The 18th stage of the Tour de France 2012 took place on July 20, 2012 and led from Blagnac to Brive-la-Gaillarde . With a distance of 222.5 kilometers, there was one mountain classification in the 3rd category and three in the 4th category.
The route led mainly in a northerly direction through the Haute-Garonne , Tarn-et-Garonne , Lot and Corrèze departments . From Blagnac we first went along the Garonne to Castelsarrasin . The Côte de Saint-Georges, a slope on the edge of the Tarn Valley, was the only mountain classification in the 3rd category. In Castelnau-Montratier the feed zone was located. Then the intermediate sprint was held in the city of Cahors . We continued via Souillac to our destination in Brive-la-Gaillarde. The profile of the stage was largely flat in the first third, the rest was characterized by hilly terrain.
Race course
The field drove at a very high pace for the first few kilometers, making any attempt to break away impossible. Only at kilometer 21 were five drivers able to break away, who were able to pull out a maximum lead of 55 seconds. Due to the continued high pace, the field soon came up again and caught up with the breakaway after 49 kilometers. Another group formed after 60 kilometers. This included the nine drivers Manuel Quinziato , Yukiya Arashiro , Julien Fouchard , Adam Hansen , Luca Paolini , Jérémy Roy , Nick Nuyens , Michael Albasini and Patrick Gretsch .
Nuyens won the first mountain classification of the day shortly afterwards. After about 70 kilometers, Jaroslaw Popowytsch , David Millar , Edvald Boasson Hagen , Jelle Vanendert , Kris Boeckmans , Karsten Kroon and Alexander Vinokurow caught up with the top group, which now comprised 16 drivers. The lead increased to just over three minutes. Boeckmans was the first to pass the intermediate sprint in Cahors, while Albasini won the mountain classification outside the city. Meanwhile, the field began to steadily narrow the gap. 45 kilometers from the finish, the French President François Hollande took a seat in the car of the tour director Christian Prudhomme to watch the rest of the stage.
Arashiro was the first to conquer the heights of Souillac, a little later Fouchard and Boeckmans fell out of the leading group. Various drivers in the leading group tried in vain to break away, while the field from behind was getting closer and closer. Vinokurow attacked twelve kilometers from the finish, with only Paolini and Hansen able to follow him. After the last mountain classification (won by Winokurow) Andreas Klöden , Nicolas Roche and Luis León Sánchez caught up with the top. The field was only a few seconds behind. In the last hundred meters it caught up with the remaining runaways. Mark Cavendish won the sprint for the day's victory .
