Tour de France 2025: stage 12 takes the race to summit finish in Pyrenees – live

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There is always a sense of phoney war in the run-in to the Tour de France’s first stage in the high mountains, and at least one debate of the opening 10 days of this year’s race fits that context to a T. Has Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike team at times been towing the bunch deliberately in order to ensure that Tadej Pogacar retains the yellow jersey? It’s a gloriously arcane question, the kind that only comes up in the Tour’s opening phase, but it distracts from a point that could be key in the next 10 days: how the two teams manage the race will probably be decisive.

Pogacar spoke to media after yesterday’s crash: “I’m a bit beaten up, but we’ve been through worse days. I think everybody was a bit à bloc. There were attacks from Matteo [Jorgenson] and Jonas Vingegaard, they really put everybody on the limit. Unfortunately one rider decided to follow from left to right side of the road. He didn’t see me and he just completely cut me off, my front wheel.

“Luckily, I just have a little bit of skin off. I was scared when I saw the sidewalk that I was going [to hit] my head directly to the sidewalk, but luckily my skin is tough and stopped me before the sidewalk.”

Regarding today’s stage, Pogacar said: “Tomorrow is a big day. We’ll see how I recover. Normally the day after a crash you’re never at the best, but I will give my best and we’ll see. I think we’re ready as a team for Hautacam.”

Those quotes from Jeremy Whittle’s report, which you can enjoy here:

First proper mountain stage up the grim ascent above Lourdes where Miguel Indurain destroyed the field in 1994. There’s a long preamble to the Col du Soulor, the first category-one pass of the race, so expect a massive break targeting the stage win. If the favourites give the break leeway, the winner will be someone who can climb but won’t win overall, so why not the Frenchman Guillaume Martin?

There are four categorised climbs on today’s route. The appetiser is the category-four Côte de Labatmale (1.3km, 6.3% average gradient), the summit coming after 91.4km. The Col du Soulour, the first category-one ascent of the Tour, will test the riders’ legs even further, cresting after 134.1km (11.8km, 7.3%). The category-two Col des Bordères is a comparatively friendly 3.1km long at 7.7% average gradient, with the summit arriving 141.4km into the stage. Then it’s the Hautacam to finish – 13.5km long, with an average gradient of 7.8%. Ouch!

Preamble

The first 11 stages have, as usual, been punishing and endlessly challenging for riders and fascinating and rewardingly complex for fans. But with the first category-one and HC (hors catégorie/beyond categorisation) climbs of this year’s Tour, today’s stage 12 is in a sense where the race really starts.

Will it be a breakaway day, a GC day, or a bit of both on the 181km ride from Auch to Hautacam, finishing at the summit where Jonas Vingegaard scored a decisive victory on stage 18 in 2022? Who are the ambitious riders who have been targeting this stage for victory since the route was announced, duly saving their energy, where possible, in recent days? Can Ben Healy delight Irish fans by somehow defending the yellow jersey for EF Education–EasyPost?

The defending champion Tadej Pogacar – who suffered a late crash yesterday, prompting Healy and others to slow the pace in the style of old-fashioned peloton patrons – will be man-marking Vingegaard on the way up the mountain, and vice-versa. But there is a big question over how Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates will fare in the high peaks, particularly in view of the loss of key climbing lieutenant João Almeida.

It’s going to be a fascinating stage, and there are almost certainly surprises and copious amounts of high drama in store. Allez!

Neutralised stage stage time: 12.25 UK