Julian Alaphilippe will wear the yellow jersey for his eighth day on this Tour tomorrow. He continues to lead Geraint Thomas by 1min 12sec. Egan Bernal is a further four seconds back.
Jeremy Whittle: Pau, the city that hosts Friday’s time trial has been on a doping ley line, a focal point for scandal, for almost two decades. Read on ...
The yellow jersey group crosses the line: Having conserved their energy ahead of tomorrow’s ITT, the main GC contenders have just rolled over the finish line.
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It’s a mystery: Simon Yates’s win aside, the big story of the day has yet to be told. Ahead of tomorrow’s Individual Time Trial, the hot favourite for the stage, Rohan Dennis abandoned the race today and nobody seems to know why.
The yellow jersey group: The GC contenders have another 3.6km to cover and there are unlikely to be any changes in the top 10, unless anyone crashes outside the 3km accident “exclusion zone”.
Mitchelton Scott win their second stage of this Tour. Adding a Tour de France stage win to the stages he has previously won in the Giro and Vuelta, Simon Yates joins Darryl Impey in winning an instalment of this year’s Tour. He out-sprinted Pello Bilbao and Gregor Muhlberger to win by a narrow margin.
Simon Yates wins the stage!
The British Mitchelton Scott rider launches his sprint going into the aforementioned corner and wins the sprint to the line.
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300m to go: Three riders, a Tour de France stage up for grabs.
500km to go: Pello Bilbao leads, but the three riders are looking at each other, waiting for somebody to make a move.
1.3km to go: The leading trio keep working together as they approach the finish line. There’s a tricky corner 200 metres from the line, where positioning going into it could be crucial. Do they know about it? One imagines their team directors will have told them over the radio.
3km to go: Our trio swing a right and there’s a tight left to come. Yates leads them into it, before flicking his left elbow. Muhlberger takes over at the front.
4.5km to go: Simon Yates, Gregor Muhlberger and Pello Bilbao continue working well together. Muhlberger, a rider with Bora Hansgrohe, is looking for his first Grand Tour stage victory.
Updated
8km to go: Muhlberger, Bilbao and Yates have completed their descent and are back on the flat and have a lead of 1min 37sec over the Roche group. Unless our leading trio start playing silly buggers with each other, one of them will win the stage.
16km to go: Everyone is on the descent of the Hourquette D’Ancizan. Muhlberger, Bilbao and Yates are 1min 14sec clear of the Nicolas Roche group.
18km to go: Mystifying, even ...
An angry-looking looking Rohan Dennis leaves the @Bahrain_Merida bus without saying a word, marching towards the finish line with his manager Andrew McQuaid. #TDF2019 #tdf pic.twitter.com/cN2HBRaeUq
— Sam Edmund (@SammyHeraldSun) July 18, 2019
19km to go: And curiouser ...
🇫🇷 #TDF2019
— Team Bahrain Merida (@Bahrain_Merida) July 18, 2019
Our priority is the welfare of all our riders so will launch an immediate investigation but will not be commenting further until we have established what has happened to @RohanDennis.
Meantime we continue to support our riders who are mid-race.
21km to go: Rohan Dennis update. Eurosport say that Bahrain-Merida have not released a statement regarding the subject of the Australian’s abandonment. He stepped off his bike at the feed zone and is now back at the finish line, where he has been spotted near his team bus. He has not, however, spoken to reporters. Curiouser and curiouser.
24km to go: On the descent of the final climb of the day, our trio of leaders are 1min 08sec clear of the Roche group that is chasing them. The yellow jersey group are 8min 02sec behind Messrs Yates, Bilbao and Muhlberger.
28km to go: The yellow jersey is, in turn, 7min 37sec behind the leaders. I need to pull into the roadside to water the shrubbery - back in five.
30km to go: Yates leads Muhlberger over the top, the pair closely followed by Pello Bilbao. Roche, Trentin, Frank, Schachmann, Gallopin and Pauwels are a minute behind them.
Updated
31km to go: Muhlberger and Yates are less than half a kilometre from the summit of Hourquette D’Ancizan. Pello Bilbao is struggling to stay in touch.
32km to go: Gregor Muhlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Simon Yates (Mitchelton Scott) have taken over in the lead. Astana rider Pello Bilbao is just behind them. Well, not quite. A naked man is just behind them, running along the roadside, then Pello Bilbao. The gap to the yellow jersey group is 6min 45sec.
