Defending champion Tadej Pogacar has stamped his authority on the 2025 Tour de France, wrestling back the yellow jersey from previous leader Ben Healy and demolishing all his rivals on stage 12 of the race.
Stage 12, a 180km run from Auch to Hautacam saw the first real mountain test of the Tour and Pogacar - despite suffering a late crash in the closing kilometres of stage 11 - passed with flying colours, powering away from his rivals on the lower slopes of the infamous hors-categorie Hautacam.
Pogacar dedicated his win to 19-year-old Samuele Privitera, a rider for Jayco-AlUla’s development team, Hagens Berman Jayco. He died yesterday after a fall on the opening stage of the Giro della Valle d'Aosta, an under-23s race in Italy.
He put even more time into closest challenger Jonas Vingegaard, who was further weakened by his key mountain lieutenants Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss, and Simon Yates all enduring bad days at the office in the opening Pyrenean stage.
Follow all the action on stage 12 of the Tour de France below.
Tour de France 2025 Stage 12 LIVE
- Stage 12 - 180km Auch to Hautacam | Live on TNT Sports and ITV4
- Tadej Pogacar storms to stage 12 victory as he rides back into yellow jersey
- GC hostilities set to resume on difficult day in the Pyrenees
- The race's first hors categorie climb – Hautacam – awaits at the finish
- Tadej Pogacar admits 'arm is open completely' after crash on stage 11
- 125km to go: Huge 50-rider breakaway escapes clear of the peloton
Tadej Pogacar storms back into yellow jersey with stunning stage 12 victory
18:42 , Flo CliffordTadej Pogacar delivered a display of pure dominance on the first true mountain test of this year’s Tour de France to retake the yellow jersey with a solo win.
On the Hautacam, where Jonas Vingegaard left Pogacar behind in a decisive attack in his 2022 Tour win, the world champion exacted revenge, attacking 12 kilometres from the summit finish and putting two minutes 10 seconds into his rival, who finished second on the day.
Pogacar's third stage win of this Tour, the 20th of his career, put him a big step closer to what would be a fourth overall title as he leads by three minutes 31 seconds from Vingegaard, with both men putting time into third-placed Remco Evenepoel, now four minutes 45 seconds down.
Tadej Pogacar storms back into yellow jersey with stunning stage 12 victory
Stage 13 preview
18:35 , Flo CliffordLet’s look ahead to tomorrow’s stage. At 10.9km you might think that sounds alright, but take a look at those gradients... it should be another day for GC fireworks and if today is anything to go by, perhaps another Pogacar masterclass.
Best young rider classification after stage 12
18:22 , Flo CliffordBen Healy’s difficult day out meant he lost white as well as yellow today, with Remco Evenepoel - who wore the jersey for him today - now owning it properly once again. But not by much...
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) in 45:27:36
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +49”
- Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +55”
- Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) +1’20”
- Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +8’34”
King of the mountains classification after stage 12
18:14 , Flo CliffordNo prizes for guessing who now leads the KOM standings, after Lenny Martinez collapsed today and Pogacar took the 20 points available for the winner on Hautacam.
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 27 pts
- Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) 27 pts
- Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech) 22 pts
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 19 pts
- Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) 16 pts
Points classification after stage 12
18:06 , Flo CliffordJonathan Milan stays in green, but Pogacar is breathing down his neck, having picked up more points for his win today.
The sprinters, by the way, have all finished safely inside the time cut. No one getting the axe from the Tour today.
- Jonathan Milan (Lidl‑Trek) 231 pts
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 183
- Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin‑Deceuninck) 173
- Biniam Girmay (Intermarché‑Wanty) 154
- Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick‑Step) 150
Fallout of stage 12
18:00 , Flo CliffordElsewhere, Matteo Jorgenson lost 10 minutes, severely hampering his own GC challenge and meaning that UAE can take any attacks of his in the next road stage - on Saturday - less seriously, as he doesn’t represent a threat to Pogacar in yellow at the moment.
Remco Evenepoel suffered on the climbs but managed to limit his losses and is still third overall, but is left looking over his shoulder at the likes of Florian Lipowitz, Kevin Vauquelin, and Oscar Onley, who all performed brilliantly today and are hot on his heels in the white jersey standings today.
Lipowitz in particular was excellent, finishing third on the stage and moving up four places to third overall. He now sits two minutes ahead of his theoretical team leader Primoz Roglic. Will Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe now change tack, and go all-in for the German’s podium chances?
