Nils Politt powers to stage 12 victory at Tour de France as Pogačar keeps yellow
The German Classics specialist kicked hard on the final hill of the day to ride solo to the line


The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Thank you for signing up to The Pick. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Nils Politt went solo to come out on top from the break and take stage 12 of the Tour de France 2021, as Tadej Pogačar safely retained the yellow jersey.
Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) was part of an exceptionally strong breakaway including Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), but it was Politt who launched the first attacks with about 60km to go.
The break was allowed over 15 minutes over the peloton, so could safely battle it out for victory without threat from behind. As the attacks came Politt did manage to break away with Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Soudal), Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Küng with Alaphilippe and the rest left looking at each other.
Politt attacked the lead group with 13km to go and powered away from Sweeny and Erviti who had previously dropped Küng.
Back in the peloton, it ended up being a pretty calm day as UAE Team Emirates controlled the day with riders getting time to relax before crossing the line together to keep the GC standings as they were.
How it happened
The Tour de France is now past the halfway point as we reach stage 12 and a day between Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux and Nîmes with an undulating route profile of 159.4km.
It was a very fast start as there were strong crosswinds from the flag drop after the race start was delayed by 10 minutes due to the gusts of wind. There were a couple of echelons formed but it didn’t last as a 13 man break quickly got a gap with some very powerful riders in there.
André Greipel (Israel Start-Up Nation), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies), Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo_, Brent Van Moer, Harry Sweeny (both Lotto-Soudal), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), Luka Mezgec (BikeExchange), and Sergio Henao (Qhubeka-NextHash) were the riders who made it into the break.
The peloton allowed it to get away with the gap soaring to almost 15 minutes to the breakaway as they battled it out for the stage win.
With about 80km to go the attacks started to come with Politt kicking it off. After that there were a plethora of attacks and counter-attacks before a four-man group got away with Sweeny, Küng, Politt, and Erviti who managed 45 seconds gap with a hard tailwind.
The chasers behind had Alaphilippe and Swift working hard along with Mezgec but the other riders didn’t give their all and the time gap continued to pull out.
With 20km to go the gap continued to rise as they almost took a minute as they hit the final climb of three kilometres at three per cent average gradient.
>>> Marianne Vos wins stage seven of Giro Donne, her 30th victory in the race
Sweeny attacked on the climb and dropped Küng. Erviti and Politt started to struggle with the latter managing to bridge the gap to the Grand Tour debutant, Sweeny. Erviti also got back with 13km to go.
Politt was the next to kick with an explosive attack with 11km to go as Sweeny and Erviti looked at each other. Politt quickly built a very big gap as he looked like he was riding to victory.
The big German, Politt, managed to keep the gap over the chase all the way to the line in Nîmes with Erviti pipping Sweeny to the line for second place.
Back at the peloton, the pace was high but more to keep things safe as the race meandered through the ancient city streets. Jumbo-Visma leading in the bunch for their newfound leader, Jonas Vingegaard.
Alpecin-Fenix moved up to try and take the final points in the points jersey with Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) and Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) with the latter easily taking the three points.
Stage 13 is a day that is expected to be a sprint stage with Cavendish potentially equaling the record of most wins at the Tour de France with a 219.9km from Nîmes to Carcassonne.
Tour de France 2021, stage 12: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes (159.4km)
1. Nils Politt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 3-22-12
2. Imanol Erviti (Esp) Movistar Team, at 31 seconds
3. Harry Sweeny (Aus) Lotto-Soudal, at same time
4. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ, at 2-06
5. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team BikeExchange
6. Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
7. André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation
8. Brent Van Moer (Bel) Lotto-Soudal
9. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quick-Step
10. Sergio Henao (Col) Qhubeka-NextHash, all at same time
General classification after stage 12
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 47-06-50
2. Rigoberto Urán (Col) EF Education-Nippo, at 5-18
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma, at 5-32
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, at 5-33
5. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Ag2r-Citroën, at 5-58
6. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 6-16
7. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech, at 6-30
8. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, at 7-11
9. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis, at 9-29
10. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain-Victorious, at 10-28
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
-
-
Jumbo-Visma's Nathan Van Hooydonck retires from cycling due to heart problems
The Belgian left hospital on Wednesday after being involved in a car crash last week
By Adam Becket Published
-
Ask a cycling coach: ‘Why is cycling bad for bone density?’
We delve into the health downsides of picking a ‘non-weight bearing’ sport
By Alex Welburn Published
-
'They race like juniors': How men's pro cycling is getting wilder and races refuse to slow down
Racing from the gun during a three week Grand Tour is a big ask for even the best and the strongest. Is this the new cycling?
By Adam Becket Published
-
Remco Evenepoel hopes to 'steal' Jonas Vingegaard's secrets at Vuelta a España as he looks to 2024 Tour de France
Belgian aiming for second Vuelta a España triumph over the next three weeks, but faces stiff opposition
By Tom Davidson Published
-
WorldTour teams have an extra three years to halve carbon emissions before losing license - UCI clarifies
A carbon emissions tracker has been introduced and it is mandatory for all stakeholders to use it
By Chris Marshall-Bell Published
-
‘I really like city street racing’ - Tadej Pogačar on the ‘enjoyable’ World Championships road race course
Slovenian two-time Tour de France winner took bronze behind rainbow jersey winner Mathieu van der Poel
By Tom Thewlis Published
-
Opinion: Mark Cavendish Netflix documentary shows why Tour de France return is in doubt
Manxman's route out of depression shows what's really important
By Vern Pitt Published
-
UCI carried out 997 checks for motor doping at Tour de France, all came back negative
837 tests carried out at stage start using magnetic tablets, 160 at stage finishes using either backscatter or x-ray transmission technology
By Tom Thewlis Published
-
How to watch Tour de France stage 21: live stream the action
Everything you need to know to watch Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris Champs Élysées
By Cycling Weekly Published
-
Tom Pidcock: ‘I felt like a pretender in the Tour de France GC group’
Ineos Grenadier says Matej Mohorič's emotional post win interview from stage 19 resonated with him
By Vern Pitt Published