TDF Stage 12 Report and Results 2014 Tour De France

Stage 12 Race Report - as it happened:

Stage 12 on the map

185.5k from Bourg-en-Bresse to Saint-Étienne

Rolling; 4 low-grade climbs on the way. Fast, flat finish.

Weather: Sunny and hot, 89f. Very little wind.

178 riders took the start today.

DNS: Andrew Talansky ; despite yesterday's valiant effort, the American was not able to continue in the race.

A 4-man break leads on the road: Rast (TFR), Clarke (OGE), Vachon (BSE). De La Cruz (TNE).

They build about a six-minute advantage over the first 40k.

Sebastian Langeveld (GRS) connects up with the lead group, and we've got a 5-man breakaway group now. But their lead is coming down...

*km 39.5: INT (Romaneche Thorins):

1. Vachon  2. Rast  3. Clarke  4. De La Cruz  5. Langeveld  6. Kittel  7. Coquard  8. Renshaw  9. Feillu  10. Greipel  11. Sagan  12. Sabatini  13. Viviani  14. Veelers  15. Gene

Stage 12 profile

-130k: The break has a 3:45 advantage over the peloton. It seems early for the peloton to be chasing down the break, but the teams have their strategies. Sprinters' teams who hope to contest the finish will want to keep the break on a reasonably tight leash. Giant Shimano are driving the pace now.

 TO CONTINUE, click on "Read more..." in blue, just below these words.

Stage 12 Recap and comments 2013 Vuelta a España

After almost an entire year, Philippe Gilbert of Team BMC has broken the curse of the rainbow jersey. The World Champion beat Edvald Boasson Hagen to the finish line on stage 12 at the Vuelta a España today. Gilbert took his first win since his victory at the 2012 World Championship Road Race last September 23^rd.

World Champ Gilbert breaks the curse

The finale of stage 12 appeared to be more difficult than the profile suggested. More inclines (though not steep) in the final kilometer particularly made a difference. The stage did come down to a bunch sprint finish, as expected, but it proved to be slightly more selective than I anticipated. 

The peloton caught the stage’s three early escapees inside of 19k to go, and a large field of riders was on hand to contest the finish. Edvald Boasson Hagen launched an impressive attack in the final 250 meters and built a quick gap, but Gilbert managed to come from behind and overtake the big Norwegian from Team Sky, in the last 20 meters. Both riders are tuning up for the upcoming World Championships in Tuscany. There, Gilbert will try to defend the rainbow bands in a 280k course that is supposed to be a difficult one.

Stage 12 Preview 2013 Vuelta a España

Fabian Cancellara put the big gears to work in the TT

Before the Vuelta began Fabian Cancellara expressed little interest in today’s hilly 38.8k time trial course. His primary goal, he said, was to train for the upcoming World Championships. The Swiss TT master has been a big part of Horner’s success so far, driving the train on all kinds of terrain, setting strong paces in the peloton, and nabbing a couple of stage podium finishes for himself and his Radioshack-soon to be-Trek team in the process.

Because of Cancellara’s value on the road to his Radioshack team, today’s hilly parcours, and Tony Martin’s post-reconnaissance statement that it was a course for the climbers, I was not sure Spartacus would go full gas today—or if he did, that he could pull out a win. But I guess you can’t take the time trial out of the time trialer.   

Cancellara’s time proved to be the best on the road today. He says he is still deciding about which race

Stage 12 Report and Results 2013 Tour De France

 

218k from Fougeres to Tours; flat

Weather: Sunny, temp 73-80 f (mid 20’s c); winds 10-15mph

Judges said crash not Cav's (R) fault

Not everyone agrees about who was at fault in the Mark Cavendish-Tom Veelers crash incident the other day. As you know, Cav paid a price already when someone threw urine at him during the time trial on Wednesday. Despite the Tour De France race judges’ ruling, Mark Cavendish has been disinvited to the Boxmeer Classic bike race later this month. A published quote from the race organizer displayed strong feelings against the Manxman.

TO THE ACTION:

A 5-man break got away at km2: Mori (LAM), Flecha (VCD), Gavazzi (AST), Delaplace (SOJ), Sicard (EUS).

Stage 12 Profile

No one who could threaten the overall standings is in the break. The highest placed rider in the break is Manuele Mori at about 50 minutes back.

The GC riders will look at this as a rest day, while the sprinters’ teams will want to chase down the break and set up a bunch sprint finish.

The riders have a nice cross tailwind helping them down the road, which gives the GC guys an even easier day.

Stage 12 route

km42: The lead maxes out around 9:00.

-125k: The gap to the peloton is 7:21.

-115k: the lead is 6:39.

-113.6k crash, Kadri, Geniez: Kadri goes over the handlebars, his bike bounces off the road and spins up into the air, narrowly missing an Orica GreenEdge rider on the right (Michael Albasini I think).

-100k: The gap is now 6:20 as the riders have just gone through the feed zone.

-99k: Crash: Smukulis.

-94k: Bike change, Andy Schleck.

EBH (Boasson Hagen), bike change.

-85k: The lead is 5:34 now.

The tailwind has the race going ten minutes ahead of the fastest expected time.

Stage 12 Preview 2013 Tour De France

Stage 11 winner Tony Martin on the podium

The stage 11 individual time trial shook up the overall standings on Wednesday, mostly in Chris Froome’s favor. Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde is trailing Froome by 3:25 in second place. Bauke Mollema of Belkin retained third place, and now trails Froome by 3:37. Froome has a comfortable buffer now, going into the next few stages. The GC won’t get another real shake up until stage 15 to the stark summit of Mont Ventoux.

Stage 12 on the map

Alberto Contador and Laurens Ten Dam swapped GC spots after the TT, “El Pistolero” taking fourth and Mollema’s teammate Ten Dam down to sixth. Roman Kreuziger held onto fifth place, and sits just behind his team leader, Contador.

With a fifth place finish in the TT, young Michal Kwiatkowski, Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s young Polish talent, moved himself well up in the standings from thirteenth overall to seventh. He also reclaimed the white jersey off the back of Movistar’s Nairo Quintana, and now leads the Colombian in that competition by :34. Quintana dropped one spot from seventh to eighth today. Roman Bardet the rider in third place among young riders, trails Kwiatkowski by 6:53. It really looks like a two-man duel for the white jersey from here on.

Stage 12 cuts southeast to Tours

Another Movistar talent, Rui Costa climbed from tenth to ninth overall. The new top-ten is rounded out by Jean-Christophe Peraud of Ag2R, whose top-20 finish in the TT was good enough to move him up from 14^th to tenth. Team Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez and Garmin’s Dan Martin dropped out of the top ten.

Omega Pharma-Quickstep was the best team of the day in the TT, with Tony Martin, Michal Kwiatkowski and Sylvain Chavanel all finishing inside the top ten.

Movistar retains the lead in the overall team competition.

Stage 12 Profile

Weather is expected to be 28c (82f) and sunny for stage 12.

Stage 12 is a 218-kilometer mostly flat run from Fougeres to Tours. It is the first of three consecutive stages that cut southeast across France toward the Tour’s rendezvous with the Alps.

The sprinters will do their best to force a bunch sprint finish. Marcel Kittel of Argos Shimano was the first to score two stage wins, but Peter Sagan is holding on to a comfortable lead in the green jersey competition. Mark Cavendish and André Greipel will work to get their lead-out trains firing on all cylinders to set them up for a shot at the stage win.

MY PICK: I am going with Mark Cavendish for stage 12. I am counting on him coming back from the stage 11 urine-tossing incident full of fire and eager to prove something. 

Combined profile for the next three stages, 12-14