35.5km: Simon Clarke continues his ascent, but has just been caught by Matteo Trentin. They have 4.5km of the climb to go and then it’s all downhill to the finish. Nicolas Roche, Matias Frank, Gregor Muhlberger, Tony Gallopin and Simon Yates are just 15 seconds behind.
36km to go: There’s a crash at the back of the peloton, but it’s nothing too serious. An AG2R rider - I know not who, but can confirm it isn’t Romain Bardet – needs a new bike.
37km to go: Simon Yates, Nicolas Roche, Mathias Frank and Gregor Muhlberger have broken away from what used to be the breakaway and are in hot pursuit of Matteo Trentin, who is in hot pursuit of Simon Clarke, who leads the stage. Confused? You should be. Meanwhile back at the peloton, Vincenzo Nibali, who is suffering from intestinal issues, has been dropped.
38km to go: It’s onwards and upwards for Simon Clarke, who is 44 seconds ahead of Matteo Trentin. Back in the yellow jersey group, Team Ineos are lined up at the front, dictating the pace in their inimitable and slightly depressing way.
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39.5km to go: Clarke continues his ascent, while Matteo Trentin has attacked off the front of the breakaway.
42km to go: Birthday boy Simon Clarke, who will be blowing out 33 candles later, if he can find the energy, is out in front. He’s 1min 23sec clear of the Wellens group and all of 6min 09sec clear of the yellow jersey group. The man in the pink and blue EF Education First jersey is about to begin his ascent of Hourquette D’Ancizen. It’s 10 kilometres long, 1,564m high and has a gradient of 7.5%.
An email: “The Tour passing through Luchon today brought back memories of a few of us staying there for some riding back in 2014,” writes Simon Williams. “Stayed at a place called Villa Portillon – wonderful place, which I’d highly recommend. The owner was a proper character called Mike Jones. Hails from Peterborough and is on the town/city Council (or at least he was back then). Regaled stories of riding in Prudi’s car, sorting the sandbags when there were floods and didn’t think highly of the extended French lunch break. One of life’s great alpha males. Don’t think he spoke a word of French.”
49km to go: Simon Clarke continues his descent of the Peyresourde, having opened a gap of almost a minute on the Wellens group behind him.
⚪🔴 @Tim_Wellens catches @L_Calmejane just in time to crest the Col de Peyresourde.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 18, 2019
⚪🔴 TIm Wellens rattrape Lilian Calmejane juste à temps pour franchir le Col de Peyresourde en tête. #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/oIl7rBPcjL
63km to go: In the polka dot jersey, Tim Wellens comes with a perfectly timed run to crest the summit of the Peyrosourde and take maximum King of the Mountains points. There’s a terrifying 13-kilometre descent ahead of him now. EF Education First rider Simon Clarke is tearing down at an incredible speed.
63km to go: Calmejane is 19 seconds clear of the breakaway he was once part of and 6min 28sec of the yellow jersey peloton.
64km to go: The state of play less than two minutes ago.
Name that breakaway: “Initially predicted to be the world’s most successful law firm after a spectacular mega merger, Sagan, Mühlberger, Oss, Schachmann, Morkov. Naesen, Gallopin, Fränk, Colbrelli, García Cortina, Teuns, Erviti, Bilbao, Groenewegen, Teunissen, Bettiol, Clarke, Scully, Trentin, Yates, Avermaet, Pauwels, Rui Costa, Kristoff, Felline, Stuyven, Matthews, Arndt, Bol, Roche, Périchon, Simon, Benoot, Kluge, Wellens, Calmejane, Pasqualon, Boasson Hagen, Valgren, and Lédanois unexpectedly failed after they were unable to fit any actual legal advice under the gigantic masthead,” writes Paul Griffin. “An eleventh-hour rescue attempt involving an ampersand was not enough.”
69km to go: Calmejane is about halfway up the Col de Peyresourde, the summit of which is 1,569m above sea level. Meanwhile back in the peloton, a backroom staff member from some team or other has just been knocked down by – I think – Greg Van Avermaet. That or he was trying to hand a bidon to Van Avermaet and got knocked down by somebody else.
He went down quite hard and looked to have hit his head on the road, but hopefully he is OK. That was a masterclass in how not to hand over a bidon from the roadside, which makes me suspect he may be an inexperienced volunteer rather than a full-time staff member. If he’d stood still, the rider who hit him could have gone around him, but instead he tried to dash back to to the side of the road after the handover.
