Biniam Girmay from Eritrea has won the twelfth stage of the 111th Tour de France, his third daily victory. The man in the green jersey won the mass sprint after the 203.6 kilometers between Aurillac and Villeneuve-sur-Lot ahead of Belgian Wout van Aert. Pascal Ackermann from the Palatinate took third place after Frenchman Arnaud Demare was demoted for dangerous riding. Ackermann also criticized the wild riding of his opponent Alexander Kristoff: “That was criminal. It would definitely have been my home straight.”
There was a mass crash just ten kilometers from the finish. Captain Primoz Roglic from the top German team Bora-Hansgrohe-Red Bull was also involved. The Slovenian, who had been fourth in the overall rankings, was able to continue, but is now only sixth in the overall rankings, 4:42 behind. Tadej Pogacar is still leading the overall rankings by 1:06 minutes ahead of the Belgian time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel. Third is defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, 1:14 minutes behind.
Sprinter Mark Cavendish loses an important lead-out – because of Corona
The day was marked by several early retirements by professional cyclists, including Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen, who won a Tour stage in 2022. Before the start of the stage, the Astana team had taken out the Dane Michael Morkov. The key lead rider for sprint idol Mark Cavendish is the first known corona case of this year’s tour.
Before the demanding weekend in the Pyrenees, the pros can expect a largely flat 165.3 kilometers between Agen and Pau on Friday. This will probably be the sprinters’ penultimate chance in this year’s national tour.