Fallout of stage 12
17:51 , Flo CliffordToday’s stage has been fascinating all round. Of course it has cemented that Pogacar is the man to beat, if indeed he is beatable at all. But it also exposed Visma-Lease a Bike, who looked like the strongest team by far after UAE lost Joao Almeida to a crash and several domestiques appeared to struggle in the last few days.
The tables were turned today and it was Jhonatan Narvaez, not, on paper, UAE’s best climber, who delivered the astonishing turn of pace that forced the entire GC group to disintegrate and set up Pogacar’s attack with 12km to go on Hautacam.
Stage 13 preview
17:45 , Flo CliffordHow will today’s efforts affect tomorrow’s time trial, which is going to be hideously difficult, even without a brutal stage in the Pyrenees in the legs?
Romain Bardet tells TNT Sports, “The last wall could be a climb in itself. It’s so steep, so wide also, due to the altiport, for the flights to take off. The guys will have to push before that more than 25 minutes over threshold, then you have to keep something in reserve for that last steep bit. Also you can never see the top, it keeps climbing and climbing, so it requires a lot of mental strength because you just have to keep going.” Delightful.
“It can mean winning or losing this time trial, the way you climb the last 300m,” he adds.
Tadej Pogacar back in yellow
17:38 , Flo CliffordTadej Pogacar is subjected to an uncomfortably long handshake by French president Emmanuel Macron, who’s picked the right stage to come out and watch, before he makes his way onto the podium.
Tadej Pogacar dedicates Tour de France win to teenaged Italian cyclist who died in crash
17:32 , Flo CliffordTadej Pogacar dedicated his memorable victory on stage 12 of the Tour de France to Samuele Privitera, the young cyclist who died during a race in Italy this week.
Privitera, 19, crashed during the opening stage of the Giro della Valle d’Aosta in the Italian Alps. The Hagens Berman Jayco rider reportedly came off his bike during a descent, losing his helmet and colliding with a gate. He was taken to hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
After pulling away from the rest of his rivals to win atop the towering Hautacam climb in the Pyrenees on Thursday, reclaiming the yellow jersey in the process, Pogacar paid tribute to Privitera.
Tadej Pogacar dedicates Tour de France win to teenaged cyclist who died in crash
Ben Healy concedes yellow
17:25 , Flo CliffordPoor old Ben Healy had a great run but his stint in yellow is over. He’s crossed the line 13’38” down on Pogacar, falling down to 11th on GC, 13’19” down.
General classification after stage 12
17:19 , Flo Clifford- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), in 45:22:51
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), +3’31”
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), +4'45”
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +5’34”
- Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels), +5'40”
- Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), +6’05”
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +7’30”
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), +7’44”
- Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), +9’21”
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), +12'12”
Questions over Visma tactics
17:12 , Flo CliffordOnce again Visma’s tactics will come in for some fierce scrutiny now. As Pete Kennaugh points out on ITV4, why was Wout van Aert wasting energy in the break yesterday, when this stage was so crucial? Why did Visma pile on the pressure on the Col du Soulor, at the expense of their three most crucial mountain domestiques? Was the decision to snap away at Pogacar throughout the opening week with constant little attacks, in fact severely short-sighted?
Pogacar dedicates stage 12 win to late 19-year-old cyclist
17:07 , Flo Clifford“We did a super job, the team rode really well, chapeau also to Ben Healy and EF, they showed really big spirit and also Uno-X they fight for their own GC, it was hard today for everybody. But in the end we were super strong. We had this stage in mind for a long time,” Pogacar continues.
He now dedicates the win to Samuele Privitera, a 19-year-old rider for Jayco-AlUla’s development team, Hagens Berman Jayco, who died yesterday after a fall on the opening stage of the Giro della Valle d'Aosta, an under-23s race in Italy.
“This stage can go for Samuele, to all his family. It was really sad, it was the first thing I read in the morning, and I was thinking in the last kilometre about him and how tough this sport can be, and how much pain it can cause.” Well said.
Tadej Pogacar speaks
17:02 , Flo CliffordLet’s hear from the stage winner and new yellow jersey. Pogacar is asked about revenge on the same climb he was hammered by Vingegaard in 2022.
