Tour de France 2016 Stage 12: De Gendt wins at Ventoux - chaotic finale for GC men, Froome retains in lead

At 178 kilometres, stage 12 in the Tour de France leads from Montpellier to the Mont Ventoux. Due to winds in excess of 100kph at the top the finish has been relocated to Chalet Reynard, yet the closing climb still is a 10 kilometres monster at a 9% gradient. Thomas De Gendt brings an early break home, while Froome crashes into a motorcyclist when he is on the attack. With his bike broken he starts running up the hill. Chaos all over, yet his time is revised and he is placed in the same time as Mollema, with whom he was on the attack. They both put 19 seconds into Quintana and Froome retains in the overall lead. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 12th stage Tour de France

1. Thomas De Gendt (bel)
2. Serge Pauwels (bel) + 0.02
3. Daniel Navarro (spa) + 0.14
4. Stef Clement (nld) + 0.40
5. Sylvain Chavanel (fra) s.t.
6. Bert-Jan Lindeman (nld) + 2.42
7. Daniel Teklehaimanot (eri) + 3.13
8. Sep Vanmarcke (bel) + 3.26
9. Chris Anker Sørensen (den) + 4.23
10. Bauke Mollema (nld) + 5.05

11. Adam Yates (gbr) + 5.24
12. Fabio Aru (ita) s.t.
13. Louis Meintjes (rsa) s.t.
14. Romain Bardet (fra) s.t.
15. Joaquim Rodriguez (spa) s.t.
16. Alejandro Valverde (spa) s.t.
17. Nairo Quintana (col) s.t.
18. Tejay van Garderen (usa) s.t.
19. Richie Porte (aus) + 5.05
20. Daniel Martin (irl) + 6.30
22. Warren Barguil (fra) s.t.
24. Sergio Henao (col) + 6.45
25. Chris Froome (gbr) + 5.05

GC after 12th stage
1. Chris Froome (gbr)
2. Adam Yates (gbr) + 0.47
3. Nairo Quintana (col) + 0.54
4. Bauke Mollema (nld) + 0.56
5. Romain Bardet (fra) + 1.15
6. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 1.32
7. Tejay van Garderen (usa) s.t.
8. Fabio Aru (ita) + 1.54
9. Daniel Martin (irl) + 1.56
10. Joaquim Rodriguez (spa) + 2.11

11. Richie Porte (aus) + 2.22
12. Louis Meintjes (rsa) + 2.29
13. Sergio Henao (col) + 2.36
14. Roman Kreuziger (cze) + 3.14
15. Warren Barguil (fra) + 4.28

Race report
The peloton is accomodating. No reaction when Paul Vos, Daniel Teklehaimanot, Bert-Jan Lindeman, Sep Vanmarcke, Iljo Keisse, Stef Clement, Thomas De Gendt, Serge Pauwels, André Greipel, Bryan Coquard, Sylvain Chavanel, Chris Anker Sorensen, Daniel Navarro and Cyril Lemoine go on the attack. Voss punctures and winds up in a chasing group with Tom-Jelte Slagter, Diego Rosa, Cyril Gautier and Georg Preidler. For tens of kilometres they are trying to chase the front group down, but to no avail.

When the pack is almost 19 minutes down on the leaders Sky and Etixx join forces to try to make good use of crosswinds. Barguil en Meintjes wind up in the second echelon, the other GC riders are in the first group. The pace remains high.

De Gendt is the first to crest both Côte de Gordes and Col des Trois Termes.

The peloton is 8 minutes down on the leaders when Gerrans hits the tarmac and he takes Rowe and Stannard down, too. The pack slows down and the Barguil/Meintjes group re-joins, while Coquard gets droppped from the front group.

When hitting the lower slopes of the Mont Ventoux the leaders enjoy a lead at around 7’30”. Greipel and Keisse can’t follow the pace. De Gendt speeds up until only Pauwels, Navarro and Chavanel are left at the front. Pauwels and Navarro push on together, but De Gendt re-joins later.

Halfway up the climb Quintana attacks twice, but he can’t force a proper gap. Dan Martin and Roman Kreuziger are dropped.

With 3 kms left De Gendt and Pauwels leave Navarro alone.

Froome goes goes full gas at 3 kms under the top. The only riders on his wheel is Richie Porte, while Bauke Mollema bridges over.

Navarro re-joins the two Belgians in the last kilometre, yet, once again he is left behind in sight of the line, where De Gendt outsprints his compatriot.

Froome, Porte and Mollema crash into a motorcycle and the only one who can continue is the Dutchman. He finishes as the first GC-rider, while Froome and Porte are overtaken by the group Quintana. Yet, the results are revised and they both are assigned the same time as Bauke Mollema. So they all put 19 seconds into Quintana et al.