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Nils Politt becomes the latest breakaway rider to win at the Tour de France

Politt's teammate Peter Sagan doesn't start Stage 12

Photo by: Sirotti
July 8, 2021
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Thursday saw the Tour de France GC battle take a back seat to the breakaway, from which Nils Politt emerged the fastest, the Bora-Hansgrohe rider’s first Tour victory only the second of his career. It was a mixed day of emotions for Bora-Hansgrohe, as Peter Sagan abandoned the race. Tadej Pogačar was safe in yellow. The three Canadians finished in the peloton almost 16:00 after Politt.

You can watch the 108th Tour de France at FloBikes.

The Course

There were plenty of ripples distributed over the 160 km route from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes, but only one categorized climb, the Cat. 3 Côte du belvédère de Tharaux. Winds would play their role on Thursday.

The big news in the morning was that Peter Sagan withdrew from the race, his knee too sore to carry on. It’s the first Grand Tour he hasn’t finished since he was controversially thrown out of the 2017 Tour. The race has lost 29 riders since the start in Brest.

The action was frenetic from the gun, with crosswinds, echelons and nerves, but after 20 km the race calmed down. A lucky 13 riders had dashed away to form the day’s breakaway. After Wednesday, there were few riders left who might be GC threats in the escape, as there was five minute gap from 10th to 11th and a further nine minutes back to 12th.

Quickly the gap ballooned, with UAE-Emirates providing a languid pace at the head of the field.

Mark Cavendish had time to adjust his shoe cleat unhurried.

After the Côte du belvédère de Tharaux, where Sagan’s German teammate Politt crested first, the break’s gap was close to 12:00. Surely the day’s winner was among the 13. Just after the 50 km to go mark, Politt initiated a move that split the break.

The skirmishing went on among the fugitives for several kilometers until Politt and three others established themselves out front. The quartet became a trio as the chase laboured to capture it.

Politt went solo with 13 km remaining and finished 31 seconds ahead of his breakmates.

Friday’s route is similar to Thursday’s but almost 60 km longer.


2021 Tour de France Stage 12
1) Nils Politt (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) 3:32:12
2) Imanol Erviti (Spain/Movistar) +0:31
3) Harry Sweeny (Australia/Lotto-Soudal) s.t.
83) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana-Premier Tech) +15:53
106) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) s.t.
110) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) s.t.

2021 Tour de France GC
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 47:06:50
2) Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/EF Education-Nippo) +5:18
3) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Jumbo-Visma) +5:32
4) Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/Ineos Grenadiers) +5:33
5) Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R-Citroën) +5:58
6) Wilco Kelderman (The Netherlands/Bora-Hansgrohe) +6:16
7) Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan/Astana-Premier Tech) +6:30
8) Enric Mas (Spain/Movistar) +7:11
9) Guillaume Martin (France/Cofidis) +9:29
10) Pello Bilbao (Spain/Bahrain-Victorious) +10:28
28) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +57:00
57) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana-Premier Tech) +1:25:32
100) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +1:52:09