“I knew the first time I rode Hautacam that it’s a super nice climb, I was always looking forward to ride this climb,” he says. “Then it came in ‘22, I was trying with my head through the wall to get back the yellow jersey but Jumbo was too strong back then. I almost forgot about this, I was looking forward to today, then all the people were coming to me saying this is the revenge time, blah blah blah.
“Then when we approached the bottom of the climb it was just reverse story of a few days ago, one Belgian guy on the front, our team in the front, I’m super happy to take time and to win on this climb.” He’s referring to Wout van Aert, who was the key domestique for Visma back then (as he is now), and now Tim Wellens, riding for UAE.
Asked about how he’s feeling after yesterday’s crash, he says, “For sure you don’t know how the body reacts after the crash. But it was not a bad crash, I feel my hip only if I do acrobatics but here I’m just riding the bike, not flexing.”
Stage 12 results
16:56 , Flo Clifford- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), in 4:21:19
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), +2’10”
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +2’23”
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), +3’00”
- Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), +3’00”
- Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels), +3’33”
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), +3’35”
- Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), +4’02”
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +4’08”
- Cristian Rodriguez (Arkea - B&B Hotels) +7’26”
Vingegaard crosses the line
16:50 , Flo CliffordVingegaard crosses the line 2’11” back, with Lipowitz barely 10 seconds off his pace.
Onley sprints with Johannessen for fourth place and it’s the Norwegian who takes it; further back, Vauquelin beats Evenepoel in a mini-sprint too.
Pogacar wins stage 12!
16:47 , Flo CliffordPogacar has more than got his revenge for his defeat on Hautacam in 2022. The tables are turned, the roles are reversed, and the Slovenian reigns supreme over this Tour de France.
He doesn’t even celebrate at the line, powering to the top, eking out every second he can get.
Pogacar nears the summit
16:43 , Flo Clifford1.6km to go: Evenepoel gesticulates angrily at a fan who waves a giant flag right in his face. Don’t behave like idiots, people.
Up ahead, Pogacar has the energy and consciousness to tell a camera motorbike passing him that he’s got a fan’s cardboard sign stuck to the bike.
The flamme rouge is in sight for the defending champion.
Further down the mountain, Lipowitz is hauling back Vingegaard: he’s only around 35 seconds behind him now.
3km to go
16:39 , Flo CliffordPogacar powers through this 10% section and a huge horde of fans cheering him on as he reaches the 3km to go mark.
He has 1’30” on Vingegaard, with Lipowitz narrowing the gap to the Dane at 2’18” back. It appears Onley has been dropped by the German, but no time gaps to him are on screen at the moment. Evenepoel sits nearly three minutes back.
Skirmishing in the Roglic group
16:33 , Flo Clifford4.9km to go: Oscar Onley tells Florian Lipowitz to do a turn on the front of this four-man group and the German says actually, I fancy getting up the road myself... but Onley hauls him back.
Now Lipowitz goes again and Onley chases him back! They go clear of Johannessen and Roglic.
I’ve said this all Tour, but Onley really has been a revelation.
Pogacar riding to stage win
16:29 , Flo Clifford6km to go: Pogacar at least has the grace to look like it’s hard work. Poor Vingegaard is grimacing and really looks like he’s having a terrible time.
State of affairs: Vingegaard is now a minute back, the Roglic group 1’46” back and losing time, Remco Evenepoel 2’05” back and likewise. Kevin Vauquelin is somewhere in between the Roglic group and the white jersey of Evenepoel.
Pogacar riding clear
16:24 , Flo Clifford8km to go: Pogacar is now out of sight but very much not out of mind, 40” clear of Vingegaard.
The Roglic-Onley group is 1’20” back and now local boy Kevin Vauquelin, refusing to go away, bridges back across to them. Evenepoel is a further 10 seconds back or so, riding his own race.
Pogacar extending gap
16:20 , Flo Clifford10km to go: “You can catch him back, come on,” the Visma-Lease a Bike car - that sounded to me like the voice of Grischa Niermann - tells Vingegaard. But the gap is slowly extending, with another 10km to go.
In the dropped GC group, Roglic is just a bike length or so off the back - but comes back on. That group has been reduced to Onley, Lipowitz, Halland Johannessen, and the Slovenian. They pass Armirail now.
For all the control the top teams exert over bike racing, today has been an exercise in improvisation. Visma-Lease a Bike showed their hand too early by revealing that Yates, Kuss and Jorgenson were all suffering, letting UAE take back over, and with Adam Yates suffering too, it seems Pogacar may have attacked earlier than originally planned.
