Primoz Roglic's hopes of finishing on the podium at the Tour de France, let alone claiming the yellow jersey, are in disarray after another crash saw him leak time on a day that was not meant to produce any gaps in the general classification. Ahead, Biniam Girmay landed a brilliant third win on Stage 12 ahead of Wout van Aert and Pascal Ackermann to take a giant step towards the green jersey.
A late and unavoidable crash from Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) all but ended the Slovenian’s Tour de France aspirations as Eritrean sprinter Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) soared to a hat-trick of wins in Villeneuve-sur-Lot.
Roglic was brought down by a sprawling Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Qazaqstan) with 12km remaining and never made it back into contention as the Visma-Lease a Bike team of Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert upped the tempo on the run into the finish.
Van Aert made light of his nasty fall on Wednesday by pushing Girmay all the way – despite being apparently driven towards the barriers by Frenchman Arnaud Demare (Arkea-B&B Hotels). The Belgian had to settle for second place ahead of Demare and behind the irrepressible Girmay, who extended his lead in the green jersey competition with his third, and perhaps most impressive, win of this Tour.
Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) elected to hold Girmay’s wheel but found himself crowded out on his way to taking fifth place behind Germany’s Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech), with Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) only managing sixth place.
Both Demare and Cavendish were later relegated by the race jury for irregular sprinting: the Frenchman for boxing Van Aert into the barriers and Cavendish for a late swerve from Girmay’s wheel that compromised France's Bryan Coquard (Cofidis).
“I was boxed in between Demare and the barrier,” a disappointed Van Aert said after bouncing back from his crash in Stage 11.
“I had to relaunch my sprint – and I still came close to the victory. So, if I didn’t have to stop pedalling, I would have had a good chance. It’s also important to take some good things away today – for sure, I’m happy that I felt good again and I hope it stays like this and I can forget about yesterday as soon as possible.”
he decision elevated Ackermann to third and Philipsen to fourth – giving the latter some extra points in the evaporating defence of his green jersey, which is looking increasingly secure on the shoulders of the man of the moment, Girmay. The Eritrean now leads the Belgian by 107 points with only a few more opportunities for the sprinters between now and the final time trial to Nice.
“I proved in the last three sprints that if I’m in the right position, I am able to win,” Girmay said after thanking God and his Intermarche-Wanty team-mates.
“We didn’t want to take any risks today but, in the end, when everyone came together, I felt super good, and I said on the radio, ‘give me support and I can deliver’. So, I’m just super happy.
“From now on I will continue full focus on sprinting and the green jersey. As soon as I started wearing the green jersey, I felt the fastest. If I have the right moment and the right position, I can prove myself in the sprints.
“It was absolutely chaotic today, especially when the crash happened downhill. In the last 600m I suddenly found Mike [Teunissen] and he did a super job to get me in the right position. I just knew I could deliver because I had perfect wheel without any wheel – and this sort of small uphill finish really suits me.”
His bloodied right shoulder visible through a tear in his jersey, Roglic crossed the line surrounded by five Red Bull team-mates 2’27” down on the peloton to plummet out of the top five in the general classification. After a second crash in successive days, Roglic is now 4’42” behind his compatriot Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in the standings.
Pogacar kept out of trouble to retain his 1’06” lead over Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) with Danish defending champion Vingegaard third at 1’14”. Pogacar’s Portuguese team-mate Joao Almeida rose to fourth while Spain’s Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) completes the top five ahead of the fallen Roglic.
The day was far from wholly serene for the man in yellow, however. Shortly after the day’s four-man breakaway formed during a fast and hectic opening hour of racing, a crash in the peloton involving the US champion Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) brought the race leader down in the tangle.
Pogacar needed to change his bikes before riding back to the peloton – the subsequent easing of pace playing into the hands of the four men up the road as their advantage grew to over three minutes.
Groupama-FDJ had two men in the move – Valentin Madouas and Quentin Pacher – having been at the forefront of many of the early attempts to form a break. After forays off the front from Kevin Geniets and Romain Gregoire, it was Madouas who eventually opened up a gap before Pacher bridged over with the polka dot jersey of Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility).
Frenchman Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), Sunday’s Stage 9 winner on the gravel, managed to make the connection shortly before the crash which enabled the quartet to steal a march on the pack. It was Turgis who won the intermediate sprint while Abrahamsen picked up the single point on offer over each of the three Cat.4 climbs to draw level with Pogacar in the king of the mountains classification.
The relentless pace proved too much for Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Spain's Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), who both withdrew from the Tour because of illness.
Strong pacing behind by Philipsen’s Alpecin-Deceuninck team and the Movistar squad of Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria saw the breakaway swallowed up with just over 40km remaining.
Tensions calmed once the prospect of a bunch sprint became inevitable until Lutsenko clipped a central reservation and crashed right in front of Roglic, sending the Slovenian sprawling. Riders from Lotto Dstny, Arkea B&B Hotels and Jayco-AlUla also hit the deck at speed as the pace of the peloton eased a little until the dust settled.
But the ceasefire could not continue forever and Visma-Lease a Bike finally took the race by the scruff of its neck with 7km remaining – a sign, perhaps, that their sprinter Van Aert, despite spending a lot of the day rooted to the back of the peloton after his crash in the Massif Central, fancied his chances at the finish.
And so it proved – although Demare’s swerve once again saw Van Aert’s chances compromised by the barriers. The Belgian battled back with a second kick – but it wasn’t enough to draw level with the in-form Girmay, whose race just keeps getting better and better.
Despite the work done by their respective Alpecin-Deceuninck and Movistar teams throughout the day, Messieurs Philipsen and Gaviria could only finish fourth and 16th in a messy and overcrowded bunch sprint.
Friday’s 165.3km Stage 13 from Agen to Pau will offer up an instant rematch between the fastmen – although a couple of fourth-category climbs near the finish may offer a springboard for some late attacks on the eve of a decisive weekend in the Pyrenees.
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