The Wind and Confusion Reign on Stage 12
The Tour de France has a crowd control problem. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) won a chaotic and windswept Stage 12 of the 2016 Tour de France. Chris Froome (Team Sky) was running toward the finish without his bike after he, Richie Porte (BMC Racing) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) crashed into a motorbike about 1 km from the end of the stage. The motorbike had suddenly stopped because of the crowds along the route. In the confusion, Froome scrambled to find a bike to replace his broken bike, while some of his rivals, including Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange), passed him on the road toward the finish. Ultimately, the judges neutralized the finish, restoring Froome to the General Classification lead over Adam Yates, who held the lead for a while today. In addition to the crowds and crashes caused problems of the peloton.
De Gendt took the top position in the King of the Mountains standings with his first Tour stage victory on the Hors Category climb. this was De Gendt's second Grand Tour stage victory, his other stage win was in the Giro d'Italia. Froome will face a contest for the Yellow Jersey in tomorrow’s 39 km (24 mile) time trial. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) was dropped from the peloton today in the high winds, but he kept his 90 point lead over Mark Cavendish in the Points Competition.
Stage 12 was shortened by 6 km because of high winds at the top of Mont Ventoux.The winds were around 100 km/hr or 60 mph. Therefore, the finish was at the Chalet-Reynard. The decision was made at 1 AM, so the only a portion of the crowd barriers were moved to the finish line. Only the last 400 meters were behind barricades and not the usual 1 km. That combined with the large Bastille Day crowd created mayhem near the finish of the stage.
After 13 km (8 miles) a 13 rider breakaway formed including André Greipel and Thomas De Gendt of Lotto-Soudal, Bryan Coquard and Sylvain Chavanel of Direct Energie. The group built a gap of nearly 19 minutes at km 70. Etixx-Quick Step paced the peloton, eventually splitting the peloton. With 39 km to go in the stage, Simon Gerrans (Orica-BikeExchange) crashed while leading the peloton with three Team Sky riders close behind. They hit the road as well. Froome had the peloton slow down. This allowed the breakaway group to stay out in front.
Stage Results
1
|
Thomas De Gendt
|
Lotto Soudal
|
4:31:51
|
2
|
Serge Pauwels
|
Dimension Data
|
0:00:02
|
3
|
Daniel Navarro
|
Cofidis, Solutions Credits
|
0:00:14
|
4
|
Stef Clement
|
IAM Cycling
|
0:00:40
|
5
|
Sylvain Chavanel
|
Direct Energie
|
General Classification Standings
After judges ruling
1
|
Chris Froome
|
Team Sky
|
57:11:33
|
2
|
Adam Yates
|
Orica-BikeExchange
|
0:00:47
|
3
|
Bauke Mollema
|
Trek-Segafredo
|
0:00:56
|
4
|
Nairo Quintana
|
Movistar Team
|
0:01:01
|
5
|
Romain Bardet
|
AG2R La Mondiale
|
0:01:15
|
6
|
Alejandro Valverde
|
Movistar Team
|
0:01:39
|
7
|
Tejay Van Garderen
|
BMC Racing Team
|
0:01:44
|
8
|
Fabio Aru
|
Astana Pro Team
|
0:01:54
|
9
|
Dan Martin
|
Etixx - Quick-Step
|
0:01:56
|
King of the Mountains Standings
1
|
Thomas De Gendt
|
Lotto Soudal
|
89 pts
|
2
|
Thibaut Pinot
|
FDJ
|
80
|
3
|
Rafal Majka
|
Tinkoff Team
|
77
|
4
|
Daniel Navarro
|
Cofidis, Solutions Credits
|
68
|
5
|
Tom Dumoulin
|
Team Giant-Alpecin
|
58
|
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