Tour de France 2019: stage 12 – live!

145km to go: Tim Wellens adds another point to his King of the Mountains collection as first man over the Category 4 Cote de Montoulieu-Saint-Bernard. WIth the race finally settled down, I’m off to grab a coffee. Back in five or so.

Correction: Dan Martin is not in the breakaway, as originally (and erroneously) stated.

151km to go: The gap is 3min 21sec and such is the quality of many of the riders in our breakaway that our stage winner is certain to come from it. Behind them, the GC contenders will be providing a fascinating “second” race of the day when they hit the lumpy stuff.

152km to go: An official census has been taken and there are 40 men in today’s breakaway. They are … Peter Sagan, Gregor Mühlberger, Daniel Oss and Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Michael Morkov (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Oliver Naesen, Tony Gallopin and Matthias Fränk (Ag2r La Mondiale), Sonny Colbrelli, Iván García Cortina and Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida), Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team), Pello Bilbao (Astana), Dylan Groenewegen and Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma), Alberto Bettiol, Simon Clarke and Tom Scully (EF Education First), Matteo Trentin and Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Greg Van Avermaet and Serge Pauwels (CCC Team), Rui Costa and Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Fabio Felline and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Michael Matthews, Nikias Arndt, Cees Bol and Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), Pierre-Luc Périchon and Julien Simon (Cofidis), Tiesj Benoot, Roger Kluge and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Energie), Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Edvald Boasson Hagen and Michael Valgren (Dimension Data) and Kévin Lédanois (Arkéa-Samsic).

156km to go: Peter Sagan has gone a few seconds clear of the breakaway group and seems very perky today. His Bora Hansgrohe team, Sunweb and AG2R have four riders each in the breakaway. Team Ineos, Groupama-FDJ and Katusha-Alpecin are the only three teams not represented. Ineos won’t care, while the other two teams just seem to have missed it.

160km to go: Michael Matthews, Alexander Kristoff, Sonny Colbrelli, Matteo Trentin, Peter Sagan and Dylan Groenewegen are among the cream of the sprinting talent in the breakaway, while there are plenty of good climbers alongside them, including Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche, Simon Yates and Tim Wellens, in his polka dot jersey.

164km to go: The escape party has been let go and they have opened a gap of 1min 52sec. It’s an enormous breakaway, comprising 42 riders. Dan Martin is in it, Nicolas Roche is there. Peter Sagan and Michael Matthews are present. Greg van Avermaet is the best placed escapee on GC, in 28th position at 14min 25sec.

166km to go: A group of about 40 riders get away and Team Ineos form a barrier across the the front of the peloton. They’ll be eager to find out who is in the escape party, just in case there’s anyone they need to worry about and chase down.

Crikey! The riders have been barreling along at an average speed of more than 50km per hour since racing commenced. The intermediate sprint is 78 kilometres from the finish of today’s stage, just before the riders take on the Category 1 Col De Peyresourde. There are 167km to go in this stage and a breakaway has yet to be formed.

172km to go: “A lot of riders have made a lot of effort here and they’re going to be feeling it,” says Sean Kelly on Eurosport, as Thomas De Gendt puts the hammer down at the front of the bunch in the latest escape bid.

Mitchelton Scott’s stage 11 diary

The Australian team had a slightly tougher time than expected on a largely uneventful day.

180km to go: With almost 30 kilometres behind them, the riders have yet to settle. Bora Hangrohe’s Max Schachmann goes on the attack again and is joined by Mitchelton Scott’s Matteo Trentin and several others. Their efforts, like those of all before them, come to naught.

181km to go: Lennard Kamna (Sunweb) puts some distance between himself and the bunch and is joined by Pello Bilbao (Astana) and two others. The peloton are not having it and shut down the attack.

188km to go: Sagan is still out in front, but only leads by a couple of seconds. He looks around, wondering why nobody is joining him, then shakes his head as the the bunch catches him. Or he lets them catch him.

191km to go: The peloton continues to motor along, with the green, yellow and polka-dot jerseys all prominent near the front. The green won, covering the torso of Peter Sagan, shoots out of the pack again, the man occupying it looking behind him to see if anyone is up for joining him. There are no volunteers, but his knees keep pumping.

195km to go: The latest breakaway attempt is caught and this stage has yet to settle.

198km to go: A group of six riders launch an escape attempt, including Bora Hansgrohe’s Daniel Oss and Max Schachmann. They’re pedalling at a ferocious lick, but have yet to get away.

199km to go: The peloton put an abrupt stop to Caruso’s gallop and the bunch is back together again. No breakaway formed yet.

202km to go: The peloton reels in Sagan and his cronies, prompting Bahrain–Merida rider Damiano Caruso to attack off the front off the bunch.

204km to go: Peter Sagan attacks off the front of the bunch and is joined by three other riders, but behind them, the peloton is keeping them on a very tight rein.

They’re racing in stage 12: Christian Prudhomme sends them on their way with an extravagant wave of his yellow flag. Thomas De Gendt, Edvald Boasson Hagen are among no end of riders who appear interested in getting in a breakaway, but with so much at stake nobody is being allowed to escape. “Stay around the front and just be there when a good group of riders tries to get away.” says Eurosport co-comms man Sean Kelly, who says every team will want somebody in the breakaway, whenever it forms.

More withdrawals: Suffering from illness, Rick Zabel from Katusha-Alpecin did not start yesterday’s stage, while Total Direct Energie’s Niki Terpstra was forced to abandon after suffering a double fracture of his shoulder with 30 kilometres to go in yesterday’s stage. UAE team Emirates rider Philipsen Jasper did not start this morning. With eight men gone over 11 stages, the field has been reduced from 176 riders to 168.

Christian Prudhomme on today’s stage: “The Pyrenean part of the Tour will start in the valley and that should motivate the usual breakaway suspects to give it a go but it’ll carry on with climbs up Peyresourde and La Hourquette d’Ancizan,” says the race director. “Only the best climbers among them will be in a position to triumph as they head down to Bagnères-de-Bigorre.”

Currently leading the peloton along in his red Skoda, Prudhomme will give the signal to start racing once the riders have covered another five kilometres or so. “”It’s going to be frantic from the start,” muses Eurosport commentator Carlton Kirby.

The roll-out has begun: The riders are currently wending their way through the streets of Toulouse, with aerial shots showcasing the picturesque terracotta slates and bricks from which many of the locale’s buildings are constructed. The Pink City, they call it and it’s not difficult to see why.

Stage three review

Australia’s Caleb Ewan silenced a few doubters as he entered the pantheon of great sprinters able to combine technical ability and raw speed in a cauldron of pressure

From William Fotheringham’s stage-by-stage guide: A relatively gentle introduction to the Pyrenees: two first category climbs with long run-in to the opener, the Col de Peyresourde. There is 130km for the break to build a lead so expect someone from the early move to win; the overall contenders may well end up watching each other for signs of weakness over the Peyresourde and Hourquette d’Ancizan while saving strength for the coming days. Not the toughest mountain climbing, so the stage winner could be a breakaway specialist who isn’t one of the very best climbers. Britain’s Steve Cummings could be one to watch.