Morning all, the tour continues, and today, we’re into altitude.

CycleStages, what’s going on?

At 209.5 kilometres, the Tour de France serves its first high altitude stage on the 12th day of action. Following the start in Toulouse the riders head into the Pyrenees for a race with a downhill finish in Bagnères-de-Bigorre.

The last time Bagnères-de-Bigorre was included as a stage finish on the Tour de France was in 2013. The race led over the Col de Portet-d’Aspet, Col de Menté, Col de Peyresourde, Col de Val Louron-Azet and La Hourquette d’Ancizan before ending with a descent of 30 kilometres. Daniel Martin bested Jakob Fuglsang in a two-up sprint, while the GC-contenders finished 29 seconds behind.

The 12th stage of the 2019 Tour de France is not as tough as that race. Following the start in Toulouse the route travels on flat to rolling roads for more than 120 kilometres before the first mountain appears. The Col de Peyresourde (13.2 kilometres at 7%) is crested at kilometre 138 and the riders plunge down to the valley. Up next is La Hourquette d’Ancizan, which is a 9.9 kilometres climb at 7.5%. The first three riders at its crest earn bonus seconds (8, 5 and 2) before the race ends with the same 30 kilometres downhill as five years ago.

The 2008 Tour de France also saw a stage from Toulouse to Bagnères-de-Bigorre. Featuring the Col de Peyresourde and the Col d’Aspin, the race ended with a descent to the finish. It was a dark period for cycling and Riccardo Riccò soloed to the win. When it appeared the Italian was fueled by dope, and was subsequently banned, runner-up Vladimir Efimkin became the winner.

Time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds are awarded to the first three riders on the line. Moreover, as said, the first three riders over La Hourquette d’Ancizan gain 8, 5 and 2 seconds.

The profile?

and a fairly hefty lump at 179km.

Who’s in the mix? INRNG has got you covered.

The Contenders: the breakaway has a great chance today because it can take time early and the final two climbs will probably see the GC riders watch each other closely, they’ll ride fast but it’s more to see who gets dropped from the front group rather than who can put in the biggest attack, especially as tomorrow’s the crucial Pau time trial. There’s also the self-reinforcing aspect that the upcoming summit finishes could be reserved for the GC contenders so for any baroudeurs wanting a stage win it’s today or next Wednesday’s stage to Gap. We can expect, or rather hope, there’s a huge battle to get in the break.

The two climbs mean the day’s winner will have to be on the lighter side but not a mountain goat, the Peyresourde rolls well and if someone loses a minute on the Hourquette d’Ancizan there’s still a chance to come back. Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) is an obvious pick but the long descent and flat finish aren’t ideal for him, he’d have to go solo from afar while team mate Tiesj Benoot can try again too has a sore knee. Bahrain-Merida have options with Matej Mohorič, Dylan Teuns and maybe Vincenzo Nibali too. The Sicilian has been losing time but his problem is that some of this is not deliberate, he’s more off the pace than he wanted to be, in his own words to La Gazzetta today he’s a bit “over” as in over done.

It’ll be interesting to see if the GC teams send riders ahead, this is a common tactic for Astana but they’ve not deployed it so far but Omar Fraile and veteran Luis Leon Sanchez are suited.

Alejandro Valverde has been on team duties for Movistar but if he wants a mountain stage this is the course for him, but maybe Movistar can deploy someone else like Carlos Verona today.

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) has a shot at the stage today, you can see a scenario where the breakaway is brought back and even if dropped on the Hourquette he could take back time on the descent and then win the sprint. But his problem is how hard his team will work today, they’ve contributed to containing the sprints, how much will they chase today?

Yesterday?
Sunflowers.

