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Similar to yesterday, Stage 12 of the Tour de France is a chance for the sprinters and the breakaway riders to win. Join The Roar for live commentary and a blog from 10:00pm AEST.
Last night saw the sprinters get blown away by the peloton as the last few climbs took their toll.
Tony Gallopin was able to break away with a few kilometres to go to take his first stage win at the Tour.
Tonight sees a similar stage with late climbs set to determine who will be in contention for the stage.
The Tour heads from Bourg-En-Bresse to Saint Etienne on a 185.5 kilometre journey featuring four categorised climbs and one intermediate sprint.
The sprint kicks proceedings off 39.5 kilometres into the stage. 20 points are on offer to the winner and expect Peter Sagan, Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel to all be involved.
The field then has two climbs, as they approach the halfway mark of the stage. The first is the Col de Brouilly at 58.5 kilometres and is a 1.7 kilometre category 4 climb. The second, tougher climb is the Cote du Saule-d’Oingt. It is 3.8 kilometres in length and has 4.5 per cent gradient.
Most of the peloton should comfortably clear these two climbs. The final two climbs though will decide the winner. Around 65 kilometres from the finish is the category 3 climb up Col des Brosses, at 15.3 kilometres in length with a gradient of 3.3per cent.
They follow that up with the category 4 climb of Cote de Grammond, 9.8 kilometres in length with a gradient of 2.9 per cent.
How the peloton climb these two mountains will be decisive as to who wins the stage. If the sprinters can survive, we will have a sprint finish at St Etienne. If they don’t then it becomes a battle between everyone else.
It all depends on how the peloton treat the race. If the mountains are attacked like yesterday though, the pure sprinters will all struggle to survive.
This stage suits Sagan, who leads the green jersey classification, and can climb hills like these. While other sprinters will fall away from the peloton, Sagan becomes the best rider in the pack if the other sprinters are not there at the finish.
If he can do this tonight, he is a big chance of winning his first stage for the year at the Tour.
It promises to be a great stage with the final 60 kilometres shaping up to be a battle between the sprinters and those who want to win the stage.
Look out for Australia’s Simon Gerrans and Michael Rogers, who will fancy their chances of winning tonight if they can shake the sprinters.
Prediction: Peter Sagan.
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