Tour de France 2014 Favourites Stage 12: Big sprint before the big mountains

The sprinters will be eyeing this one up, and with some heavy climbing to deal with tomorrow, one of them should at least start with a smile on his face after winning the sprint into St Etienne. (Slideshow route/profile)

The only real obstacle today is the Côte de Grammond, 10 kilometres at 2.9%, surely this won't trouble the Kittel's of the world. The strenght of the Giant-Shimano teams is such, that even if Kittel has an off day, there is another option like John Degenkolb (image).

Greipel also has a strong lead out but one suspects it'll be all or nothing for 'The Gorilla' as he looks to steal the limelight from his rival.