Just days after putting in a stunning performance and nearly winning a stage, Marc Hirschi of the Sunweb squad gets his win in Stage 12 of the 2020 Tour de France. Hirschi went solo with 30km to go today, leaving a group of five attackers behind on the ascent of the Category 2 Such au May.
The day started with an early attack from World champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo). Shortly thereafter, Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Max Walscheid (NTT), Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Nils Politt (Israel Start-Up Nation) escaped at the 8km mark and fired up the chase from the peloton. Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Direct Energie) and Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick Step) bridges the gap at km 63 while Bora-Hansgrohe set the pace at the head of the peloton to keep the time gap under two minutes. The leaders managed to open up their advantage to 2’55″ at the climb of St-Martin-de-Terressus. The CCC Team also got involved in the chasewhen they passed through St-Léonard-de-Noblat (km 114), the village of Raymond Poulidor at half way into the race.
Hirschi Attacks
Asgreen and Erviti held on to the breakaway, still leading the peloton by 25 seconds with 50km remaining, but a fast peloton led by Bora-Hansgrohe, CCC and Sunweb soon captured them. After coming together, a new group of six riders was formed with Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Kragh Andersen, Tiesj Benoot and Marc Hirschi (Sunweb), Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) and Marc Soler (Movistar). Hirschi bested Soler to take the solo lead with 30km to go, opening up a gap of 18″ over Soler and Schachmann.
Hirschi extended his lead in the downhill while Soler and Schachmann chased 30 seconds back. With 10km to go, Soler and Schachmann were caught by a chasing group including Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step). The Frenchman unsuccessfully attacked from that group twice, but Hirschi was too strong. Frenchman Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) managed to go clear off the group to finish second. Peter Sagan won the sprint of the peloton comprising yellow jersey Primoz Roglic who came home safely.
2020 Tour de France Stage 12 Brief Results:
- Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb) at 5h08’49”
- Pierre Roland (B&B Hotels – Vital Concept) at 47″
- Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) at 52″
- Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels – Vital Concept) s.t
- Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) s.t.
- Maximilian Schachmann (BORA-hansgrohe) s.t.
- Hugo Houle (Astana Pro Team) s.t.
- Sebastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) s.t
- Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) at 56″
- Nicholas Roche (Team Sunweb) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 12:
- Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo-Visma) at 51h26’43”
- Egan Bernal Gómez (INEOS Grenadiers) at 21″
- Guillaume Martin (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) at 28″
- Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) at 30″
- Nairo Quintana Rojas (Team Arkéa Samsic) at 32″
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