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Tour de France 2019: Stage 12

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Hello from Toulouse. The minutes are counting down to the start of stage 12.  

It's time to head into the Pyrenees for the first high mountain stage of this year's Tour de France.

We're just a few minutes from the roll out. All the riders have signed on. We're ready to rock and roll in the Pyrenees. 

The riders are lined-up under cloudy skies, with stage 11 winner Caleb Ewan and yellow jersey Julian Alaphilippe the last to take his place up front in the special front grid reserved for the jersey wearers and winners. 

They're off! 

The stage started in the shadows of the Toulouse FC stadium. The riders face an 11km-neutralised sector before the flag drops and the racing begins. 

The stage is 209.5km long and so the riders face close to 220km in the saddle. 

Stage 12 is the first of four crucial stages for the riders fighting for overall victory and the yellow jersey.

The stage rises gently for the first three hours and so we can expect a high-speed fight to get into the break of the day.

Between the spa towns of Luchon and Bagnères-de-Bigorre, there are two first-category ascents, commencing with the very familiar Peyresourde.

The riders are lined out alongside and behind the red race directors car.

From the CN blimp we can see Rohan Dennis, Peter Sagan and Luke Rowe up front. 

On Wednesday Caleb Ewan won the sprint stage to Toulouse, taking his first ever Tour stage win. 

The flag drops, they're off! 

As expected, the attacks come thick and fast as riders try to get in the break of the day.

The first attacks are chased down, with even Sagan joining the early action. 

The intermediate sprint comes after 130km but before the mountains, could Sagan and Bora be hoping and riding so he can score more green jersey points. 

198km remaining from 209km

Gruppo compatto. 

All the jersey wearers are up front, Sagan is defending his green points jersey. 

Sagan attacks! 

Sagan opens a gap alone. He's clearly trying to get in the break to score some points in the intermediate sprint.  

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Now Lennard Kämna of Sunweb goes off the front. 

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We can see Greg van Avermaet up front and aggressive now.

Matteo Trentin and Alberto Bettiol are also up front, trying to get in the break.  

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The peloton is lined out due to the high speed, with a lot of riders hoping the elastic will soon snap so the pace will ease.

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It's a big break but Ineos are trying to block the road and stop a chase.

Wow! There are 30 or so riders in the break. 

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Today sees the reversal of the work order, with the lead out men Max Richeze and sprinter Elia Viviani having to do the early work and lead the chase.

We can confirm that Peter Sagan is in the 42-rider attack, as are rival sprinters Sonny Colbrelli and Michael Matthews. 

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The aggressive start saw the riders cover 52.7km/h for the opening 25km.

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Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) is first to the top of the Cat 4 to extend his lead in the polka-dot KOM competition. 

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Click here to read the Dan Martin interview. 

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Today's entry to the Pyrenees is the first of four days in the area.

Click here to read the full Pyrenee preview.

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The average speed so far is a painful 45.89km/h! 

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At the back of the peloton, Dan Martin and Mikel Landa return to the pack. They will soon  have to be near the front for the climbs. 

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21 year-old Jasper Philipsen of UAE did not start today's stage after his team decided he was fatigued and had raced enough. 

Iñigo San Millán, (Head of Performance at UAE said: 

Philipsen was the youngest rider in the Tour at 21. Egan Bernal now has that honour. He is 22.

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That is a surprise because he went on the attack at the start of the stage and was the favourite for Friday's Pau time trial. 

We'll bring you more info on Dennis' abandon as soon as possible.

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Oss leads it out, with the sprinters behind him.

Sagan goes first from behind Oss and holds off Colbrelli to score 20 points. 

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Colbrelli scored 17 points and so moved passed Viviani into second place. However he is on a distant 191 points.

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Colbrelli is on the lower slopes of the Col de Peyresourde. This is going to hurt! 

These are the 42 riders in the break.  It will be interesting to see how many now sit up as the mountains begin. 

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Riders are also falling out of the break. Tom Scully of EF is distanced.

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Calmejane hails from Albi and so no-doubt enjoyed the rest day in the city.  

This is a screen grab of Calmejane, showing the time gaps.

Ouch! A Bora soigneur falls over and hits his head after reaching into the break to hand over a bidon. 

Sagan is 2:00 back from the break as Matthews lead the chase of Calmejane. Matthews is riding for Nico Roche, who could win the stage. 

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The switchbacks of the final 3km are packed with fans. 

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Simon Clarke was up there with Wellens. He's off the front on the descent.

Here are the points over the top of the Peyresourde...

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Bahrain-Merida have just released a mysterious tweet regarding Rohan Dennis leaving the race.

Meanwhile, Clarke is 50 seconds up on the break now. He's really pushing on alone here.

