The 12th stage of the Tour de France 2015 took place on July 16, 2015. It led from Lannemezan over 195 kilometers to Plateau de Beille . There were a total of four mountain ratings, one in the second category, two in the first category and, with the mountain finish in Plateau de Beille, one of the Hors Catégorie . There was also an intermediate sprint after 20 kilometers in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges . The twelfth stage counted as a high mountain stage. 177 drivers started.
The intermediate sprint was scheduled after only 20 stage kilometers, so the sprinter teams started driving at high speed straight away in order to enable the sprinters to gain the highest possible number of points. André Greipel won the intermediate sprint ahead of John Degenkolb and Peter Sagan . Greipel moved up to two points on Sagan in the points assessment. Immediately after the intermediate sprint, a group of 22 drivers formed, the most prominent of which were Romain Bardet , Joaquim Rodríguez , Michał Kwiatkowski , Jakob Fuglsang and Sylvain Chavanel . The gap before the first mountain classification was around five to six minutes. Georg Preidler from the top group secured the first mountain points of the day ahead of Jérémy Roy and Lieuwe Westra . The latter later increased the pace, so that some drivers from the leading group lost touch. Kristijan Đurasek won the second mountain classification at the Col de la Core ahead of Preidler and Mickaël Chérel . The lead of the outliers was now over ten minutes.
Later on in front of Port de Lers, Kwiatkowski, Preidler and Sep Vanmarcke pulled away from the group and were alone in the front. They could quickly make up for over two minutes on their pursuers. Before reaching the mountain classification, Preidler fell back again, so that Kwiatkowski was able to secure the mountain points ahead of Vanmarcke. Third was Chérel. Rodríguez, Bardet, Fuglsang, Chérel, Romain Sicard , Gorka Izagirre and Louis Meintjes were also represented in the direct chasing group. In the descent, the top riders with Kwiatkowski and Vanmarcke had a little more than ten minutes ahead of the main field.
On the ascent to the Plateau de Beille , Vanmarcke fell behind, Kwiatkowski was alone in the lead. Jakob Fuglsang caused the chasing group to break up by stepping up the pace. Only Romain Bardet and Joaquim Rodríguez could follow him. The Spaniard Rodríguez was able to shake off his two companions after an attack and also overtook Kwiatkowski, who had to let Fuglsang pass a little later. In the field of favorites there were attacks by Alberto Contador , Vincenzo Nibali , Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde , but these were repulsed by the Sky team around Chris Froome . In the meantime, Rodríguez had already increased his lead to over a minute and finally won the mountain finish with 1:12 minutes ahead of Fuglsang. Bardet came third. The group of favorites crossed the finish line 6:47 minutes behind.
AustraliaZakkari Dempster (BOA): Task during the stage (on the 11th stage already outside of the waiting period , but due to the difficult circumstances (e.g. heat) he was not taken out of the race; fell back again on the 12th stage)
United KingdomAlex Dowsett (MOV): Task during the stage (injury consequences of the 4th stage on the elbow)
Zakkari Dempster (BOA): Task during the stage (on the 11th stage already outside of the waiting period , but due to the difficult circumstances (e.g. heat) he was not taken out of the race; fell back again on the 12th stage)