A tight finish

1 JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE 21 DECEUNINCK – QUICK – STEP 47H 18′ 41” – B : 24” –
2 GERAINT THOMAS 1 TEAM INEOS 47H 19′ 53” + 00H 01′ 12” – –
3 EGAN BERNAL 2 TEAM INEOS 47H 19′ 57” + 00H 01′ 16” – –
4 STEVEN KRUIJSWIJK 81 TEAM JUMBO – VISMA 47H 20′ 08” + 00H 01′ 27” – –
5 EMANUEL BUCHMANN 12 BORA – HANSGROHE 47H 20′ 26” + 00H 01′ 45” – –
6 ENRIC MAS 25 DECEUNINCK – QUICK – STEP 47H 20′ 27” + 00H 01′ 46” – –
7 ADAM YATES 101 MITCHELTON – SCOTT 47H 20′ 28” + 00H 01′ 47” – –
8 NAIRO QUINTANA 61 MOVISTAR TEAM 47H 20′ 45” + 00H 02′ 04” – –
9 DANIEL MARTIN 121 UAE TEAM EMIRATES 47H 20′ 50” + 00H 02′ 09” – –
10 THIBAUT PINOT 51 GROUPAMA – FDJ 47H 21′ 14” + 00H 02′ 33” B : 8” –

I think Dan Martin would be a good call if it weren’t for the fact that at 2’09” he’s too close to be allowed to go. I think I’m calling it for a breakwawy with the win either Wilco Kelderman or Michael Woods

You’d think Cummings would at least fancy a crack at today.

I’m still not sure about the time bonuses, I don’t like them in theory but equally, if we must have them then I don’t think 8 seconds makes it worthwhile to have a proper go from distance so something like 30 seconds would be better.

Depends on how the GC riders decide to play it. If it’s a cagey game of everyone looking at each other, settling into the mountains then the breakaway has a very good chance.

On the other hand if one of the favourites has a bad day, others might want to capitalise on that and put the pressure on in which case it could be all over the place.

First mountain stage is always quite intriguing. This is a pretty steady one though with a long fast run in to the finish so…. ??
I’d like to see Steve Cummings have a go.

Looking forward to this, i think we’re going to see Fireworks. Blam from Dan Martin, Blam from Yates, then Pinot kicks on and it all just explodes from there.. No massive gaps though as they’ll mark eachother out to an extent. But i expect to see 1-2 of the top 10 get a wake up call…. Which ones, i don’t know.

how technical is the final descent ? if it is technical could see an Ag2r Bardet suicidal special.

could see an Ag2r Bardet suicidal special

Exactly what I’m expecting today!

He’s got to get to the top first for that to happen…..

A break!

A break!

Please let it be a chuffing break!

Barguil or GvA.

Strong mans day.

That’s a huge breakaway!!

intermediate sprint chasers and puncheurs hoping to get 12-15 minute head start on the climbs but DQS are keeping them reigned in.

Yay Al Murray in Ned and David’s commentary booth.

why is Bardet always out the back, struggling to get back on ?

Rohan Dennis is out through illness. 🙁

nizzolo also out, he went down heavily yesterday

I see Simon Yates is in the break, is he up there to help Adam later on in the race?

what’s going on with Rohan Dennis?

Bahrain just tweeted this

Our priority is the welfare of all our riders so will launch an immediate investigation but will not be commenting further until we have established what has happened to @RohanDennis.

Very odd. All sorts of speculation on twitter. He probably just got the trots and stopped to use someone’s campervan.

He’s on the team bus apparently…

Luke Rowe pacing the peloton up the cat 1 highlights how passive most other GC teams are.

Sticking the first mountain stage before the ITT was never going to allow for a proper dust up between GC riders. The days before and after a rest day are always a bit more feisty.!

Nice finish 🤩

As cool as you like! (tissues for Whitey)

Rohan’s boss says his withdrawal was not due to physical issues, but wouldn’t say any more.

is he difficult to work with ?!

Had to watch late recorded highlights 🙁
brilliant result. It was indeed a nice ,canny finish.

I can’t see Bagnères-de-Bigorre without reading it as Bangers de Big Ears which came from a Ned Boulting book.

Weird about Rohan Dennis. The commentary just said “illness” but the following disappearance and media silence had done nothing but fuel speculation.

Bit on inrng comments re Dennis being hacked off about his tt kit and that his wheels were 40 watts slower than the best, maybe just a big hissy fit then.

I saw something similar but struggle to believe a Merida TT rig and it’s wheels would be so inferior to the BMC he was on last year. I think he wanted to get in the break and the DS called him back. He knew he had little chance in the ITT so wanted to go for the stage – the downhill finish might have suited him.

My money’s on him calling up Doug Ryder and getting a spot with Dimension Data/NTT and their BMC bikes for next year.