Starting in Toulouse, Stage 12 of the 2019 Tour brings the race into the Pyrenees. Two Category 1 climbs near the end should serve as nice warmups for Friday’s individual time trial, as well as for the harder mountain stages coming on Saturday and Sunday.

Riders will essentially climb all day, with the first 130K being a long, gradual, uphill drag to the Intermediate Sprint in Luchon. Don’t be surprised to see green jersey contenders like Peter Sagan and Michael Matthews get themselves into the day’s long breakaway, hoping to grab maximum points at the sprint.

The serious climbing begins right afterward, with the Category 1 Col de Peyresourde followed by Category 1 Hourquette d’Ancizan. Mostly appetisers for the bigger, tougher mountains to come this weekend, these climbs shouldn’t cause too much trouble for the overall favourites. But they will offer a chance for riders hoping to escape and win the stage, or else gain points in the King of the Mountains competition.

Riders to Watch

Race leader Julian Alaphilippe will likely defend his yellow jersey for yet another day, as this isn’t a stage that should provoke any major movement on the General Classification – especially with so much descending after each summit. Expect to see a rider way down in the overall rankings win the stage from a breakaway, with the GC favourites finishing together in a group and eyeing each other closely to get a sense of who’s in form.

Before the Tour, Vincenzo Nibali said he would wait and see how he feels before deciding whether to fight for a high overall finish or go for stage wins instead. Well, after losing 14 minutes during the first week, the 2014 champion looks positioned to go on the attack in the mountains without gaining much attention from the main contenders. With 30.5K from the top of the final climb down to the finish in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, the daredevil descender should like Stage 12’s profile.

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