The general classification battle of the 2025 Tour de France is set to properly ignite today as the race reaches the high mountains for the first time, with a formidable stage 12 in the Pyrenees ahead.
EF Education-EasyPost’s stage six winner Ben Healy took the overall race lead on stage 10 but is likely to relinquish it today as the big guns come to the fore, although there was a scare for Tadej Pogacar on stage 11 as he crashed with 4km to go.
Today’s 180km run begins in Auch and traverses three mountains before the summit finish at the hors-categorie Hautacam, a climb steeped in Tour history and a recent happy hunting ground for Jonas Vingegaard and his team Visma-Lease a Bike, who dominated on its slopes in 2022 as the Dane won the stage and extended his overall lead.
Can Vingegaard pile the pressure on Pogacar today, or will it be his Slovenian rival riding back into the yellow jersey at the end of the stage?
Follow all the action on stage 12 of the Tour de France below.
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Tour de France 2025 Stage 12 LIVE
- Stage 12 - 180km Auch to Hautacam | Live on TNT Sports and ITV4
- GC hostilities set to resume on difficult day in the Pyrenees
- Stage 11 recap: Jonas Abrahamsen wins maiden Tour de France victory as Healy stays in yellow
- The race's first hors categorie climb – Hautacam – awaits at the finish
- Tadej Pogacar admits 'arm is open completely' after crash on stage 11
- 125km to go: Huge 50-rider breakaway escapes clear of the peloton
Breakaway's lead slipping
14:12
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Lawrence Ostlere
90km to go: The breakaway’s lead has diminished slightly, reduced down to around 1min 30sec, as the peloton gently closes in. The 50-rider break has just started the cat-four Cote de Labatmale (1.3km at 6.3% gradient).
Stage 12 in pictures
14:00
,
Lawrence Ostlere
A few images from the stage so far:
Tour de France explained
13:52
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Lawrence Ostlere
I know what you’re thinking: how do Tour de France riders go to the toilet? We do indeed have the answer:
Breakaway being held
13:44
115km to go: The 50-rider breakway has stabilised at around 1min 45sec, and the peloton seems happy enough with this state of play.
They are about 20km away from the first categorised climb of the day, the cat-four Cote de Labatmale (1.3km at 6.3% gradient).
Tadej Pogacar speaks!
13:36
,
Lawrence Ostlere
Here’s what Tadej Pogacar – sporting a bandage all the way up his left arm – told Discovery+ this morning, after his crash yesterday:
“I’m OK. Nothing too bad. My whole left arm is open completely. It’s more burned off skin, I hit my hip a little bit and my shoulder, but luckily I was back on the bike quite fast. Today is another day. It’s not the first time I crashed and continued the race.
“We’ll see how the legs are. I think it’s more important, the legs, than my arm. I have a super strong team around me that support me to the end, they give everything for me, so I’m so grateful that I can rely on them even if I have a hard day today. But I hope not.”
The breakaway in full
13:29
,
Lawrence Ostlere
125km to go: Here we go, then – the 50 riders at the front of the race. Carlos Rodriguez is not only the closest rider to the top of the GC standings (five minutes behind the yellow jersey), he also has the most teammates in the break, with five Ineos riders in all.
Wellens (UAE Emirates), Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike), Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step), Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost), Barré, Rex (Intermarché-Wanty), Buitrago, Martinez, Stannard, Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Arensman, Foss, Laurance, C. Rodriguez, Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Pithie, Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Nys, Skjelmose, Theuns (Lidl-Trek), Martin Guyonnet, Madouas, Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ), Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Alaphilippe, Hirschi, Storer, Trentin (Tudor), O'Connor, Durbridge, Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Garcia Pierna, Venturini (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Castrillo, Romeo, Rubio (Movistar), Armirail, A. Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R), Buchmann, Coquard, Izagirre, Teuns (Cofidis), Tejada, Velasco (XDS Astana), Cras, Gachignard, Turgis (Total Energies), Woods, Blackmore, Lutsenko (Israel Premier Tech), Drizners (Lotto).
Hautacam awaits
13:23
,
Lawrence Ostlere
There are four categorised climbs today, and the first hors categorie climb of the race: Hautacam, atop which the finish line awaits.
Jonas Vingegaard won here en route to overall victory in 2022, and Vincenzo Nibali did likewise in 2014.
Whoever wins today’s race will have to conquer this brute of a climb, which is steep from the get-go and ratchets up above 10% gradient in the second half.
Stage 12 stabilises
13:19
,
Lawrence Ostlere
135km to go: The huge breakaway is being held at around two minutes, with the GC group happy to keep the race in this state for now.