Armirail caught
16:17 , Flo Clifford10.9km to go: Armirail has seen the rainbow jersey fly past him, and Pogacar is out in front, earpiece out, and extending his gap to Vingegaard to around 11 seconds.
Pogacar attacks!
16:15 , Flo Clifford11.6km to go: Adam Yates does a tiny acceleration and pulls off and now it’s Narvaez who practically sprints up the lower slopes of Hautacam!
Vingegaard is latched onto Pogacar’s wheel, the trio power away from the rest of the group, and now Pogacar shoots off the front!
Vingegaard doesn’t cling on, just sets his own tempo, and he’s not been fully distanced... He’s pegging him back. Once again, it’s the two best riders in the world.
Armirail’s days are numbered, unfortunately.
GC group closing in
16:13 , Flo Clifford12km to go: Simon Yates has been dropped, as has Sepp Kuss, and that just leaves Jorgenson for Vingegaard. Einer Rubio, from the original breakaway, is out the back too.
Tim Wellens is still piling on the pace. Remco Evenepoel is still in this group but it’s being whittled down - and he’s been dropped too, and just needs to find his rhythm.
The gap to Armirail is already down to 1’10”. Wellens swings off, and now Narvaez comes to the front.
Armirail leads onto the final climb
16:10 , Flo Clifford13.5km to go: Armirail’s Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale car has just come up alongside him to offer bottles - and, it seems, to tell him to chill out! The local boy is still absolutely haring down the road and has a very difficult climb to come, but he’s not interested in slowing down.
Armirail is a multiple French national time-trial champion - he was brilliant on stage five, finishing fourth - and is now essentially TTing himself to the foot of Hautacam.
Here it is: 13.5km at an average of 7.8%. It’s a brute.
Armirail has 1’45” on the GC group - showtime!
Chasing group caught
16:05 , Flo Clifford19km to go: It looks like the Skjelmose group has been rotating, but they’ve still not made any ground on Armirail - in fact they’ve haemorrhaged time, and now they sit up as they see the GC group only a few metres down the road.
Wellens, having been in the breakaway, is now hammering on the pedals to bring them back under two minutes to Armirail.
Ben Healy’s group is now nearly six minutes back.
GC group powering on
15:59 , Flo Clifford22km to go: Bruno Armirail is pushing on at full tilt still. He’s got 10km until he hits Hautacam, with 1’52” on the Skjelmose group but more worryingly, only 2’15” on the GC group.
The average speed for the last hour - including all that climbing and descending - is 44km/h, as is the average for the entire day. Ridiculous.
It’s also been incredibly hot: 29 degrees Celsius and under blazing sunshine.
Evenepoel back in GC group
15:54 , Flo Clifford27km to go: Bruno Armirail is rattling down this descent at a ferocious pace, extending his lead to 1’15” and counting!
Further back, Tim Wellens has recovered after that climb and is back in the GC group, now led by UAE. I almost wrote yellow jersey group there - the yellow jersey of Ben Healy is now 5’35” back, and conceding his race lead today.
Remco Evenepoel is back in the GC group and will have some time to recover on this descent ahead of the final climb.
Armirail leads over Col des Borderes
15:47 , Flo Clifford34km to go: Yates’ faster pace has dropped Jorgenson and put Kuss in serious difficulty too. David Millar on ITV4 comms suggests that Kuss has just been on the radio to tell the team to slow down, otherwise he’s out the back too... and Jorgenson is just about making contact too now that this pace has slowed.
Up ahead, Armirail - who is from Tarbes in the Pyrenees - takes the points over the Col des Borderes, and now has a lead of a minute over the Skjelmose group! That group now has Rubio back in too.
Skjelmose sprints early for the points, Woods is caught napping, and Skjelmose is second over the top, Storer third, Woods fourth.
And Yates has been dropped, and has gone all the way back to Evenepoel’s wheel!
Evenepoel clawing his way back, Jorgenson dropped
15:42 , Flo Clifford35km to go: This more relaxed pace set by Visma-Lease a Bike has meant that Remco Evenepoel, who has ridden a very mature race after realising he couldn’t hold the earlier, faster pace, is now only 20 seconds or so off the back of the GC group. Not good news for the Belgian that he was dropped on Soulor, but a better sign that he has paced this effort well.
