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From the start right away, several riders always jumped away from the peloton but were mostly reeled in again. It was almost a copy of stage 10 two days ago. In the end Iso Izagirre of Team Cofidis secured the second stage win at this year’s Tour for his equipe.
Tour de France 2023: Stage 12 Report and Results
Contents
With a hilly course, this was an ideal terrain for riders hoping to get their chance in an escape group. This proved to be difficult as almost all groups or attempted breakaways were quickly caught up in the peloton. After 40 kilometres a crash halved the peloton into two groups. For David De La Cruz the Tour de France was finished after this.
The attacks continued and continued to fail. This changed with 100 kilometres left to ride. A group of initially two riders, Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma) and Mathias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) were step by step joined by several riders until they were a dozen. They finally were successful and established a gap of one minute. Julian Alaphilippe joined to make it 13.
This looked good in many ways as it promised to shake up the general classification a bit. Particularly since Thibaut Pinot managed to into that group. He was in 15th position with 9 minutes 36 seconds on Jonas Vingegaard. With less than 70 kilometres to ride, the gap between the front group and the group with Vingegaard was 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
As if this was not enough, Mathieu van der Poel tried to escape from this group to go for the stage win. And who could blame him? After having put in so much work for the yellow jersey, he was aiming for some glory for himself.
Alaphilippe and Pedersen Drop Back as Izigirre Built the Lead
The effort of jumping from the peloton to join the breakaway group was too much for Julian Alaphilippe and he dropped back alongside Mads Pedersen who may secretly have hoped to set up a stage win with a final sprint. He could not, alas, continue to keep up the pace to the final climb of the day and was distanced by Ion Izagirre of Cofidis who quickly built up a lead of more than 30 seconds.
It worked as the chasing group consisting of six riders could not follow due to Izagirre’s team mate Guillaume Martin who effectively disrupted the group’s rhythm thus helping his team mate to his second ever stage win at the Tour de France. He has had enough of a lead that he took the time to blow kisses at the crowd while cycling the final 500 metres.
👏Ion Izagirre wins in Belleville-en-Beaujolais!
👏Ion Izagirre gagne à Belleville-en-Beaujolais !#TDF2023 | @Continental_fr pic.twitter.com/ZFTDpZUENt
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 13, 2023
Final Stage 12 Results and Standings
- Ion Izagirre 3hr 51min 42sec
- Mathieu Burgaudeau +58sec
- Matteo Jorgenson +58sec
- Tiesj Benoot +1min 06sec
- Tobias Halland Johannessen +1min 11sec
- Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +1min 13secs
- Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) Same time
- Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) +1min 27secs
- Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar) Same time
- Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) +3mins 02secs
It was the second stage win for Cofidis this year ending a draught that lasted 15 years!
General Classification Standings After Stage 12
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 50hr 30min 23sec
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) +17sec
- Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2min 40sec
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4min 22sec
- Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) +4min 34sec
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +4mins 39secs
- Simon Yates (Team Jayco-Alula) +4mins 44secs
- Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) +5mins 26secs
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +6mins 01secs
- Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +6mins 33secs
The group with the favourites for the overall win crossed the finish line jointly. The run-in was a long one as the field was stretched out over several kilometres. Caleb Ewan made it to the line just within the given time frame of the winner’s time plus 10 per cent.
The favorites took it easy today. Too easy maybe as there were riders coming and going as they pleased. The biggest change came when Sepp Kuss dropped out of the Top Ten to be replaced by Thibaut Pinot who is 6 minutes 33 seconds behind Vingegaard. These were the most dramatic events of today’s stage with regards to the overall standings.
This was the calm before the storm. Tomorrow’s stage confronts the athletes with one of the longest climbs in the Tour’s history: the Grand Colombier, a climb of the highest category with 20 points at stake for the King of the Mountain but more importantly, victory of the Tour.
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