70km to go: Lilian Calmejane has pulled clear of Sonny Colbrelli, who sounds more like a fictional Mafia hitman than a cyclist. The gap from Calmejane to the peloton is 6min 14sec.
An email: “We live 180 miles from the ‘best bike shop in the world’ but were happy to contribute towards its recent enforced relocation,” writes Steve Rowley of Brixton Cycles. |Local bike shops keep the wheels turning, get yourself there!”
I’m not so sure local bike shops do keep the wheels turning, Steve. They certainly don’t keep my wheels turning. I’ll bring my bike down there in the next few days and tell them: “Hello, I bought this here almost four years ago to the day and have finally decided to start riding it. Lots of people I don’t know have told me the gears need ‘indexing’.”
Name that breakaway: “The Muhlberger Collective are a critically-acclaimed ballet troupe based in Luxembourg whose avant-garde interpretations of 19th and 20th century classical pieces earned them fame and notoriety across Europe,” writes Thomas Atkins. “They faced accusations of selling out from some quarters when they opened the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in 2016.”
A nod there, to Bora-Hansgrohe’s Austrian rider Gregor Muhlberger, who would have to be considered among the favourites for today’s stage.
74km to go: Sonny Colbrelli, Alexander Kristoff and Lilian Calmejane are at the front of the race, 25 seconds clear of their former travelling companions in the breakaway. Quite what sprinters Colbrelli and Kristoff are doing up there, I don’t really know. Meanwhile on Eurosport, commentator Carlton Kirby says that mystery surrounds the abandonment of Rohan Dennis and no reason has yet been given for the Australian’s decision to quit.
75km to go: Sonny Colbrelli has kept going Forrest Gump style following the intermediate sprint and has put some time between himself and most of the 40-man breakaway. He’s currently leading the race up the climb to the category 1 Col de Peyresourde. Peter Sagan, meanwhile, has done his work for the day and has dropped out the back of The Sagan Agreement, which Nick Honeywell points out, sounds more like the title of a Robert Ludlum novel than a breakaway.
Updated
Abandonment: Bahrain-Merida rider Rohan Dennis has quit the race. The world time trial champion steps off his bike ahead of tomorrow’s ITT, for which he was favourite.
Intermediate sprint: Peter Sagan takes maximum points, increasing his lead in the Green Jersey standings. He’s followed over the line by Sonny Colbrelli.
Name that breakaway: “The Sagan Agreement,” writes Tim Smith. I like that one.
An email: “Let me be the first (one) of 458 pedants to tell you that you shouldn’t put your bike upside down for maintenance,” writes Daniel Roßbach. Fair enough Daniel, although I would argue that simply peering at and gently poking a derailleur does not exactly qualify as “maintenance”.
Abandonment: Having taken a heavy fall yesterday, Team Dimension Data rider Giacomo Nizzolo has been struggling at the back all day today. He has finally decided enough is enough, summoned his team car, stepped off his bike and removed his race number.
Following the controversial decision to drop Mark Cavendish from this year’s Tour line-up, the Dimension Data sprinter who was called up to replace him has been forced out of the race through injury.
89.5km to go: “Don’t you think the Tour would be more exciting if the riders didn’t have radios?” asks Alan Cooper. “It would force riders to think for themselves more, and the potential for confusion would make every stage more interesting. I’m all for chaos in sports!” I wouldn’t disagree with that.
97km to go: Before the riders hit the intermediate sprint and subsequent big climbs, I’m going to roll through the feed zone. Back in 10.
An email: “Now that the cycling has returned to its true procession form whilst you are live-reporting, is this an opportune time to give us an update on how your cycling exploits have gone since last week?” asks John O’G.
It probably is, John. Having discovered last week that I probably need to get my gears “indexed”, I have gone into the spare room, turned the bike upside-down, peered intently at what I believe is known as the derailleur and poked at it a bit. Small steps, eh? One of the best bike shops in London - if not the world - is a 10-minute walk from my home, so once I get my own ass into gear, I’ll take my machine down there and get it into gear.
Everyone’s a critic: “My new favourite expression is the clam before the storm,” writes Lizz Poulter, referring to my entry at 117km to go.
110km to go: Bora Hansgrohe rider Daniel Oss is doing most of the donkey work at the front of the breakaway, with UAE Team Emirates rider UAE Team Emirates on his wheel. The gap is 4min 07sec.
Today’s intermediate sprint: Located 78.6 kilometres from the finish, Bagneres-de-Luchon is the venue for today’s intermediate sprint. Interesting fact: he commune has been awarded three flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom. At least that what Wikipedia says.
