Tour de France 2025: stage 12 heads for summit finish in Pyrenees with Healy losing yellow – live

23km to go: Skjelmose, Woods, Storer, Rubio are the four chasers, but Armirail’s lead continues to grow. He is 1min 54sec in front now! But the Hautacam will be a great leveller, if that is the correct word for a massive mountain.

Pogacar and Vingegaard and the rest of that group are now 2min 05sec down on the stage leader.

26km to go: At the front, Armirail’s lead is up to 1min 34sec. He is a time trial specialist, winning the French national individual time trial title in 2022 and 2024. So this flat/downhill section will be much to his liking. I’ll take a bet that no one bet on him to win this stage? (Not to say that he definitely will …)

28km to go: Evenepoel has managed to get himself back in the group with Pogacar and Vingegaard. Huge effort, fair play to the man.

“After what he’s had to do here, and the chase he’s put it, it would be extraordinary if he’s able to match the other two [Pogacar and Vingegaard] on the Hautacam,” says King Kelly.

29km to go: Now a big downhill leading into the Hautacam. The final climb is 13,6km long, so there’s a bit more than that of downhill terrain to go before the road kicks up again.

32km to go: Armirail has fashioned a lead of one minute on the chasers after mopping up five points for winning that category-two. This is a massive ride.

35km to go: Bruno Armirail (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale) has attacked off the front and is our new leader. He crests the category-two Col des Bordères and will now speed towards the foot of the Hautacam, the final climb. Surely he’ll be caught by one of the specialist climbers behind him, and probably plenty of others, when that climb begins?

36km to go: Woods has been caught up front. There is a group of three with Skjelmose and Storer to keep Woods company.

No, scratch that, sorry. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale) now leads on his own! And the group of three are chasing him.

36.3km to go: “A lot of riders have got into difficulty earlier than expected,” says Sean Kelly on commentary. “It’s turning out to be a really difficult stage.”

Healy is really suffering and will definitely be kissing goodbye to yellow. With a stage win and three days as race leader in the can, though, it’s been a remarkable race for him.

39km to go: Our lone race leader, Michael Woods, has 23sec on his pursuers, Storer and Rubio.

Evenepoel is 2min 40sec behind the tête de la course, and according to the data I’m seeing he’s only 20sec behind the group with Pogacar and Vingegaard. We shall see.

Or is he actually 46sec behind that group? That’s another suggestion that I’m seeing. He’s definitely in trouble anyway.

40km to go: An email from Ruaidhrí arrives entitled: “Ben Healy”

“Well Luke, there goes that dream … Love from Ireland.”

Don’t cry because it’s over, Ruaidhrí. Smile because it happened.

41.5km to go: “I’m just catching up on today’s updates now (quiet morning at work on the East Coast),” emails Gwyn Williams. “When I saw the news you reported about Cees Bol abandoning the race, I was put in mind of this article I saw a while back about his fan club. This is everything great about cycling and its fans: a random bunch of guys are intrigued by his name, which they translate as Cheese Bowl, and then happen to meet Cees in person at a race.

“Upon learning that he doesn’t even like cheese, they are hooked by the sheer silliness of it. They bet on Cees in the first professional race of his career and win enough money to start a fan club. Now six years later they travel around in a van with CEESBOL license plates and shrink-wrapped with Cees’s picture on it, and Cees attends fan club meetings at their bar in Belgium. In what other sport do things like that happen?”

44km to go: Primoz Roglic, apparently, isn’t wearing socks. That’s a maverick move from the Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe man.

46.5km to go: Woods, looking extremely sprightly, powers to the top of the climb, grabs a bottle and then tears into the descent with no further ado. He picks up 10 KOM points, placing him second overall, above Ben Healy now but below Lenny Martinez in the polka-dot standings.

47km to go: “In spite of there being some good climbers in the breakaway, if Visma or UAE decide to put the hammer down on the climb to Hautacam and then Vingo or The Pog attacks, well, it’s a lost cause for the guys in front,” emails RM.

Well, it seems Visma’s team has already splintered out on the road and as we know UAE were under-strength before the stage started, so I remain to be convinced about that. Everyone is exhausted.