Huge breakaway escapes up the road
13:07
,
Lawrence Ostlere
150km to go: An interesting dynamic has developed early in this stage, with a giant breakaway featuring almost 50 riders up the road from Pogacar, Vingegaard, Healy and the rest of the top GC riders.
The breakaway includes Van der Poel, Benoot, Teuns, Buchmann, O’Connor, Arensman, Wright and plenty more notable names.
Carlos Rodriguez is the highest placed rider in the GC among them, more than five minutes back from the yellow jersey at the start of the day.
This breakaway already has two minutes on the peloton, and the gap is growing.
Stage-by-stage guide to a brutal 2025 Tour de France
12:52
,
Lawrence Ostlere
We’re into the Pyrenean loop of this Tour de France, with the Alps still to come. Here’s a stage-by-stage look at the race:
A small breakaway is shut down
12:45
,
Lawrence Ostlere
160km to go: So they’re away, and the first mini-breakaway – featuring Eenkhorn, Delettre, Haller and Lutsenko – is swallowed up by a high-paced peloton.
Key moments of stage 12
12:29
,
Flo Clifford
Today is all about the climbing: the first climb comes 86km into the 180km stage, with the next two beginning with 58km and 39km to go respectively. The monster of the day, Hautacam, starts with 13.5km to go and, you guessed it, goes all the way to the summit finish.
There’s also an intermediate sprint just after the day’s first climb, at Benejacq, which the sprinters may cling on long enough for before dropping back.
The climbs are:
- cat-four Cote de Labatmale (1.3km at 6.3%)
- cat-one Col du Soulor (11.8km at 7.3%)
- cat-two Col des Borderes (3.1km at 7.7%)
- HC Hautacam (13.5km at 7.8%)
Who is leading the Tour de France? Yellow jersey and general classification standings
12:22
,
Flo Clifford
There was no movement in the general classification standings on stage 11 as a breakaway contested the win in Toulouse, with Jonas Abrahamsen taking his maiden grand tour victory having been up the road from kilometre zero, but Tadej Pogacar suffered a late crash and mechanical, jeopardising his second-place - until his rivals sportingly waited for him to return to the peloton.
Full standings in every classification here:
Stage 12 begins
12:15
,
Flo Clifford
The riders are off for the neutralised start in Auch, with racing set to get underway properly in around 10 minutes.
The opening week of the Tour de France showed one chink in Tadej Pogacar’s armour
12:07
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Flo Clifford
How will Tadej Pogacar’s crash affect him today? At the end of stage 10 I took a look at how the opening week of racing played out.
It largely went as expected in terms of how the GC is shaping up - but there are worrying signs for Pogacar, and if he’s not at his best following yesterday’s crash, Visma-Lease a Bike will surely punish him in the Pyrenees this week.
Stage 11 reaction: Tadej Pogacar
11:59
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Flo Clifford
“I'm quite okay. I'm a bit beaten up, but we've been through worse days,” Pogacar said after his late crash on the approach to Toulouse.
“Unfortunately one rider decided to follow from left to right side of the road, and he didn't see me, and he just completely cut me off, my front wheel. Luckily I just have a little bit of skin off. I was scared when I saw the sidewalk that I was going with my head directly to the sidewalk, but luckily my skin is tough and stopped me.
“Tomorrow is a big day coming. We'll see how I recover. Normally the day after a crash you're never at the best, but I will give my best tomorrow and we'll see. I think we're ready as a team for Hautacam.”
Stage 11 reaction: Ben Healy
11:52
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Flo Clifford
“Honestly I think I’ve lost a few years off my life after today because it was pretty stressful,” Ben Healy said at the finish. “The team did a super effort to keep me in it, I missed a split early on but from then on we were on the ball all day. Few little attacks in the final there but able to stay with the group, really happy I’ve managed to hold onto yellow for another day.
“The family’s all flown out just to see me in yellow, which is so special. Just been a crazy, crazy couple of days. I’m optimistic, I think it’s going to be a pretty hard fight to hold onto yellow, but I’m going to find right until the end, and hopefully have some super legs tomorrow.”
Asked about Pogacar’s crash, he said, “I was on the right of him, honestly I didn’t really see what happened, just hope that he’s okay.”
Stage 11 reaction: Jonas Abrahamsen
11:45
,
Flo Clifford
“I broke my collarbone four weeks in Belgium Tour, I was crying because I thought I wasn’t riding the Tour de France,” Jonas Abrahamsen said at the end of stage 11. “Every day I did everything I could to come back. To win a stage at the Tour de France is amazing. It was so difficult to pass [Mauro Schmid] but I was thinking, I have to win the stage. A lot of people wonder why do you go in the breakaway, the main goal for the team was to take a stage. I’m so proud of the team.