Some reports from French broadcaster France TV Sport suggest that Dennis has disappeared, and the Bahrain-Merida's team staff don't know about his abandon.

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It's a high-speed descent, so let's hope the stage 11 winner is ok.

Clarke's advantage is up to 1:20 now. The peloton has caught Sagan and they're over six minutes down.

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Dennis is apparently safe on the team bus at the moment, according to a reporter from Dutch broadcaster NOS.

Matteo Trentin has left the break behind, heading out in search of Clarke.

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Here's our story on Rohan Dennis' abandon.

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Simon Clarke (EF Education First) continues out front alone.

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Clarke is trying to gain as much time as he can on the lower slopes of the climb before Simon Yates and others come after him. It's a smart move. 

Crash at the back of the bunch. But everyone gets going again. But it will be hard to chase back on.

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The chasers are just 15 seconds back. Gallopin and Frank are there for AG2R. There's Roche and German champion Max Schachmann.

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The chasers are at 50 seconds, as Bilbao closes the gap on the first part of the descent. 

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Luke Rowe and Dylan van Baarle are on the front for Ineos, an indication of the pace of the group. 

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Team Ineos is riding tempo, so the gap is up to 9:00 now. 

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The finish includes a sharp left turn at 750m to go and a sweeping curve left with 200m to go.

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Bilbao leads it out. 

Now Mühlberger is on the front. This is like a track sprint.

Yates kicks! 

Simon Yates goes long and wins! 

Yates made sure he was first into the last turn and then managed to hold off Bilbao on his left. 

Bnoot finishes fourth alone. The others were just behind him.

Team Ineos is lined out on the front of the peloton, with all 8 riders leading race leader Alaphilippe. 

The GC riders are 9 minutes back, with the time limit at over 50 minutes.

A replay shows how Yates just held off Bilbao in the sprint. It was close but the Briton just held on to win by half a wheel or so.

Here comes the GC group. They finish at 9:38 and so Julian Alaphilippe keeps the yellow jersey for another day. 

Simon Yates admits he had been saving energy so far in the Tour but he was worried about the sprint. 

This is the top ten on the stage. 

Matteo Trentin wins the most aggressive prize but it is of little reward for the European champion, who perhaps hoped to try to win the stage.

Simon Yates gets the cheers on the podium as the gruppetto finishes, with Oss, Nibali and others in there.  

Kristoff 'wins' the sprint ahead of Morkov in the gruppetto. Pity they finished 35 mins down on Yates. 

This is the latest GC after today's stage. 

Here's the first image of Simon Yates winning stage 12. He seems happy.

There is still no explanation why Rohan Dennis quit the Tour mid-stage.  

The Bahrain-Merida directeur sportif avoided going into detail, claiming they had still to speak to Dennis.   

This image shows the emotions, the joy and the disappointment, of the three-rider sprint today.

Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) spoke briefly after the stage.

 

 

 

Thomas added, when speaking to Eurosport.

Thomas added, talking about the long first part of the Tour.  

This is Geraint Thomas close up.

Julian Alaphilippe was happy to pull on another yellow jersey.

Race leader Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was tired after the stage but talked about the emotions of wearing yellow in the Pau time trial.

Our man Alasdair Fotheringham has tried to understand why Rohan Dennis quit the Tour de France. 

Stangelj said Dennis’s decision to abandon had nothing to do with his physical condition or health.

To read our initial story on Rohan Dennis' surprise abandon, click here.

It's been quite a day at the Tour  - there's never a quiet day at the Tour - but to fully understand what happened in the race, click here to read our full stage report.

For the initial reaction from Julian Alaphilippe, Geraint Thomas. Gregor Mühlberger and others, click here.

There is no women's Tour de France but the women’s WorldTour one-day race La Course by Le Tour de France will be held on July 19 in Pau, moving away from the route that boasted a mountainous race to Le Grand-Bornand this year to a hilly circuit race that is more suited to the puncheurs of the peloton.

The women will race along a circuit race, held on a version of the 27km time trial course used for stage 13 of the men's Tour de France. They will complete five laps of the circuit for a total of 121km.

15 teams were given automatic invitations. They include Boels Dolmans, Canyon-SRAM, Bigla, Ale Cipollini, CCC-Liv, FDJ-Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope, Movistar, Park Hotel Valkenburg, Sunweb, Tibco-SVB, Virtu Cycling, Trek-Segafredo, Valcar Cylance and WNT-Rotor.

Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) has a lot of pressure on her shoulders ahead of La Course by Le Tour de France.

The Tour de France swapped fields of sunflowers for the Pyrenees today. For a full photo gallery of the stage, click here.

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