47.5km to go: Woods (Israel-PremierTech) attacks at the front!

49km to go: Still 2.5km left to climb on this category-one. Then still a category-two and the Hautacam to come. Exhausting.

Evenepoel is now losing a minute to Pogacar and co.

49km to go: Now a lead group of four has formed. Armirail (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale), Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Woods (Israel-PremierTech), Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling).

I think Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) is there too, in fact. The animation of the race at the front has seen the gap between the break and the Pogacar/Vingegaard group grow to two minutes.

50km to go: No longer alone, Healy now has a teammate to empty some water over his back. I’m not sure it’s going to make much difference at this stage, lads.

50.5km to go: Skjelmose and Woods have a handful of seconds together at the front.

A reminder that Rodriguez of Ineos was the best-placed rider in GC in the massive 52-rider group. He was 5min 44sec down on the race leader at the start of the day.

51km to go: Healy, riding alone, empties some iced water over his back. His time in yellow is surely over.

51,5km to go: Skjelmose attacks off the front for Lidl-Trek! Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech goes with him).

Ben Healy, in yellow, is dropped by the main bunch!

While Jorgensen and Simon Yates appear to be suffering and have lost touch with their leader.

Now Emmanuel Macron has turned up! Not now, Emmanuel!

52.5km to go: There is a lot going on. Evenepoel is 20sec behind the main bunch.

Vingegaard has no teammates up ahead in the escape group, but Benoot, Kuss and Jorgensen are all there with him. Pogacar remains on the scene.

By the way, the peloton remains 1min 37sec behind the break, which may support the view that the escapees are strong enough to make this stick for the stage, at this stage of the climb.

53km to go: Axel Laurance continues to set the pace for Ineos at the front of the race. Then he pops and drops back.

Meanwhile, is Pogacar really suffering after that crash? Adam Blythe speculates that he might be, he’s on the radio a lot and has opened his jersey in the heat.

Pogacar’s teammate Tim Wellens, who is clearly on some of the best form of his career, is prominent at the front of the break, meanwhile.

53.5km to go: Tiesj Benoot, who was in the leading group, has dropped back to work on the front of the main bunch. He’s out of the saddle and setting a fierce pace as Visma Lease a Bike apparently looking to set this all up for their leader …

54km to go: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), in the green jersey, has been dropped by the main peloton and it 5min 16sec behind the break. Visma Lease a Bike have stepped up the pace in the peloton and started working for Vingegaard in earnest … and it looks like they’ve dropped Remco Evenepoel!

54km to go: Axel Laurance (Ineos) leads the way at the front of the break. 8km still to climb. Ineos had five riders up front, they now have three: Laurance, Arensman and Rodriguez.

55km to go: But wait! As I type, it seems Buchmann, and Lenny Martinez, are both dropped.

55km to go: Rodriguez, O’Connor, Skjelmose, Buchmann, Arensman, Vlasov, Woods are all there.

56km to go: The front group has neatly been cut in half in the early stages of the climb, and now numbers 25. Once they’ve had a proper sort-out after this climb I’ll list the riders that are still there.

57.5km to go: The dreaded graphic is added to our pictures, the one about how much of the climb remains …

“11.1km,” it says. Meanwhile Hannah Walker on TNT says it’s so hot on the climb that the tarmac is starting to melt.

Nils Pollitt (UAE Team Emirates) is still putting in a massive ride on the front of the peloton, trying to control the gap to the break for his team leader Tadej Pogacar. Genuinely heroic scenes. But how many matches will be burned before the end of the stage?

58km to go:

“Hi Luke, and Colin,” emails Alistair.

“The thing about the KOM is all about the polka dot jumper. Even a dead-flat stage with a single one-point steep hill, if it’s in the early days of the Tour, may get you the distinctive shirt for a day, and the chance for friends and family to see your mug on the podium. Also, a bit of cash of course, but these are highly prized distinctions for gregarii, domestiques, bottle-bearers who have slim chance of any greater distinction. Worth nothing in the greater scheme of things, but it’s a means to spread a bit of love around.