“From metre zero I was sprinting out of the car so I have to be smart [at the finish], not go over the limit in the end, I was hoping to take him in the sprint. It’s so nice to get the victory now. ”
General classification after stage 11
11:38
,
Flo Clifford
- Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) in 41:01:13
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), +29”
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), +1'29”
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), +1'46”
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), +2'06”
- Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels), +2’26”
- Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), +3’24”
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +3’34”
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +3’41”
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), +5’03”
Stage 11 results
11:31
,
Flo Clifford
- Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno X-Mobility) in 3:15:56
- Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla)
- Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +7”
- Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-Caps) +53”
- Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
- Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious)
- Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies)
- Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), all at same time
- Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) +1’11”
‘I’m a bit beaten up’: Tadej Pogacar caught out in late crash as Jonas Abrahamsen wins stage 11
11:24
,
Flo Clifford
Stage 11 was also notable for a late crash by defending champion Tadej Pogacar, who overlapped wheels with Tobias Halland Johannessen and hit the deck with 4km to go.
The Slovene was up and running quickly again as a neutral service mechanic helped fix his chain, but faced a race to get back onto the yellow jersey group until they sportingly knocked off the pace to allow him to get back on.
“I'm quite okay. I'm a bit beaten up, but we've been through worse days,” Pogacar said afterwards. “Really big respect to everybody in front. Obviously the race was more or less over back there, but still, they could take time – maybe not take too much time – but I would need to go really deep to come back like this.”
Full story here:
Stage 11 recap
11:17
,
Flo Clifford
Wednesday’s stage 11 featured a feelgood story as Jonas Abrahamsen, only four weeks on from breaking his collarbone at the Baloise Belgium Tour, jumped into the breakaway from kilometre zero and stayed away until the finish, winning a tight two-up sprint against breakaway companion and Tour debutant Mauro Schmid.
It was a maiden grand tour win for the intrepid breakaway specialist - best known for his long stint in the king of the mountains jersey last year - a first Tour de France win for Norway since Alexander Kristoff won stage 1 of the 2020 edition, and a first for his team Uno X-Mobility, who were overcome with emotion as they celebrated.
Abrahamsen and Schmid were part of a five-man group including British rider Fred Wright, who ultimately finished seventh, and who worked well together to hold off another quintet of chasers including Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. Van der Poel attacked on the final climb of the punchy 157km stage and dropped his companions, but despite his best efforts could not bridge across to the pair of survivors out front, who finished seven seconds ahead of the Dutchman.
“I broke my collarbone four weeks ago in [the Baloise] Belgium Tour, I was crying because I thought I wasn’t riding the Tour de France,” Abrahamsen said at the finish, recalling how he got onto his turbo trainer at home the day after in a desperate bid to get back to fitness in time to make the squad.
“Every day I did everything I could to come back. To win a stage at the Tour de France is amazing. It was so difficult to pass [Schmid] but I was thinking, ‘I have to win the stage’.”
Stage 12 start time
11:12
,
Flo Clifford
Stage 12 begins with the neutralised start at 1.10pm local time (12.10pm BST), with an expected finish time at 5.30pm local time (4.30pm BST).
Stage 12 route map and profile
11:08
,
Flo Clifford
Stage 12 preview
11:04
,
Flo Clifford
After an opening week and a bit of skirmishing between the big guns, with Monday’s stage 10 a test run for Visma-Lease a Bike’s strategy of trying to isolate Pogacar as much as possible, the real racing kicks off today.
That’s because we finally reach the mountains: the riders are into the Pyrenees, with today’s route spanning 180km from Auch to Hautacam, with 3,850m of elevation gain along the way.
Four categorised climbs are on the menu: the cat-four Cote de Labatmale is a bit of a gentle warm-up, before back-to-back ascents of the cat-one Col du Soulor (11.8km at an average of 7.3%) and the cat-two Col des Borderes (3.1km at an average 7.7%), with just a short descent breaking the two up.
There’s then a long, broken-up descent off the Borderes before the gradient rises again up to Hautacam: 13.5km at an average of 7.8%, a far cry from the short, sharp climbs in Normandy and Brittany that littered the first week’s action.
The formidable Hautacam is the first hors-categorie climb of the race and it’s a summit finish to boot, with plenty of points on offer in the King of the Mountains competition but more importantly, it may as well be bait for the marauding Pogacar to stamp his authority on the race, wrestle back the yellow jersey, and add to his already impressive haul of 19 Tour stage wins and counting.
Good morning
11:00
,
Flo Clifford
Bonjour and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of stage 12 of the Tour de France!
The battle for yellow well and truly kicks off today with the first hors-categorie climb of this year’s race, the formidable Hautacam. Fireworks incoming...