German cyclist Nils Politt won the 12th stage of the 108th Tour de France. The driver of the stable Bora-Hansgrohe prevailed after the escape and managed the 159.4 km long route from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nimes in 3:22:12 h.
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Photo: SITA/AP, Daniel cole
Nils Politt celebrates a triumph in the 12th stage of the Tour.
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The Spaniard Imanol Erviti (Movistar) finished second and the Australian Harry Sweeny (Lotto Soudal) finished third.
Slovenian Tadej Pogačar from the UAE-Team Emirates stable kept the yellow jersey for the overall leader.
Slovak Peter Sagan from Bory-Hansgrohe resigned from the race before Thursday’s stage due to a knee injury he suffered after a fall in the 3rd stage and later recovered.
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For the 27-year-old Politta, it was the biggest success of his career and only the second victory.
“Unbelievable, every cyclist dreams of winning a stage on the Tour. Today we were unlucky when Peter had to resign because of his knee.
It was blowing from the start of the stage, but we were ready for it. I felt good and I wanted to put everything into it. There were a lot of fast racers in that escape, so I had to attack and make the race difficult.
Then the sports director told me that this was the last hill on the track, so I put everything into it. I’m glad that those seconds started bouncing there, coming alone to the finish line of the stage on the Tour is amazing. This victory is my life’s success, “he said in a television interview.
he did it!!! pic.twitter.com/TCnY8ZU0ga
— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) July
8, 2021
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On Thursday, a shorter route was on the program with the only categorized climb of the Côte du Belvédre (4.5 km, 4.5%) in the middle of the track. However, the situation was complicated by a strong wind, for which they delayed the start by ten minutes.
Immediately after, the peloton in the crosswind began to tear and four groups formed with slight distances.
This was used by the athletes at the helm and created a strong thirteen-member escape, which André Greipel (Israel Start-Up Nation), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Erviti, Politt, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Stefan Bissegger (EF Education -Nippo), Connor Swift (Arkea Samsic), Harry Sweeny, Brent van Moer (both Lotto Soudal), Luka Mezgec (BikeExchange), Sergio Henao (Qhubeka), Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies) and world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) ).
However, none of them could jeopardize Pogachar’s position at the top of the overall standings.
Nils Politt took the win after attacking from the
day’s breakaway and claimed his first Tour victory!See his last KM ⬇️
Nils Politt won solo after a well-placed attack. His first stage victory on the Tour! #TDF2021
pic.twitter.com/Gk81vGhd8v– Tour de France ™ (@LeTour) July
8, 2021
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The group cooperated very well and thanks to the wind in the back, its lead increased rapidly. After 40 km, she had a good seven and in the middle of the track even ten minutes.
It was so obvious that there would be no mass spurt in Nimes, but the winner would come from the competitors in the escape. In the peloton, the drivers of Pogačar’s team guarded the situation so that some of his competitors would not break away in the wind.
Fifty kilometers before the finish, the escape had a lead of more than 12 minutes and at that time it was under attack. Politt tried it first, he was overtaken by Sweeny and Mezgec, but soon by the others as well, so the group continued together.
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However, the arms peace lasted only a moment, as 39 km before the end, a four-minute lead was created by a four-minute lead, in which Politt and Sweeny were again missing and Küng and Erviti joined.
Their attempt worked and they gradually increased the lead over a minute. On the last climb without a category (3.9 km, 3%), Sweeny attacked again and Küng fell out of the four.
At the end of the hill, Politt set off and was left alone in front. He was ahead of two pursuers by about 15 seconds and only ten kilometers ahead of the wind and partly downhill.
The 27-year-old German cyclist could no longer take the victory and achieved the greatest success of his career so far.
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We watched Politt’s triumph after the escape ONLINE
The attacks in the peloton, which reached the finish line with a deficit of more than a quarter of an hour, did not occur and so Pogačar maintained a lead of 5:18 minutes over the second Rigobert Uranus from Colombia (EF Education – Nippo).
The leader of the scoring competition is the British Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep), the dotted jersey was kept by the Colombian Nairo Quintana (Arkéa Samsic).
On Friday, the program is 219.9 km long and flat stage from Nîmes to Carcassonne.
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Fakty z Tour de France
Výsledky 12. etapy (Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux – Nimes, 159.4 km): 1. Nils Politt (Nem./Bora-Hansgrohe) 3:22:12 h, 2. Imanol Erviti (Šp. / Movistar) +31 s, 3. Harry Sweeny (Aus./Lotto Soudal) same time, 4. Stefan Küng (CHE / Groupama-FDJ) +1: 58, 5. Luka Mezgec (Slovenia / BikeExchange) +2: 06, 6. André Greipel (Germany / Israel Start-up Nation), 7. Edward Theuns (Belg ./Trek-Segafredo), 8. Brent van Moer (Belg./Lotto Soudal), 9. Julian Alaphilippe (Fr./Deceuninck-QuickStep), 10. Sergio Henao (Col. (Qhubeka-NextHash) all the same time
Overall ranking: 1. Tadej Pogačar (Slovenian / UAE Team Emirates) 47:22:43 h, 2. Rigoberto Uran (Col./EF Education-Nippo) +5: 18, 3. Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark / Jumbo-Visma) + 5:32, 4. Richard Carapaz (Ekv./Ineos Grenadiers) +5: 33, 5. Ben O’Connor (Aus./AG2R Citroën) +5: 58 min, 6. Wilco Kelderman (Hol./Bora-Hansgrohe ) +6: 16, 7. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz./Astana-Premier Tech) +6: 30, 8. Enric Mas (Sp. / Movistar) +7: 11, 9. Guillaume Martin (Fr./Cofidis) + 9:29, 10. Pello Bilbao (Spanish / Bahrain-Victorious) +10: 28
Scoring competition: 1. Mark Cavendish (V.Brit./Deceuninck-QuickStep) 221 b, 2. Michale Matthews (Aus./BikeExchange) 162, 3. Jasper Philipsen (Belg./Alpecin-Fenix) 142
Mountaineering competition: 1. Nairo Quintana (Kol./Arkea-Samsic)
50 b, 2. Wout van Aert (Belg./Jumbo-Visma) 43, 3. Michael Woods (Kan./Israel
Start-Up Nation) 42
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