Before diving into Stage 12, an update on the disqualification after the Stage 11 sprint. His team HTC-Columbia appealed to race organisers to reinstate Mark Renshaw, after two minor infractions, but apparently there is nothing in the race rules to allow such an appeals process, and so Renshaw was at the train station this morning on his way home. A veritable injustice, given that a great deal of barging goes unpunished in sprints (and far worse happens in keirin track racing!); and it seems okay for two of the riders in the current tour to have a fist fight with each other, and only get fined. The general consensus is that the organizers made a big mistake here, but it’s done now…
Onto Stage 12, from Bourg-de-Péage to Mende, a deceptive and incredibly challenging stage of 210.5 km. Not a flat stage by any means, with two category 2 climbs, the second of them the steepest climb of the Tour at 13% gradient, right before the finish. Today’s stage very nearly became a case of “All Change” with those colored cycling shirts. As it happened, Yellow clung on, and Green and Polka Dot swapped hands again for the second time in 24 hours.
The first quarter of the race featured several attempted escapes, none of which made the most of it, and were reeled back into the chasing group. The Polka Dot Jersey Pineau was involved in a crash during the first climb, but was fine and rejoined the peloton. In general the escape groups managed to rack up no more than half a minute over the hunting pack of the peloton before being recaptured.
The second climb of the stage saw a splinter group of 18 riders amass a lead of over 20 seconds over the others by the time they reached the summit. This allowed them to breakaway. The important riders in this group with regard to the General Classification were Hesjedal in 12th place and Vinokourov in 14th. Also part of this group was Charteau who wanted his King of the Mountains jersey back and Hushovd, who was fighting to re-acquire the Green Jersey. Hushovd came second in the first of the two intermediate sprints of the stage, which put him on level pegging with Petacchi.
(Photo of Joaquim Rodriguez, by Haggisnl. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)
It was Saxo Bank and Lampre doing the pace making in the peloton to reduce the time deficit as they finished the fourth climb. Then with the second intermediate sprint won by Hushovd, who punched the air, delighted to have got his Green Jersey back, a break was initiated from the front of the leading pack. This was led by Klöden, who was immediately marked by Hesjedal, Kiryienka and Vinokourov. The race was now in three sections: the leading four man group, followed by the remnants of the initial 18 man breakaway, who were pursued by the peloton. Cervelo, Liquigas and Saxo Bank all pulled together to drag the leaders back, and made ground on them as the race continued into its final stages. With 25 km left to go, the cumulative strain that Farrar had put on his body – riding with a broken wrist – finally led him to exit the Tour, and get into his team car for a lift to the end. An irony as it was Farrar and his lead-out man that were involved in the fracas leading to Renshaw’s ejection from the tournament!
The remaining fragments of the original escape group were caught in Mende about 6 km from the finish, and then the stretched out peloton began mounting the final category climb; not a very long one, but extremely steep. Vinokourov attack his small group of leading rider and got away, whilst back in the peloton, Rodriguez (KAT) made his move rather unexpectedly. Schleck had a minor moment of loss of concentration and reacted late when he saw Contador take off after Rodriguez. Schleck – the Yellow Jersey – kept his calm, realised that he was too late to get onto Contador’s wheel, and sat back.
The finish was to be contested by Vinokourov, his team mate Contador and Rodriguez; to Vino’s displeasure, the other two overtook him, and onto the final straight played cat and mouse. This was an unusual move for Contador, who was constantly looking back for Rodriguez’s move. At this stage the result was very predictable as Rodriguez is the superior sprinter, and so he eased past Contador and took his first ever Stage victory in his first Tour de France. Vinokourov came in third after Contador, who had probably wasted a few seconds worrying about a stage victory, but who nevertheless gained 10 seconds in his GC chase to catch Schleck. Schleck rolled in in fifth spot in a group of five riders. So Stage 12 produced another dramatic day, with two of the prize jersey swapping hands again, Contador gaining on the Yellow Jersey, and the retirement from the race of Tyler Farrar.
The Stage 12 Results and GC Standings are as follows:
1. Schleck (SAX)
2. Contador (AST)
3. S.Sanchez (EUS)
4. Menchov (RAB)
5. Van Den Broeck (OLO)
6. Leipheimer (RSH)
7. Gesink (RAB)
8. Rodriguez Oliver (KAT)
9. LL.Sanchez (GCE)
10. Kreuziger (LIQ)
1. Rodriguez Oliver
2. Contador
3. Vinokourov
4. Van Den Broeck
5. Schleck
6. S.Sanchez
7. Klöden
8. Menchov
9. Gesink
10. Kreuziger
So after Stage 12, the Yellow Jersey was retained by Schleck; the Green Jersey was returned to Hushovd from Petacchi; the Polka Dot Jersey switched back to Charteau from Pineau; and Gesink wears the White Jersey.
Stage 13 is 196 km with 7 categorised hills, none of which individually is overly challenging, but the route will be undulating as they are all fairly close together. It might be another day for the sprinters.
