We are back in the Mountains for Stage 12 and it'll be the first real test for Roglic in Yellow. Lecuisinier will want to lay his marker on this race sooner rather than later and today could well be a good day to do it. 193km but it's flat until the intermediate sprint and then we start gradually making our way uphill before a long, steep climb up the HC Port de Pailheres which we summit with only 28km to go. After the descent off of this it's then a steep medium length climb up to the finish in Ax 3 Domaines.
A fairly large breakaway again today although they don't have much to fight for as the Intermediate Sprint is 76km away and the only KOM is still 149km away. But they're here and we'll see if they can work together to avoid the Peloton today. Their gap currently 2'28. Munton Williams Chernetskiy Inkelaar Tolhoek, Conti Vinegaard Girdlestone Bernard Burke, Jones
Their gap is out to 5'31 with still 150km remaining. It will be interesting to see if the GC teams care too much about this one. The closest however is Burke who is 25th at + 12'05 so they won't want to see it be stretched too far.
95km still to go for the Peloton and the gap, which had stretched out to 7 minutes, is now back down to less than 6.
60km now to go and still 30km to the top of the climb for the Peloton. The gap inside 5 minutes but they'll need some stronger climbers to come to the front shortly to maintain their progress.
40km for the Peloton and some pretty shocking co-operation has seen the gap to the 11 out front grow back to 6 minutes…
33km for the Peloton and 4km to the summit. The gap is down to 4 minutes off the back of the Aegon team and Olivier (11th @+ 2'53) then launches an attack. Yates (16th @+ 4'29) is the first to respond.
Chiarello is the next to go off in pursuit of the 2 riders 30 seconds up the road. Pluchkin is attentive while Lecuisinier appears to be biding his time.
1.7km to the top for the GC favourites and Pluchkin launches again. This time he has Choi, Roglic and Lecuisinier right with him as he goes after the two earlier attackers.
Pluchkin and Choi ride off together while Lecuisinier is left to lead the group of 11 GC riders: Roglic Kritskiy Sicard Olivier Hirt Eastman Bennett Yates Barguil Godoy
Chiarello is just down the road and leads a group containing Bongiorno and Pinot.
At the front of the race it's a duo of Inkelaar and Tolhoek who have 24km to go and are 58 seconds clear of the next rider on the road.
The GC favourites work together to bring back Choi and Pluchkin. However, Barguil and Bennett were dropped on the crest of the climb and find themselves 31 seconds further back.
8km to the line for our leading duo who are just starting the final climb up to the finish line. The situation behind them looks like this.
7.5km to go as the GC group reach the start of the climb and it's Lecuisinier who accelerates at the front of the group!
He can't get away yet though and it's Olivier who goes for it next. He also struggles as Roglic brings it back together. These accelerations are really hurting the chances of the breakaway riders who remain in front.
Olivier has gone again and reaches 3rd and 4th on the road.
2km for our leading duo but Olivier is only 37 seconds behind them now so their stage win chances are decreasing and fast.
900m for the favourites, now led by Kritskiy. Olivier couldn't sustain his effort. The leading two are 41 seconds ahead and only 600m from the line.
Further back though, Roglic and Hirt have been dropped!
Choi and Eastman dropped in the final kilometer as well.
Only 200m left for Inkelaar and Tolhoek who should hold on to fight for the stage win now.
Kritskiy and Sicard look the strongest of the GC riders and may make some time back here!
And up front it's Tolhoek who takes the stage win! Young Inkelaar will jump up the GC and likely back into White but he is only 2nd on the stage.
Kritskiy just takes 3rd ahead of Sicard.
Godoy is 5th ahead of Pluchkin and Lecuisinier. Olivier finishes in this group too who are 17 seconds behind the other 2 GC riders.
Eastman and Choi are 9th and 10th. Yates is just behind them in 11th.
Hirt and Roglic are 14th and 15th on the road and will lose time in the GC with Roglic likely giving up Yellow.
Bongiorno is 18th and more than 2 minutes behind Kritskiy. Bennett and Chiarello lose 2 and a half minutes and are just outside the Top 20.
Not a good day in the saddle for Barguil and Pinot who are 4 minutes behind the GC riders.
It may not have looked like the best day for Lecuisinier but he moves into Yellow! This is by no means safe though as he has 4 riders within a minute of his lead. Roglic in 2nd is only 9 seconds ahead of Choi in 5th with Sicard and Pluchkin squeezed between them.
Demare's Green Jersey still looking rather safe. Bardet with still a 45 point lead in the KOM as Tolhoek moves into 2nd. Inkelaar moves back into White with a good buffer. Gazelle lead the Teams but it's less comfortable than it was yesterday.
le Tour de France - Stage 12 Report 