Visma look like they may be winding up for something, but while they’ve got strength in numbers, they’ve indicated that several of their team aren’t on top form today. Jorgenson has slipped from the guard around Vingegaard so further down this group... and dropped!
At the front of the race Armirail has in fact extended his lead over Woods and Skjelmose to 35 seconds. They’ve been joined by Storer.
Armirail into the lead
15:36 , Flo Clifford38km to go: Frenchman Bruno Armirail has done an absolutely beautiful descent to overtake both Skjelmose and Woods, and has flown clear of the pair to lead the race on the approach to the next climb, the 3.1km Col des Borderes, which has an average of 7.7%.
He’s got a 10-second lead as things stand, but with two strong climbers on his tail.
Mike Woods takes KOM points
15:31 , Flo Clifford44km to go: Mike Woods is having a superb day and has emerged the best climber (today) of the original 51-rider breakaway, powering through this final kilometre and taking the maximum 10 points at the top of the Col du Soulor.
Skjelmose takes second, with Rubio, Storer, and Armirail not far back either.
The GC group, still led by Simon Yates, is now a shade over two minutes back, with poor Ben Healy four minutes back and really suffering, moving his legs as if riding through treacle. Remco Evenepoel is now in between him and the GC group, at around the three minute mark.
Visma lead onto the descent, with Pogacar content to sit back, now that his rivals have shown their hand.
Evenepoel overtakes Healy
15:26 , Flo CliffordEvenepoel, towed by Van Wilder, passed Ben Healy with his own babysitter Harry Sweeny - who looks the most incredibly cool and composed I have ever seen someone look on a climb like this, pouring bottles over his teammate and making sure he’s doing alright.
Up ahead, a five-man group leads the race and Canadian climber Michael Woods has accelerated away from his companions to take the KOM points. Skjelmose is a little further behind on this 10% section, Michael Storer, Einer Rubio and Bruno Armirail slightly further back too.
900m to go up the top of this climb.
Time gaps as summit approaches
15:22 , Flo Clifford48km to go: The Pogacar-Vingegaard group, led by Simon Yates now at a much slower pace, is 1’50” back from the breakaway - or what remains of the breakaway, with riders strung out all along the climb. Marc Soler has been dropped from this group but is working his way back up for Pogacar. Oscar Onley and the Red Bull pair of Florian Lipowitz and Primoz Roglic are in here too.
Ben Healy, with Harry Sweeny for company, is 2’15” back, with Evenepoel 2’50” off the pace alongside teammate Ilan van Wilder - losing a minute to Pogacar and Vingegaard as it stands.
2.3km to the top of the climb.
Skjelmose attacks, Healy dropped
15:16 , Flo Clifford50km to go: At the front of the race, Mattias Skjelmose has sensed a slowing of the pace by Thymen Arensman and piled on the pressure himself, going clear of the breakaway along with Michael Woods.
Further back, Simon Yates and Matteo Jorgenson have been dropped, and Visma-Lease a Bike’s infernal pace has unexpectedly blown up most of their team. Advantage Pogacar now. Sepp Kuss comes to the front to slow the pace and allow them back on. Ben Healy was distanced too but may now make it back on with this slower pace.
Up ahead, Arensman and Carlos Rodriguez are being dropped, not ideal for Ineos either.
Evenepoel in trouble
15:11 , Lawrence Ostlere52km to go: Evenepoel is in trouble here! He’s fallen away from Vingegaard, Pogacar and the other GC riders. Are his podium hopes slipping away?
Ben Healy is doing really well right now to stay with this high pace. This GC group are now about 1min 30sec from the front of the race.
Stage 12 exploding on the slopes of Col du Soulor
15:07 , Lawrence Ostlere55km to go: The break has upped its pace, growing its gap to the peloton to two minutes as they hit the slopes – and quickly there are some victims being shot out of the back of the group, including Ben Swift. The group is being shattered by this climb!
Back down the road, Visma-Lease a Bike have hit the front of the peloton, looking to apply pressure to Tadej Pogacar – this GC group is splintering too!
Breakaway approaches cat-one Col du Soulor
14:41 , Lawrence Ostlere70km to go: The breakaway remains around 1min 40sec ahead of the peloton as they approach the foot of the Col du Soulor, a category-one climb (11.8km at 7.3% gradient).
