165km to go Michael Hessman (Movistar), Thibault Guernalec (TotalEnergies), Mike Teunissen (XDS Astana) and Xabier Azparren Irurzun (Pinarello-Q36.5) did manage to establish a small gap, but they\u2019ve now been reeled back in.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 170km to go Tudor\u2019s Michael Storer has had an early technichal and is racing back solo to get back into the bunch. No break as of yet.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 174km to go The bunch is still together as the teams feel eachother out. Currently the peloton is strung out after a sharp left into a roundabout and then a big sweeping right turn.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Kilometre zero<\/p>\n Rollout complete, let the racing begin.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>And we are off!<\/p>\n The peloton is doing a couple of laps of Magny-Cours circuit, before Christian Prudhomme drops the flag and the stage begins proper.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n You can watch the start of the rollout on the Tour\u2019s X account, it\u2019s always quite a fun mixture of baffling sponsor presentations and local dignitaries, narrated by an enthusiastic man speaking in French. I have no idea what\u2019s going on, but everyone looks like they\u2019re having a nice time.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Have any thoughts you want to share on today\u2019s stage or the Tour in general? Feel free to drop me an email via the link the at the top of the page.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n I hope you are planning to stick with the blog all day, but in case you\u2019re not here are the key timings:<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Nevers\/Magny Cours to Chalon-sur-Sa\u00f4ne, 179.1km<\/p>\n The penultimate sprint stage, with nearly half the race left. Today may have a little twist in it however; the three ranked ascents are fourth category, but team managers with sprinters who can climb a bit will look closely at the lumpy roads between 141 and 162km. The obvious tactic would be to pile on the pressure at this point and see if Merlier, Pedersen and Philipsen can be dislodged or discomfited so at least they burn up some matches before the finish \u2013 Girmay\u2019s NSN are the best candidates depending on what reserves they have left.<\/p>\n Read the full stage-by-stage guide to this year\u2019s race:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a quick look at today\u2019s stage:<\/p>\n Allow Instagram content?<\/p>\n This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n A farewell to the fast men. It\u2019s stage 12 and there is every chance some of the sprinters knock it on the head after flogging themselves for a final time in Chalon-sur-Sa\u00f4ne. From tomorrow it\u2019s all about the climbers and the rouleurs, which means this is the final opportunity for the likes of NSN\u2019s Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen, who was bailed out by his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel in Ussel on Sunday, to break their ducks at this year\u2019s tour. Nothing in the route map should particularly worry the sprinters, even if there is 1800m of climbing in the back-end of this stage. Should they be succsessfully delivered to the final kilometre then it will be all about who has the speed in their legs after yesterday\u2019s effort and 11 days of draining riding in the heat. Tim Merlier has looked the best of them so far and is the favourite, according to the bookies.<\/p>\n The breakaway will be another talking point, UAE Team Emirates have not won any friends with the level of control they have exerted on the race. Tadej Pogacar\u2019s approval ratings are slipping as his dominance becomes boring, especially with the French public on the roadside. There is an unwritten code to cycling which his team seems to care little for. Having a rider who is so clearly better than everyone else, yet still insisting that the team do not afford the break any kind of threatening time gap is a fast way to lose friends in the peloton. K\u00e9vin Vauquelin of Netcompany Ineos said it well to Jeremy Whittle<\/a>: \u201cWe too would also like to play at bike racing.\u201d Let us hope they get a bit of playtime today.<\/p>\n![\"William](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/uploads\/2018\/02\/21\/William_Fotheringham,_L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=b98f25b3337311f4495f5f19acb124d8\")
William FotheringhamWilliam Fotheringham\u2019s stage guide<\/p>\n