On a day that the 2019 Tour de France general classification contenders decided to keep their powder dry ahead of Friday's individual time trial in Pau, a large breakaway animated the day during stage 12.
Tour de France: Simon Yates wins stage 12
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In the end, it was Mitchelton-Scott's Simon Yates who won the stage from a three-rider move that separated itself from the rest of the escapees. Yates joined Pello Bilboa (Astana) and Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) off the front for the finale in Bagnères-de-Bigorre after the trio emerged from an initial 42-rider break group with an attack on the final climb of Horquette d'Ancizan.
In the ensuing descent and run to the line, the trio built a gap of nearly one-and-a-half minutes as the chasers could not bring them back into the fold. Yates took the sprint ahead of Bilboa, with Mühlberger in third.
Heading into Friday's 27.2km time trial, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) continues to lead the Team Ineos duo of Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal by 1:12 and 1:16, respectively.
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