🌻🌻🌻🚴♂️🚴♂️🚴♂️#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/Sg9jJD2f3r
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2025
Van der Poel sweeps up green jersey points
14:32 , Lawrence Ostlere75km to go: Laurenz Rex is first to the intermediate sprint ahead of Mathieu van der Poel, and those 17 points for Van der Poel will send him second in the green jersey rankings.
Ineos with the most riders in the breakaway
14:24 , Lawrence OstlereIneos very happy with their strength in numbers in the breakaway today:
Breakaway's lead slipping
14:12 , Lawrence Ostlere90km to go: The breakaway’s lead has diminished slightly, reduced down to around 1min 30sec, as the peloton gently closes in. The 50-rider break has just started the cat-four Cote de Labatmale (1.3km at 6.3% gradient).
Stage 12 in pictures
14:00 , Lawrence OstlereA few images from the stage so far:
Tour de France explained
13:52 , Lawrence OstlereI know what you’re thinking: how do Tour de France riders go to the toilet? We do indeed have the answer:
Breakaway being held
13:44115km to go: The 50-rider breakway has stabilised at around 1min 45sec, and the peloton seems happy enough with this state of play.
They are about 20km away from the first categorised climb of the day, the cat-four Cote de Labatmale (1.3km at 6.3% gradient).
Tadej Pogacar speaks!
13:36 , Lawrence OstlereHere’s what Tadej Pogacar – sporting a bandage all the way up his left arm – told Discovery+ this morning, after his crash yesterday:
“I’m OK. Nothing too bad. My whole left arm is open completely. It’s more burned off skin, I hit my hip a little bit and my shoulder, but luckily I was back on the bike quite fast. Today is another day. It’s not the first time I crashed and continued the race.
“We’ll see how the legs are. I think it’s more important, the legs, than my arm. I have a super strong team around me that support me to the end, they give everything for me, so I’m so grateful that I can rely on them even if I have a hard day today. But I hope not.”
The breakaway in full
13:29 , Lawrence Ostlere125km to go: Here we go, then – the 50 riders at the front of the race. Carlos Rodriguez is not only the closest rider to the top of the GC standings (five minutes behind the yellow jersey), he also has the most teammates in the break, with five Ineos riders in all.
Wellens (UAE Emirates), Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike), Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step), Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost), Barré, Rex (Intermarché-Wanty), Buitrago, Martinez, Stannard, Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Arensman, Foss, Laurance, C. Rodriguez, Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Pithie, Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Nys, Skjelmose, Theuns (Lidl-Trek), Martin Guyonnet, Madouas, Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ), Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Alaphilippe, Hirschi, Storer, Trentin (Tudor), O'Connor, Durbridge, Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Garcia Pierna, Venturini (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Castrillo, Romeo, Rubio (Movistar), Armirail, A. Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R), Buchmann, Coquard, Izagirre, Teuns (Cofidis), Tejada, Velasco (XDS Astana), Cras, Gachignard, Turgis (Total Energies), Woods, Blackmore, Lutsenko (Israel Premier Tech), Drizners (Lotto).
Hautacam awaits
13:23 , Lawrence OstlereThere are four categorised climbs today, and the first hors categorie climb of the race: Hautacam, atop which the finish line awaits.
Jonas Vingegaard won here en route to overall victory in 2022, and Vincenzo Nibali did likewise in 2014.
Whoever wins today’s race will have to conquer this brute of a climb, which is steep from the get-go and ratchets up above 10% gradient in the second half.
Stage 12 stabilises
13:19 , Lawrence Ostlere135km to go: The huge breakaway is being held at around two minutes, with the GC group happy to keep the race in this state for now.
Huge breakaway escapes up the road
13:07 , Lawrence Ostlere150km to go: An interesting dynamic has developed early in this stage, with a giant breakaway featuring almost 50 riders up the road from Pogacar, Vingegaard, Healy and the rest of the top GC riders.
The breakaway includes Van der Poel, Benoot, Teuns, Buchmann, O’Connor, Arensman, Wright and plenty more notable names.
Carlos Rodriguez is the highest placed rider in the GC among them, more than five minutes back from the yellow jersey at the start of the day.
This breakaway already has two minutes on the peloton, and the gap is growing.
Stage-by-stage guide to a brutal 2025 Tour de France
12:52 , Lawrence OstlereWe’re into the Pyrenean loop of this Tour de France, with the Alps still to come. Here’s a stage-by-stage look at the race:
A small breakaway is shut down
12:45 , Lawrence Ostlere160km to go: So they’re away, and the first mini-breakaway – featuring Eenkhorn, Delettre, Haller and Lutsenko – is swallowed up by a high-paced peloton.
