Tour de France stage 12 predictions: Vingegaard value for another victory

Free Tour de France tips, best bets and analysis for stage 12 of the race on Thursday.

Where to watch

ITV4 & Eurosport 1, 11.45am Thursday

Best bet

Jonas Vingegaard to win stage 12
1pt 11-4 bet365

Stage 12 preview

If you count cycling and golf among your main sporting loves this is an extremely special day, with the first round of the Open and the queen stage of the Tour de France ensuring TV viewers do enough flicking from channel to channel to require at least one change of Duracell in the remote control.

Also in desperate need of new batteries is Tadej Pogacar after the almost unbroken upward trajectory of his spectacular career came to a sudden and sensational halt on the Col du Granon on Wednesday.

The Slovenian, his team having been badly affected by Covid, looked to be cruising on the day’s harsh final climb but suddenly cracked and lost three minutes to main rival Jonas Vingegaard, who stormed to stage victory and into the yellow jersey.

The Dane leads Romain Bardet by 2m16s on the general classification with Pogacar a further six seconds back in third and is 2-7 to record his first Tour triumph.

Pogacar is out to 100-30 but will need to make a dramatic recovery if he is not to suffer further losses on Thursday when the field has three hors category climbs to tackle, culminating in the iconic finish up l’Alpe d’Huez.

The first 33km of the route are uphill to the top of the Col du Galibier and if Vingegaard and his Jumbo-Visma colleagues decide to turn the screw it could be a horrific day for the champion.

That scenario would make life hard for the pure climbers who fancy a stage win, particularly the French riders for whom Bastille Day always brings added expectation. But history tells us a Pogacar rejuvenation is not impossible so this is a big test not just for the riders but for punters too.

But Vingegaard looked outrageously strong on Wednesday and there is every chance he will tighten his grip on the race with a second successive stage victory, this time on the mountain every cyclist dreams of conquering.

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