Simon Yates won Stage 12 of the 2019 Tour de France out of a three man breakaway that was the remnants of a group of 40 riders that first escaped 38km into the race. Pello Bilbao crossed second and Gregor Muhlberger was in third to round out the podium. Race leader Julian Alaphilippe finished safely with the peloton to earn another day in the maillot jaune.
Stage 12 of the 2019 Tour de France, 209.5km from Toulouse to Bagnères-de-Bigorre, rolled out under sunny skies at 11:30am local time. Julian Alaphilippe started in the maillot jaune for seventh day and sat 1’12’’ ahead of Geraint Thomas and 1’16’’ ahead of Egan Bernal.
Alaphilippe told French TV at the start: “I’m motivated to defend the yellow jersey. I’ve kept saying the hardest is yet to come and it’s a hard stage today. I’ll give everything today and also tomorrow in the time trial. Everything from now on is just bonus for me. Today we can imagine all scenarios but the ideal one would be to race for the stage victory. It’s a stage that suits me really well. I would have loved to fight for the win, hadn’t I had the yellow jersey. It’s suitable for a breakaway and my goal is to retain the yellow jersey. But if the favourites contest the stage win, the finale pleases me a lot!”
The day started with many early attacks. Thomas De Gendt, Rohan Dennis, Peter Sagan, Joey Rosskopf (CCC) and Fabien Grellier (Total) all went for it, but the peloton was quick to react and bring them back.
Then, at km 22, it was Lennard Kämna who was soon joined by Pello Bilbao and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, but the race was all together again at km 30.
Finally, at km 38, the break of the day formed. There were 40 riders in there eventually, including 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).
By the Category 4 Côte de Montoulieu-Saint-Bernard, the gap to the peloton was 3’25”. It stretched to 4’45” by the feed zone (94km remaining).
Today’s effort proved to much for Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Dimension Data), who both got into their team cars during the stage.
Result of the intermediate sprint at Bagnères-de-Luchon, km 130.5:
- Peter Sagan, 20 pts
- Sonny Colbrelli, 17 pts
- Alexander Kristoff, 15 pts
- Jasper Stuyven, 13 pts
- Daniel Oss, 11 pts
- Cees Bol, 10 pts
- Tony Gallopin, 9 pts
- Julien Simon, 8 pts
- Nikias Arndt, 7 pts
- Tom Scully, 6 pts
Colbrelli moved to the front for the climb to the Peyresourde, followed by Kristoff. Calmejane has attacked from the breakaway group to rejoin Colbrelli and Kristoff.
Calmejane and Colbrelli led the rest of the break by 25”.
9km befofe the summit, Calmejane was alone in the lead with the peloton at 5’30”. He looked to take the points, but KOM leader Tim Wellens boosted across the gap to add to his lead.
- Tim Wellens, 10 points
- Serge Pauwels, 8
- Lilian Calmejane, 6
- Tiesj Benoot, 4
- Simon Clarke, 2
- Matthias Frank, 1
After the summit, Simon Clarke went out on his own for the descent and led the chase group by 19 seconds. The peloton crossed the summit 5’40” after the leaders.
Clarke’s gap continued to open, sitting at 1’10” with 43km to go.
As Clarke started climbing the Hourquette d’Ancizan, Matteo Trentin went on the attack from the chase group. 25 riders still chased 1’19” back from Clarke.
Clarke and Trentin were together 4.8km from the top of La Hourquette, but Trentin went on by and was soon joined by Mühlberger and Yates to take over the race lead 3.5km to the summit.
Yates turned up the throttle even more and only Mühlberger was able to hold on.
For the second KOM:
- Simon Yates, 10 points, 8’’ bonus
- Gregor Mühlberger, 8 pts, 5’’ bonus
- Pello Bilbao, 6 pts, 2’’ bonus
- Serge Pauwels, 4 pts
- Tony Gallopin, 2 pts
- Matteo Trentin, 1 pt
On the downhill, Bilbao made it across to Yates and Mühlberger. The chase group trailed 1’14” and was down to 9 riders, while the peloton sat at 8’13”. Tim Wellens and Peter Sagan both paid for their earlier efforts and were dangling at the back of the race.
11km to go and leading trio of Bilbao, Yates and Mühlberger continued to open a gap to the peloton. Meanwhile, it appeared that a few attacked the peloton to form a new chase group that was sitting 2’34” back. In that group was Greg Van Avermaet, Rui Costa, Simon Clarke, Ties Benoot and Oliver Naesen. The primary chase group was composed of Nicholas Roche, Matteo Trentin, Matthias Frank, Maximillian Schachmann, Dylan Teuns, Fabio Felline, Tony Gallopin and Serge Pauwels.
Under the flamme rouge, the leaders were jockeying for position, with no one really wanting to make the first move. It was Yates who took advantage of the final corners to make the jump and hold on for the win.
The peloton, led by Ineos, Deceuninck Quick Step and Movistar crossed the line more than 9’30” behind the leaders, with all of the GC contenders safely holding their place in the overall.
Stage 12 Brief Results:
- Simon Yates (Mitchelton Scott) at 4h57’53”
- Pello Bilbao (Astana) s.t.
- Gregor Mühlberger (Bora Hansgrohe) s.t.
- Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) at 1’28”
- Fabio Felline (Trek Segafredo) s.t.
- Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton Scott) s.t.
- Oliver Naesen (AG2r La Mondiale) s.t.
- Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.
- Simon Clarke (EF Education First) s.t.
- Jasper Stuyven (Trek Segafredo) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 12:
- Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick Step) at 47h 18′ 41″
- Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) at 1’12”
- Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) at 1’16”
- Steven Kruijswijk (Team Jumbo Visma) at 1’27”
- Emanuel Buchmann (Bora Hansgrohe) at 1’45”
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