117km to go: Following today’s seriously frenetic start, the race has settled and we’re in the clam before today’s inevitable storm. The gap from the 40-man breakaway to the peloton is 4min 14sec.
Name that breakaway: “I think Kevin Davey was mistakenly naming the 120 odd riders in the peloton as the Chelsea FC players out on loan, not the 40 in the breakaway,” writes Paul Fox.
Jasper Philipsen The Belgian rider did not sign on for today’s stage and it has emerged that while he is not injured or ill, his UAE-Team Emirates overlords simply decided that doing half of the Tour was enough for the 21-year-old. He’ll benefit from the experience, without having to bury himself as the race hits the mountains.
Yesterday was my last stage @LeTour. It was an amazing experience and I want to thank the whole @TeamUAEAbuDhabi for this chance. Now it’s time to take a rest and prepare the rest of the season. Thanks for all the messages of support 🤞#RideTogether #YearOfTolerance #TDF2019
— Jasper Philipsen (@JasperPhilipsen) July 18, 2019
Name that breakaway: “The Brexit Party MEPs?” suggests John Cox. “Too soon?|
Name that breakaway: “Not sure you’re doing this with such an enormous group, but the breakaway is all of the Chelsea FC’s players who are currently out on loan,” writes Kevin Davey.
134km to go: Our 40 (forty) man-breakaway has opened a gap of 3min 12sec on the bunch, where all the main GC contenders are safely ensconced. They’re being towed along by Julian Alaphilippe’s Deuceuninck-Quick Step team, who are keeping the gap down. Perhaps the winner won’t come from the breakaway after all ...
145km to go: Tim Wellens adds another point to his King of the Mountains collection as first man over the Category 4 Cote de Montoulieu-Saint-Bernard. WIth the race finally settled down, I’m off to grab a coffee. Back in five or so.
Correction: Dan Martin is not in the breakaway, as originally (and erroneously) stated.
@bglendenning That is one hell of a name the breakaway group...
— James Austin (@JamesDAustin) July 18, 2019
151km to go: The gap is 3min 21sec and such is the quality of many of the riders in our breakaway that our stage winner is certain to come from it. Behind them, the GC contenders will be providing a fascinating “second” race of the day when they hit the lumpy stuff.
152km to go: An official census has been taken and there are 40 men in today’s breakaway. They are ... Peter Sagan, Gregor Mühlberger, Daniel Oss and Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Michael Morkov (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Oliver Naesen, Tony Gallopin and Matthias Fränk (Ag2r La Mondiale), Sonny Colbrelli, Iván García Cortina and Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida), Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team), Pello Bilbao (Astana), Dylan Groenewegen and Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma), Alberto Bettiol, Simon Clarke and Tom Scully (EF Education First), Matteo Trentin and Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Greg Van Avermaet and Serge Pauwels (CCC Team), Rui Costa and Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Fabio Felline and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Michael Matthews, Nikias Arndt, Cees Bol and Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), Pierre-Luc Périchon and Julien Simon (Cofidis), Tiesj Benoot, Roger Kluge and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Energie), Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Edvald Boasson Hagen and Michael Valgren (Dimension Data) and Kévin Lédanois (Arkéa-Samsic).
156km to go: Peter Sagan has gone a few seconds clear of the breakaway group and seems very perky today. His Bora Hansgrohe team, Sunweb and AG2R have four riders each in the breakaway. Team Ineos, Groupama-FDJ and Katusha-Alpecin are the only three teams not represented. Ineos won’t care, while the other two teams just seem to have missed it.
160km to go: Michael Matthews, Alexander Kristoff, Sonny Colbrelli, Matteo Trentin, Peter Sagan and Dylan Groenewegen are among the cream of the sprinting talent in the breakaway, while there are plenty of good climbers alongside them, including Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche, Simon Yates and Tim Wellens, in his polka dot jersey.
164km to go: The escape party has been let go and they have opened a gap of 1min 52sec. It’s an enormous breakaway, comprising 42 riders. Dan Martin is in it, Nicolas Roche is there. Peter Sagan and Michael Matthews are present. Greg van Avermaet is the best placed escapee on GC, in 28th position at 14min 25sec.
166km to go: A group of about 40 riders get away and Team Ineos form a barrier across the the front of the peloton. They’ll be eager to find out who is in the escape party, just in case there’s anyone they need to worry about and chase down.