Key moments of stage 12
12:29 , Flo CliffordToday is all about the climbing: the first climb comes 86km into the 180km stage, with the next two beginning with 58km and 39km to go respectively. The monster of the day, Hautacam, starts with 13.5km to go and, you guessed it, goes all the way to the summit finish.
There’s also an intermediate sprint just after the day’s first climb, at Benejacq, which the sprinters may cling on long enough for before dropping back.
The climbs are:
- cat-four Cote de Labatmale (1.3km at 6.3%)
- cat-one Col du Soulor (11.8km at 7.3%)
- cat-two Col des Borderes (3.1km at 7.7%)
- HC Hautacam (13.5km at 7.8%)
Who is leading the Tour de France? Yellow jersey and general classification standings
12:22 , Flo CliffordThere was no movement in the general classification standings on stage 11 as a breakaway contested the win in Toulouse, with Jonas Abrahamsen taking his maiden grand tour victory having been up the road from kilometre zero, but Tadej Pogacar suffered a late crash and mechanical, jeopardising his second-place - until his rivals sportingly waited for him to return to the peloton.
Full standings in every classification here:
Who is leading the Tour de France? Yellow jersey and general classification standings
Stage 12 begins
12:15 , Flo CliffordThe riders are off for the neutralised start in Auch, with racing set to get underway properly in around 10 minutes.
The opening week of the Tour de France showed one chink in Tadej Pogacar’s armour
12:07 , Flo CliffordHow will Tadej Pogacar’s crash affect him today? At the end of stage 10 I took a look at how the opening week of racing played out.
It largely went as expected in terms of how the GC is shaping up - but there are worrying signs for Pogacar, and if he’s not at his best following yesterday’s crash, Visma-Lease a Bike will surely punish him in the Pyrenees this week.
The opening week of the Tour de France showed one chink in Tadej Pogacar’s armour
Stage 11 reaction: Tadej Pogacar
11:59 , Flo Clifford“I'm quite okay. I'm a bit beaten up, but we've been through worse days,” Pogacar said after his late crash on the approach to Toulouse.
“Unfortunately one rider decided to follow from left to right side of the road, and he didn't see me, and he just completely cut me off, my front wheel. Luckily I just have a little bit of skin off. I was scared when I saw the sidewalk that I was going with my head directly to the sidewalk, but luckily my skin is tough and stopped me.
“Tomorrow is a big day coming. We'll see how I recover. Normally the day after a crash you're never at the best, but I will give my best tomorrow and we'll see. I think we're ready as a team for Hautacam.”
Stage 11 reaction: Ben Healy
11:52 , Flo Clifford“Honestly I think I’ve lost a few years off my life after today because it was pretty stressful,” Ben Healy said at the finish. “The team did a super effort to keep me in it, I missed a split early on but from then on we were on the ball all day. Few little attacks in the final there but able to stay with the group, really happy I’ve managed to hold onto yellow for another day.
“The family’s all flown out just to see me in yellow, which is so special. Just been a crazy, crazy couple of days. I’m optimistic, I think it’s going to be a pretty hard fight to hold onto yellow, but I’m going to find right until the end, and hopefully have some super legs tomorrow.”
Asked about Pogacar’s crash, he said, “I was on the right of him, honestly I didn’t really see what happened, just hope that he’s okay.”
Stage 11 reaction: Jonas Abrahamsen
11:45 , Flo Clifford“I broke my collarbone four weeks in Belgium Tour, I was crying because I thought I wasn’t riding the Tour de France,” Jonas Abrahamsen said at the end of stage 11. “Every day I did everything I could to come back. To win a stage at the Tour de France is amazing. It was so difficult to pass [Mauro Schmid] but I was thinking, I have to win the stage. A lot of people wonder why do you go in the breakaway, the main goal for the team was to take a stage. I’m so proud of the team.
