Millar wins Tour stage, nine years on from his last

David Millar won the two-up sprint to claim his first individual stage victory at the Tour de France since 2003.

The 35-year-old was the best of a five-man break at the end of the 226km 12th stage with Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale) second and Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Euskaltel - Euskadi) five seconds off the pace in third.

Millar is the fourth British rider to claim a stage win at this year's race and his victory coincides with the 45th anniversary of Briton Tom Simpson's death in the race.

There were no changes to the general classification, which Sky's Bradley Wiggins leads ahead of teammate Chris Froome and Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale).

Millar was part of an original 19-strong breakaway that escaped within the first 20km of the undulating 226km run from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Annonay Davezieux.

The front group had whittled down to the race definitive five, which included Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Robert Kiserlovski (Astana), by the second category one climb of the stage - the Col du Granier.

A series of counter-attacks saw riders lose contact with the peloton. Green jersey leader Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) was among those who tried to bridge the gap to the leaders, but his efforts were in vain.

Orica-GreenEdge rode to the front and reeled the 22-year-old and his companions in with the interests of its maillot vert contender, Matt Goss in mind.

The peloton shortly after allowed the time gap to the race leaders to blow out with some 117km remaining. The grupetto that included world champion Mark Cavendish, eventually made contact in what, after an aggressive start, essentially became a transition stage for the yellow jersey group.

The escapees achieved a maximum time advantage of 12 minutes and 50 seconds.

In the points competition, Goss won the bunch sprint at the intermediate check, ahead of Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), further closing the gap to Sagan. The 25-year-old Australian beat his Slovak rival at the finish winning the bunch sprint for sixth but was later relegated to seventh and docked 30 points for deviating from his line.

Results

Tour de France 2012, stage twelve: St Jean de Maurienne - Annonay Davézieux, 226km

1. David Millar (GBr) Garmin Sharp in 5h 42' 46"

2. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at st

3. Egoi Martinez (Esp) Euskatel - Euskadi at 5 sec

4. Cyril Gautier (Fra) Europcar

5. Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Astana all at st

6. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale at 7-53

7. Matt Goss (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge at st

8. Sébastien Hinault (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 7-54

9. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing

10. Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha  all at st

Overall classification after stage twelve

1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky 54h 34' 33"

2. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 2-05

3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale at 2-23

4. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at 3-19

5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto-Belisol at 4-48

6. Haimar Zubeldia (Esp) Radioshack-Nissan at 6-15

7. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 6-57

8. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana at 7-30

9. Pierre Rolland (Fra) Europcar at 8-31

10. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-BigMat at 8-51

David Millar heads the escape group

Bradley Wiggins

David Millar wins

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Tour de France 2012: Teams, riders, start list

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Tour de France 2012 provisional start list

Tour de France 2012 team list

Tour de France 2012: Stage reports

Stage 12: Millar wins Tour stage nine years from his last

Stage 11: Wiggins strengthens Tour lead as Evans slips back

Stage 10: Voeckler wins and saves his Tour

Stage nine: Wiggins destroys opposition in Besancon TT

Stage eight: Pinot solos to Tour win as Wiggins fights off attacks

Stage seven: Wiggins takes yellow as Froome wins stage

Stage six: Sagan wins third Tour stage

Stage five: Greipel wins again as Cavendish fades

Stage four: Greipel wins stage after Cavendish crashes

Stage three: Sagan runs away with it in Boulogne

Stage two: Cavendish takes 21st Tour stage victory

Stage one: Sagan wins at first attempt

Prologue: Cancellara wins, Wiggins second

Tour de France 2012: Comment, analysis, blogs

Analysis: What we learned at La Planche des Belles Filles

Analysis: How much time could Wiggins gain in Tour's time trials

CW's Tour de France podcasts

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Comment: Cavendish the climber

Tour de France 2012: Photo galleries

Stage 12 by Graham Watson

Stage 11 by Graham Watson

Stage 10 by Graham Watson

Stage nine by Graham Watson

Stage eight by Graham Watson

Stage seven by Graham Watson

Stage six by Graham Watson

Stage five by Graham Watson

Stage four by Graham Watson

Stage three by Graham Watson

Stage two by Andy Jones

Stage two by Graham Watson

Stage one by Graham Watson

Prologue photo gallery by Andy Jones

Prologue photo gallery by Roo Rowler

Prologue photo gallery by Graham Watson

Tour de France 2012: Team presentation

Sky and Rabobank Tour de France recce

Tour de France 2012: Live text coverage

Stage 10 live coverage

Stage nine live coverage

Stage six live coverage

Stage five live coverage

Stage four live coverage

Stage three live coverage

Cycling Weekly's live text coverage schedule

Tour de France 2012: TV schedule

ITV4 live schedule

British Eurosport live schedule

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