Crikey! The riders have been barreling along at an average speed of more than 50km per hour since racing commenced. The intermediate sprint is 78 kilometres from the finish of today’s stage, just before the riders take on the Category 1 Col De Peyresourde. There are 167km to go in this stage and a breakaway has yet to be formed.
172km to go: “A lot of riders have made a lot of effort here and they’re going to be feeling it,” says Sean Kelly on Eurosport, as Thomas De Gendt puts the hammer down at the front of the bunch in the latest escape bid.
Mitchelton Scott’s stage 11 diary
The Australian team had a slightly tougher time than expected on a largely uneventful day.
180km to go: With almost 30 kilometres behind them, the riders have yet to settle. Bora Hangrohe’s Max Schachmann goes on the attack again and is joined by Mitchelton Scott’s Matteo Trentin and several others. Their efforts, like those of all before them, come to naught.
181km to go: Lennard Kamna (Sunweb) puts some distance between himself and the bunch and is joined by Pello Bilbao (Astana) and two others. The peloton are not having it and shut down the attack.
188km to go: Sagan is still out in front, but only leads by a couple of seconds. He looks around, wondering why nobody is joining him, then shakes his head as the the bunch catches him. Or he lets them catch him.
191km to go: The peloton continues to motor along, with the green, yellow and polka-dot jerseys all prominent near the front. The green won, covering the torso of Peter Sagan, shoots out of the pack again, the man occupying it looking behind him to see if anyone is up for joining him. There are no volunteers, but his knees keep pumping.
195km to go: The latest breakaway attempt is caught and this stage has yet to settle.
198km to go: A group of six riders launch an escape attempt, including Bora Hansgrohe’s Daniel Oss and Max Schachmann. They’re pedalling at a ferocious lick, but have yet to get away.
199km to go: The peloton put an abrupt stop to Caruso’s gallop and the bunch is back together again. No breakaway formed yet.
202km to go: The peloton reels in Sagan and his cronies, prompting Bahrain–Merida rider Damiano Caruso to attack off the front off the bunch.
204km to go: Peter Sagan attacks off the front of the bunch and is joined by three other riders, but behind them, the peloton is keeping them on a very tight rein.
They’re racing in stage 12: Christian Prudhomme sends them on their way with an extravagant wave of his yellow flag. Thomas De Gendt, Edvald Boasson Hagen are among no end of riders who appear interested in getting in a breakaway, but with so much at stake nobody is being allowed to escape. “Stay around the front and just be there when a good group of riders tries to get away.” says Eurosport co-comms man Sean Kelly, who says every team will want somebody in the breakaway, whenever it forms.
More withdrawals: Suffering from illness, Rick Zabel from Katusha-Alpecin did not start yesterday’s stage, while Total Direct Energie’s Niki Terpstra was forced to abandon after suffering a double fracture of his shoulder with 30 kilometres to go in yesterday’s stage. UAE team Emirates rider Philipsen Jasper did not start this morning. With eight men gone over 11 stages, the field has been reduced from 176 riders to 168.
Christian Prudhomme on today’s stage: “The Pyrenean part of the Tour will start in the valley and that should motivate the usual breakaway suspects to give it a go but it’ll carry on with climbs up Peyresourde and La Hourquette d’Ancizan,” says the race director. “Only the best climbers among them will be in a position to triumph as they head down to Bagnères-de-Bigorre.”
Currently leading the peloton along in his red Skoda, Prudhomme will give the signal to start racing once the riders have covered another five kilometres or so. “”It’s going to be frantic from the start,” muses Eurosport commentator Carlton Kirby.
The roll-out has begun: The riders are currently wending their way through the streets of Toulouse, with aerial shots showcasing the picturesque terracotta slates and bricks from which many of the locale’s buildings are constructed. The Pink City, they call it and it’s not difficult to see why.
Stage three review
Australia’s Caleb Ewan silenced a few doubters as he entered the pantheon of great sprinters able to combine technical ability and raw speed in a cauldron of pressure
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Stage 12: Toulouse to Bagneres-de-Bigorre (209.5km)
From William Fotheringham’s stage-by-stage guide: A relatively gentle introduction to the Pyrenees: two first category climbs with long run-in to the opener, the Col de Peyresourde. There is 130km for the break to build a lead so expect someone from the early move to win; the overall contenders may well end up watching each other for signs of weakness over the Peyresourde and Hourquette d’Ancizan while saving strength for the coming days. Not the toughest mountain climbing, so the stage winner could be a breakaway specialist who isn’t one of the very best climbers. Britain’s Steve Cummings could be one to watch.
