Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) won Stage 12 in emphatic fashion, attacking the ascents and reaching the final summit in Peyragudes as first rider across the finish line, to capture his first stage victory of the 104th Tour de France.
From the departure in Pau, a three-rider attack group immediately formed, made up of Guillame van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Group Gobert), Michael Gogl (Trek-Segafredo), and Marcus Burghardt (Bora-Hangrohe).
The attack group would quickly be reigned in however, as they would be back in the field less than 4 kilometers later.
Many small surges would take place over the next few kilometers before a true lead group finally solidified after 18 kilometers, made up of Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), Stefan Kung (BMC), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Cyril Gautier (AG2R La Mondiale), Koen de Kort (Trek-Segafredo), Julien Simon (Cofidis), Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Jack Bauer (Quick-Step Floors), and Imanol Erviti (Movistar).
By the 40 kilometer mark the lead group had built their cushion on the peloton to 2'45'', and after the end of the stage's first hour had covered 48.5 kilometers.
The attack group's lead had increased to over 4' after 60 kilometers of racing, as Thomas de Gendt was the first rider to capture the King of the Mountains point on the Cote de Capvern.
A little over two hours into the stage, the leaders reached the sole intermediate sprint of the day in Loures-Barousse. On a contested sprint to the line, Michael Matthews narrowly edged out green jersey holder Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors), as Thomas de Gendt followed closely after in third.
110 kilometers into the stage the attack group held onto a 6' gap on the chase, with Thomas de Gendt once again reaching the summit first, as the Belgian rider captured 5 more points towards the polka dot jersey.
Marcel Kittel was dropped early on the third categorized climb of the day, up the Col de Mente, as Michael Matthews beat out Thomas de Gendt to the summit, followed by Julien Simon, Diego Ulissi, and Cyril Gautier. Matthews fought valiantly on the ascent to take points away from de Gendt, who is chasing Matthews' Team Sunweb teammate Warren Barguil for the polka dot jersey.
As the lead pack approached the Port de Bales ascent, Fortuneo-Oscaro riders Brice Feillu and Maxime Bouet put in a surge of their own as they formed their own chase pack in front of the peloton.
On the punishing climb to the summit of Port de Bales, the lead pack slowly dwindled, as Michael Matthews, Diego Ulissi, Stegan Kung, and Cyril Gautier were dropped until only Stephen Cummings and Thomas de Gendt remained in the lead.
3 kilometers from the summit, Cummings decided to make his move as the Dimension Data rider pushed to drop Thomas de Gendt and put a gap greater than 1' between the two.
Cummings was the first rider to reach the summit on Port de Bales, capturing 20 points in the mountains classification, as de Gendt summited 1'20'' later, followed by Warren Barguil and the chase pack.
On the penultimate climb of the day on the Col de Peyragudes, Cummings was finally reeled in by the chase pack of 11 riders, made up of eight of the top ten general classification riders, including Chris Froome (Team Sky), Fabio Aru (Astana), Romain Bardet, Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac), Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors), George Bennett (Lotto NL-Jumbo), Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), Simon Yates (Orica-Scott), and Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates).
Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) reached the summit of the Col de Peyragudes first, and was subsequently dropped by the lead pack along with Alberto Contador.
On the final ascent to the finish line in Peyragudes, Romain Bardet proved to be the strongest rider in the final kilometer as he pulled away from the charging Fabio Aru and Rigoberto Uran to capture a thrilling victory on Stage 12 of the 104th Tour de France.
The top five finishers, from first to fifth, were comprised of Romain Bardet, Rigoberto Uran, Fabio Aru, Mikel Landa (Team Sky), and Chris Froome.
For his third place effort on the stage, Fabio Aru will wear the Maillot Jaune for the first time at this year's Tour de France, as the Astana rider holds a 6'' second advantage over Froome going into Stage 13.
Marcel Kittel will retain the green jersey as leader of the points classification, while Warren Barguil will wear the polka dot jersey once again as King of the Mountains, and Simon Yates maintains his place atop the best young rider classification.
Team Sky will also once again hold their lead in the team classification ahead of AG2R La Mondiale after Stage 12.
Stage 13 will be a uniquely short stage, covering only 100 kilometers through the Pyrenees Mountains, from the village of Saint-Girons to the town of Foix.
Comments
Post a Comment