“Cheers, Alistair (dreaming of a grey jersey at 64).”

60km to go: The gap between peloton and break is up to 2min 08sec.

Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) does a big turn at the front to try and increase the advantage of the front group. Then he drops back.

Luke Durbridge (Jayco–AlUla) then takes it up. He’s another one putting in a massive effort to keep this breakaway up the road.

61km to go: What I’m wondering is, what effect will the frankly ridiculously hard first half of this race have on today’s racing? That’s partly why I’m suspicious about it being a classic slug-fest between the GC contenders.

The riders are on the climb!

64km to go: On commentary for TNT Sports Carlton Kirby also employs the word “verdant”, regarding this beautiful valley.

There are 10 KOM points on offer for the winner of the imminent climb, the Col du Soulor. It’s 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1, in that order, for the top six.

65km to go: I remain unconvinced by the theory that this is guaranteed to end with a punch-up between Pogacar and Vingegaard for the stage win and obviously, also, for time in GC. Although it would also be surprising if Visma Lease a Bike don’t try something, in view of Pogacar being a bit beaten up by yesterday’s late crash.

69km to go: Right, what’s the situation? The race is very close to the foot of the first category-one climb of this year’s race, the Col du Soulour.

The break has 1min 40sec. There’s a wonderful helicopter shot of a verdant valley floor with the mountains looming nearby. The front group, having been 52, now numbers 50. Coquard is one of the riders who dropped out. On the motorbike for TNT Sports, Romain Bardet speculated he might have been stung by a bee. But that is T-bee-C. Sorry.

70km to go: “Enjoying the text commentary from my garden in the north of Japan,” writes Chris Sato. “One of your previous mails was from Thomas in DC who mentioned he was in seat 11A on a flight. I just checked, it’s the same number seat as the sole survivor of the recent Air India plane crash.”

Well, there you have it. Thanks for your email Chris.

73km to go: One obvious response to Colin, I guess, is that the KOM competition effectively starts today anyway, while the points competition begins in anger with all the flat stages.

The timed sections idea is interesting though.

In that Luke Rowe reader interview, he backed replacing the best young rider classification with a grey jersey for best old rider:

With the peloton seeming to get younger each year, what do you think to replacing the best young rider white jersey with a best old rider (say, over 35) grey jersey? Vic Baker

“I think it’s got value: the white jersey is becoming outdated. Traditionally a rider’s peak was 28 to 32, now you’re seeing 21-year-olds winning Grand Tours. So it is becoming a little bit extinct, because riders are so good, so young. I’d be all for it. To replace the white with the grey would be quite cool. Any rider who’s performing at that level at 35 or above, you have to say chapeau, because they’ve done it for 15 years, give or take. That deserves a round of applause in itself. So I think a grey jersey instead of white has legs.”

77km to go: “Today’s break needs at least five minutes at the bottom of the penultimate climb, maybe more, emails Ryan Terpstra. “The GC riders will be attacking and a small margin will not be enough.”

I have to ask, is Ryan related to Niki?

“I am very Dutch but the Holland I live in is in Michigan, USA, not Netherlands. Terpstra is as common there as Smith is in other English countries, I believe. So maybe? Depends on how far up the family tree I have to go, but I did always enjoy rooting for him.”

78km to go: “I’ve got the spottiest plane wifi on a flight right now and can’t watch live,” emails ‘Thomas from DC’.

“Your updates are the only thing keeping me sane! Being in the middle seat I can tell my seat neighbours have ever-more prying eyes as we near those climbs. And a reminder to not book a flight during a mountain stage again … Thanks for keeping row A11 up to date.”

Bon voyage, Thomas.

81km to go: Rex and Nys contested that sprint to try and mop up the points on behalf of teammates. (Girmay in the case of Rex, Milan in the case of Nys).

But it’s a handy 17pts for second place for the irrepressible Van der Poel, who moves above Pogacar in the green jersey standings, into second place behind Milan.

1) Laurenz Rex (Intermarché–Wanty) 20pts

2) Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin–Deceuninck) 17pts

3) Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) 15pts

86km to go: Now, the front group is racing downhill towards the intermediate sprint at Bénéjacq.