The Swiss Marc Hirschi (22) won the twelfth stage in the Tour in Sarran. The Swiss from Team Sunweb finished solo after an attack of about 30 km. Earlier, the young attacker already finished second and third in this Tour. Primoz Roglic remains the leader.
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Gele troi: Primoz Roglic
Green jersey: Sam Bennett
Polka-dot jersey: Benoît Cosnefroy
White jersey: Egan Bernal
How did victory come about?
Immediately after the start it rained escape attempts and after fifteen minutes of trying, four riders were able to make a gap: the Spaniards Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and the Germans Nils Politt (Israel-Start-Up Nation) and Max Walscheid ( NTT). The platoon seemed to give them safe conduct, but there were reactions anyway. Two riders were successful: the French Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Direct Energy) and the Dane Kasper Asgreen. After an hour of chasing, the duo was able to join the front. In the peloton, Bora-hansgrohe, later helped by Team CCC, kept the gap within limits.
In the run-up to the Côte de la Croix du Pey, only Asgreen and Ervitti remained, but they too were caught before the top. After which Tiesj Benoot disbanded his devils, together with his Danish Sunweb teammate Soren Kragh Andersen. They were joined by the Marc Soler (Movistar) and the Spaniard immediately left them on the spot. However, he was quickly revived by the duo, which had meanwhile been joined by the Swiss Marc Hirschi (also Sunweb), the French Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) and the German Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe).
Behind it a chasing group formed with two Belgians: Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and Dries Devenyns. but also Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Alessandro de Marchi (CCC), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Michael Gogl (NTT Pro Cycling), Kenny Elissonde (Trek -Segafredo), Sébastian Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) and Nicolas Roche (Sunweb), but the peloton was not far. From that peloton the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) made the jump.
Hirschi went solo on the Suc au May (3.8 km at 7.7%). At the top (at 25 km from the finish) he was 20 seconds ahead of Soler and Schachmann and forty over the remnants of the chasing group with Alaphilippe and Devenyns, but without Benoot, Stuyven, Jungels, De Marchi and Lutsenko, for example.
The peloton followed at 1’40 ”. In the descent Hirschi increased his lead and Alaphilippe tried unsuccessfully to jump away from the pursuers, who did get hold of Soler and Schachmann. But Hirschi held his ground and finally got that well-deserved stage victory. Pierre Roland finished second in 46 seconds, ahead of Kragh Andersen.
Who else was in the spotlight?
Thomas De Gendt, Oliver Naesen and especially Jasper Stuyven were very active in the beginning but missed the early breakaway. Stuyven was also in the group with Hirschi but had to drop out on the steep Suc au May. Tiesj Benoot, who set the pace for Hirschi, also had to pass there. Do take along: Dries Devenyns, who then drove the hell out of team mate Alaphilippe. Strong Belgians employed, but they did not compete for the prizes.
Greg Van Avermaet finished second in the peloton after Sagan, good for a fourteenth place.
What did the favorites do?
They stayed nicely in the peloton and did not interfere in the debates.
Anything else you should know?
Peter Sagan does not want to give up the battle for the green jersey yet, but in the intermediate sprint, Sam Bennett was again the first to cross the line after the breakaway. As teammate Michael Morkov also qualified for Sagan, the Irishman increased his lead by two extra points. At the finish, Sagan took four points back by winning the sprint for thirteenth place from what was left of the peloton. He remains 66 points behind Bennett despite wasting a lot of energy.
Ilnur Zakarin went down on Wednesday before the official start and broke a rib. The Russian of Team CCC tried in stage 12 but got into the car halfway through.
The reaction of stage winner Hirschi:
The outcome:
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