Tour de France 2026 Favourites stage 12: For fast men #5

fotobureau Cor VosOn the route from Magny-Cours to Chalon-sur-Saône, the riders tackle just under 1,800 metres of elevation gain, so it is by no means completely flat. Even so, there is every chance that the fast men will have the final say on the banks of the Saône. (Slideshow route/profile)

First published on 29 June

At the final test for the sprinters ahead of the Tour, the Baloise Belgium Tour, stage wins were taken by Girmay, Merlier, Kooij and Philipsen. They are the sprinters to watch in this year’s Tour de France.

For Girmay, it was only his second victory of the season. After opening his account in February at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, he then went quiet until the Belgian Tour. Philipsen had already celebrated victories at Nokere Koerse, In Flanders Fields (formerly Gent-Wevelgem) and the Copenhagen Sprint, while both Merlier and Kooij were sidelined for much of the spring.

The Belgian returned in early April with a win at the Scheldeprijs, before also taking the Ronde van Limburg and three stages at the Tour of Hungary. Kooij came back to racing even later, but struck immediately with two wins at the Boucles de la Mayenne in late May.

Stage 12 is all but certain to end in a sprint. Along the way, the riders tackle a number of rolling sections as well as three categorised climbs: the Côte de Lanty (2 kilometres at 4%), the Côte de Cuzy (2.4 kilometres at 5.4%) and the Côte de Montagny-lès-Buxy (2.6 kilometres at 4.3%). These are so insignificant that the peloton would have to make a major miscalculation for the race not to end in a bunch sprint.

We’ll continue to update this article in the build-up to the Tour de France.

Favourites 12th stage - 2026 Tour de France

**** Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen, Olav Kooij
*** Biniam Girmay, Arnaud De Lie, Max Kanter
** Pascal Ackermann, Fernando Gaviria, Pavel Bittner, Arvid de Kleijn
* Mads Pedersen, Milan Fretin, Søren Wærenskjold, Phil Bauhaus

Another interesting read: route 12th stage 2026 Tour de France.

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