{"id":805556,"date":"2026-07-16T11:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/805556\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T11:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:53:11","slug":"tour-de-france-stage-12-live-sprinters-prepare-for-what-could-be-the-final-bunch-sprint-of-the-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/805556\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de France stage 12 LIVE: Sprinters prepare for what could be the final bunch sprint of the race"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026-07-16T11:50:25.587Z<\/p>\n

There’s plenty of action at the front, but still no group has formed. There must be a lot of riders who fancy their chances of denying the sprinters today, as this is being raced in stark contrast to the start of the sprint stages during the first week of the Tour.<\/p>\n

2026-07-16T11:44:27.139Z
\nOFFICIAL START<\/p>\n

And they’re off! The pace is high, with the ever-aggressive Baptiste Veistroffer at the front of the peloton, but no attacks have opened up a gap in the opening kilometre.<\/p>\n

2026-07-16T11:39:35.092Z<\/p>\n

The riders at the unofficial start. They’re on the move now, and are just 2km away from the KM0. IF yesterday is an indication, there will be a lot of riders wanting to get up the road and get into the break – possibly even Mathieu van der Poel, after his surprise efforts yesterday.<\/p>\n

\n

\"CIRCUIT\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-07-16T11:29:51.045Z<\/p>\n

The stage start today is being held at a Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours motor circuit – an appropriate setting given how this is expected to be another fast and furious sprint finish. They will be departing from there in a few minutes for the unofficial start.<\/p>\n

\n

\"CIRCUIT\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2026-07-16T11:20:42.058Z<\/p>\n

Many records for the fastest this and the record ascent of that have tumbled over the years, and yesterday, the riders completed a Tour de France road stage with the fastest speed in the race\u2019s history. Here\u2019s race leader Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s assessment of how that 27-year record was broken.<\/p>\n

Yellow jersey Tadej Poga\u010dar explains why stage 11 of 2026 Tour de France smashed 27-year-record for fastest average speed<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2026-07-16T11:12:27.076Z<\/p>\n

For the second successive stage, this one looks like it should be nailed on for the sprinters. It is a little more complicated than yesterday, with three category four climbs in total, including one within the final 25km, so the sprinters teams will have to be careful about who they let into the day\u2019s break at the start.<\/p>\n

Tour de France 2026 stage 12 preview – Another shot at a sprint victory in Chalon-sur-Sa\u00f4ne<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2026-07-16T11:05:23.375Z<\/p>\n

Hello and welcome to stage 12 of the Tour de France!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026-07-16T11:50:25.587Z There’s plenty of action at the front, but still no group has formed. There must be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-805556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}