Tour de France 2014: Alexander Kristoff powers to victory

Thursday July 17th, 2014 – The hills between Bourg-en-Bresse and Saint-Etienne offer opportunities to escapees, but sprinters are not without chances either. Dutch champion Sebastian Langeveld opens fire and a break of five is underway for most of the race. However at the end of the day San Remo-winner Alexander Kristoff powers to the win with a thunderous sprint, beating Sagan and Démare on the line. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 12th stage Tour de France 2014

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor)
2. Peter Sagan (Svk) s.t.
3. Arnaud Demaré (fra) s.t.
4. Michael Albassini (swi) s.t.
5. Ramūnas Navardauskas (lit) s.t.
6. Daniele Benati (ita) s.t.
7. Bryan Coquard (fra) s.t.
8. Daniel Oss (ita) s.t.
9. Samuel Dumoulin (fra) s.t.
10. José Joaquin Rojas (spa) s.t.

139. Tony Gallopin (fra) + 5.45

GC after stage 12th stage
1. Vincenzo Nibali (ita)
2. Richie Porte (aus) + 2.23
3. Alejandro Valverde (spa) +2.47
4. Romain Bardet (fra) + 3.01
5. Thibaut Pinot (fra) + 3.47
6. Tejay van Garderen (USA) + 3.56
7. Jean-Christophe Peraud (fra)
8. Bauke Mollema (Nld) + 4.08
9. Jurgen Van den Broeck (bel) + 4.18
10. Jakob Fuglsang (den) + 4.31

11. Michal Kwiatkowski (pol) + 4.39
13. Rui Costa (por) + 5.34
15. Pierre Rolland (fra) + 6.47
20. Tony Gallopin (fra) + 8.57
25. Fränk Schleck (lux) + 11.51

Race report
The break of the day is initiated by Sebastian Langeveld. Gregory Rast, Simon Clarke, David De La Cruz and Florian Vachon join him and the five cycle to a gap of over 5 minutes.

The escapees are down to four when De la Cruz hits the deck and has to abandon. Giant Shimano sets the pace in the pack in favor of John Degenkolb and are assisted by Europcar. At the penultimate climb, Col des Brosses, Vachon and Rast are dropped. Langeveld and Clarke crest the top with a 2’13” gain.

Gautier and Quemeneur attack from the pack and Clarke attacks upfront. A moment after cresting Côte de Grammond those three are upfront, Langeveld’s party is over. The pack is at 0’46”. Still 15 kilometres to go.

Giant’s Tom Dumoulin is on the front, powering in real Tony Martin style. With 8 kilometres left the Lotto’s offer their assistance. All sprinters are on board after the hills, with the exception of Marcel Kittel.

Uhm… no. With 3 kilometres left André Greipel hits the deck, apparently taken down by Sylvain Chavanel.

Alexander Kristoff takes it from a long way and powers to the win. Sagan second, Démare third. Brilliant show of strenght by the Milan-San Remo winner.