2012 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20#Stage 18
(45,3 km / h)
Alexander Vinokourov (AST )
The 18th stage of the 2012 Tour de France was held on July 20, 2012, and resulted from Blagnac to Brive- la -Gaillarde. With a length of 222.5 kilometers, there was a mountain stage of the third category and three of the fourth category.
Route
The route led predominantly to the north by the department of Haute -Garonne, Tarn -et -Garonne, Lot and Corrèze. From Blagnac, it was first of the Garonne River to Castelsarrasin. The Côte de Saint- Georges, a slope at the edge of the Tarn valley, was the only mountain stage of the third category. In Castelnau- Montratier there was the food zone. Then, the intermediate sprint was held in the town of Cahors. We went over Souillac goal in Brive- la -Gaillarde. The profile of the stage was largely flat on the first third, the rest was marked by hilly terrain.
Race course
In the first few kilometers went the field with a very high pace and so did any breakaways impossible. Only at kilometer 21, five drivers were able to sell that could pull out a maximum lead of 55 seconds. Due to the continued high pace the field soon came back and got the zoom outliers after 49 kilometers a. Another group was formed after 60 kilometers. At that included the nine riders Manuel Quinziato, Yukiya Arashiro, Julien Fouchard, Adam Hansen, Luca Paolini, Jérémy Roy, Nick Nuyens, Michael Albasini and Patrick Gretsch.
The short subsequent first climb of the day decided Nuyens for themselves. After about 70 kilometers joined Yaroslav Popovych, David Millar, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Jelle Vanendert, Kris Boeckmans, Karsten Kroon and Alexander Vinokourov on the top group, which now consisted of 16 riders. The lead increased to slightly more than three minutes. The intermediate sprint in Cahors happened Boeckmans first while Albasini won the mountain classification located outside the city. Meanwhile, the field began to catch up with decrease continuously. 45 kilometers from the finish of the French President François Hollande took place in the car of the Tour director Christian Prudhomme to keep track of the remaining stage there.
Be first Arashiro conquered the hill of Souillac, a little later fell Fouchard and Boeckmans from the top group out. Various drivers of the top group tried in vain to settle, while drew closer from behind the field. Twelve kilometers from the finish Vinokourov attacked, only Paolini and Hansen could follow him. After the last climb ( won by Vinokourov ) Andreas Klöden closed, Nicolas Roche and Luis León Sánchez on the top. The field had only a few seconds behind. In the last hundred meters, it obtained the remaining outliers. The sprint for the victory won Mark Cavendish.