After the difficulty of the previous day, stage 12 will seem like a gentle roll over a couple of cat 2 climbs and some smaller cols after two intermediate sprints early in the stage. The King of the Mountains jersey competition will most likely feature on this day, and after his stage victory on a similar stage at the Tour de Suisse, Davitamon-Lotto's Axel Merckx may well feel he's in with a chance of picking up a Tour stage win. The riders then say goodbye to the Alps as they head over a couple of flat stages, where the Pyrenees await them, ready to split the field even more.
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As it happened: Swiss star delivers explosive victory after hectic run-in on stage 1 of La Vuelta Femenina
The opening day of racing at La Vuelta Femenina featured a 113km route from Maín to Salvaterra de Miño. -
Vuelta Femenina stage 1: Noemi Rüegg storms uphill sprint to beat Kopecky and Koch to first leader's jersey
Swiss star delivers a searing sprint at the end of a tricky and rainy opening day in Spain -
'How cool that The Traka 200 was won because of skill and not watts per kilo' – Sofia Gómez Villafañe hopes to inspire youngsters to work on bike handling
Gravel star takes pride in fact that winning move took shape on an early descent -
Tour of Turkey: Sebastian Berwick seals overall title as Tom Crabbe triples up with uphill sprint on final stage
Race ends with a punishing uphill sprint in Ankara