“From metre zero I was sprinting out of the car so I have to be smart [at the finish], not go over the limit in the end, I was hoping to take him in the sprint. It’s so nice to get the victory now. ”
General classification after stage 11
11:38 , Flo Clifford- Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) in 41:01:13
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), +29”
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), +1'29”
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), +1'46”
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), +2'06”
- Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels), +2’26”
- Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), +3’24”
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +3’34”
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +3’41”
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), +5’03”
Stage 11 results
11:31 , Flo Clifford- Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno X-Mobility) in 3:15:56
- Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla)
- Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +7”
- Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-Caps) +53”
- Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
- Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious)
- Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies)
- Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), all at same time
- Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) +1’11”
‘I’m a bit beaten up’: Tadej Pogacar caught out in late crash as Jonas Abrahamsen wins stage 11
11:24 , Flo CliffordStage 11 was also notable for a late crash by defending champion Tadej Pogacar, who overlapped wheels with Tobias Halland Johannessen and hit the deck with 4km to go.
The Slovene was up and running quickly again as a neutral service mechanic helped fix his chain, but faced a race to get back onto the yellow jersey group until they sportingly knocked off the pace to allow him to get back on.
“I'm quite okay. I'm a bit beaten up, but we've been through worse days,” Pogacar said afterwards. “Really big respect to everybody in front. Obviously the race was more or less over back there, but still, they could take time – maybe not take too much time – but I would need to go really deep to come back like this.”
Full story here:
‘I’m a bit beaten up’: Pogacar caught out in late crash as Abrahamsen wins stage 11
Stage 11 recap
11:17 , Flo CliffordWednesday’s stage 11 featured a feelgood story as Jonas Abrahamsen, only four weeks on from breaking his collarbone at the Baloise Belgium Tour, jumped into the breakaway from kilometre zero and stayed away until the finish, winning a tight two-up sprint against breakaway companion and Tour debutant Mauro Schmid.
It was a maiden grand tour win for the intrepid breakaway specialist - best known for his long stint in the king of the mountains jersey last year - a first Tour de France win for Norway since Alexander Kristoff won stage 1 of the 2020 edition, and a first for his team Uno X-Mobility, who were overcome with emotion as they celebrated.
Abrahamsen and Schmid were part of a five-man group including British rider Fred Wright, who ultimately finished seventh, and who worked well together to hold off another quintet of chasers including Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. Van der Poel attacked on the final climb of the punchy 157km stage and dropped his companions, but despite his best efforts could not bridge across to the pair of survivors out front, who finished seven seconds ahead of the Dutchman.
“I broke my collarbone four weeks ago in [the Baloise] Belgium Tour, I was crying because I thought I wasn’t riding the Tour de France,” Abrahamsen said at the finish, recalling how he got onto his turbo trainer at home the day after in a desperate bid to get back to fitness in time to make the squad.
“Every day I did everything I could to come back. To win a stage at the Tour de France is amazing. It was so difficult to pass [Schmid] but I was thinking, ‘I have to win the stage’.”
Stage 12 start time
11:12 , Flo CliffordStage 12 begins with the neutralised start at 1.10pm local time (12.10pm BST), with an expected finish time at 5.30pm local time (4.30pm BST).
Stage 12 route map and profile
11:08 , Flo Clifford
Stage 12 preview
11:04 , Flo CliffordAfter an opening week and a bit of skirmishing between the big guns, with Monday’s stage 10 a test run for Visma-Lease a Bike’s strategy of trying to isolate Pogacar as much as possible, the real racing kicks off today.
That’s because we finally reach the mountains: the riders are into the Pyrenees, with today’s route spanning 180km from Auch to Hautacam, with 3,850m of elevation gain along the way.
Four categorised climbs are on the menu: the cat-four Cote de Labatmale is a bit of a gentle warm-up, before back-to-back ascents of the cat-one Col du Soulor (11.8km at an average of 7.3%) and the cat-two Col des Borderes (3.1km at an average 7.7%), with just a short descent breaking the two up.
There’s then a long, broken-up descent off the Borderes before the gradient rises again up to Hautacam: 13.5km at an average of 7.8%, a far cry from the short, sharp climbs in Normandy and Brittany that littered the first week’s action.
The formidable Hautacam is the first hors-categorie climb of the race and it’s a summit finish to boot, with plenty of points on offer in the King of the Mountains competition but more importantly, it may as well be bait for the marauding Pogacar to stamp his authority on the race, wrestle back the yellow jersey, and add to his already impressive haul of 19 Tour stage wins and counting.
Good morning
11:00 , Flo CliffordBonjour and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of stage 12 of the Tour de France!
The battle for yellow well and truly kicks off today with the first hors-categorie climb of this year’s race, the formidable Hautacam. Fireworks incoming...
