Biniam Girmay powered to a sensational third victory on stage 12 of the Tour de France in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, outsprinting the likes of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa–B&B Hotels) to take the win.
Girmay timed his final sprint to perfection as he masterfully surfed the wheels of his sprint rivals, before then jumping onto the wheel of Démare (Arkéa–B&B Hotels) and powering past the Frenchman to grab the victory.
The Eritrean managed to hold off a rampaging Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) to ensure he took the victory and by doing so he extended his lead in the green jersey as the race’s best sprinter. Girmay now has a lead of 111 points over Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck who is in second place.
Van Aert tried to match the speed of Girmay in the final few hundred metres, but there would be no stopping the Intermarché–Wanty man as he further underlined his credentials as the best sprinter at this year’s race. Girmay also claimed the day’s intermediate sprint to increase his buffer over Philipsen.
The race jury later relegated both Démare and Cavendish to the back of the bunch sprint to 67th and 68th.
"First of all I would like to say thanks to God for giving me a lot of strength and power. Without God we cannot do anything so I'm super happy," Girmay said post-race.
"From the start of the Tour I’ve felt like I knew I can do good results if I have the right time and the right wheel," he added. "I proved in the last three sprints that if I'm in the right position I am able to win.
"Today we didn't have any stress. We thought the break would arrive, so we didn't take risks. But in the end when everyone came together I got on the radio and said I feel super good. I'm super happy I can deliver.
"Since I started to wear this green jersey, somehow I felt super fast, especially in my mind. I believe I can prove I’m the best. I’ve had a lot of ups and down with crashes. But this year I completely changed my training. I hope it continues like this."
Meanwhile Primož Roglič lost more than two minutes in the general classification after being caught up in a small crash at around ten kilometres to go. Red-Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe had their entire team drop back with the aim of pacing Roglič back to the peloton, but they were unable to bridge back across to the main field before the finish meaning that the Slovenian lost substantial time.
How it happened
Stage 12 of the Tour de France was a relatively flat affair between Aurillac and Villeneuve-sur-Lot. The riders faced 203 kilometres with three categorised climbs as the peloton gradually headed south towards the Pyrenees.
Not long after the race got underway, Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-Firmenich PostNL) abandoned due to illness. Michael Mørkøv of Astana Qazaqstan also abandoned the race and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) was not far behind him, climbing off his bike after struggling at the back of the main field.
A four man break quickly established itself. Valentin Madouas (Groupama FDJ) was up the road alongside his teammate Quentin Pacher. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) was also present, as was Anthony Turgis (Total Energies).
A small crash in the peloton early on briefly held up the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogačar, but the peloton sat up and waited for the Slovenian to enable him to rejoin.
With 43 kilometres left to race the breakaway’s lead was hanging by a thread. After being unable to live with the pace being set by the Groupama riders, Turgis dropped back to the peloton which was being led by Soudal Quick-Step and Movistar. With just 11 seconds over the peloton, Pacher, Abrahamsen and Madouas were soon swallowed up as the main field started to think about a potential bunch sprint to contest the stage win.
At 28 kilometres to go the pace was really ramping up. Ineos Grenadiers, UAE Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike were jostling for position on the front of the peloton looking to keep their protected GC riders safe and out of harm's way.
With 12 kilometres to go there was a big crash in the middle of the peloton. A handful of riders went down including Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck) and Aleksey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan). The crash forced a small split in the peloton which caught out Primož Roglič and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. The Slovenian had all of his teammates alongside him looking to pace him back to the peloton.
With nine kilometres left to race Roglič had more than a minute to make up and ride across as the sprinters' teams ignited the pace. Visma-Lease a Bike ramped the speed right up as they looked to push Roglič further away from Jonas Vingegaard in fourth overall.
As the peloton tore under the one kilometre to go marker, Matej Mohorič was on the front of the bunch for Bahrain Victorious looking to tee up Phil Bauhaus for the win. However, once Arkéa–B&B Hotels took flight there was only going to be one winner and it wasn’t their own sprinter, Arnaud Demare.
Biniam Girmay tracked Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) in the final few hundred metres, before swinging to the right hand side of the road and latching onto the wheel of Démare.
The Frenchman tried to hold off Girmay, but there would be no stopping the Eritrean as he passed Démare and Wout van Aert to complete his hat trick of Tour stage wins.
Results
Tour de France 2024 stage 12: Aurillac > Villeneuve-sur-Lot 203km
1. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché–Wanty, in 4:17:15
2. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike,
3. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech,
4. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck,
5. Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto Dstny,
6. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Uno-X Mobility,
7. Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious,
8. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis, all at same time
9. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Jayco-AIUla,
10. Ryan Gibbons (Rza) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
General classification after stage 12
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 49:17:49
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:06
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:14
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +4:20
5. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +4:40
6. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:15
7. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal-Quick Step, +5:38
8. Adam Yates (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates, 6:59
9. Juan Auyso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, 7:09
10. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +7:36
