Kristoff powers to victory

Norwegian defeats Sagan in a sprint to triumph in the 12th stage

ST ETIENNE: Norway’s Alexander Kristoff beat Peter Sagan in a sprint to win the 12th stage of the Tour de France, a 185.5-km ride from Bourg en Bresse on Thursday.

Katusha ride Kristoff timed his effort perfectly to win with a comfortable margin to leave Slovakian Sagan, who looks set to win the green jersey for points classification, still without a win on the Tour this year.

French champion Arnaud Demare took third place and Italian Vincenzo Nibali retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.

TOUGH RACE

A five-man breakaway was reduced to four when Spain’s David de la Cruz went down hard on a bend and pulled out with a suspected broken collarbone.

Then they were just two, Dutchman Sebastian Langeveld and Simon Clarke of Australia on their own ahead of a bunch led by Europcar and GiantShimano who were looking to set up their sprinters for the finale.

Europcar played another card, however, with Frenchmen Perrig Quemeneur and Cyril Gauthier attacking to join Clarke after the Australian had shaken off Langeveld. But the peloton led by Giant-Shimano reined them in with a few kilometres left.

The peloton went through Sorbiers, where the late Kazakh rider Andrey Kivilev was buried after he died following a crash in March 2003 during the ParisNice race. His death prompted the International Cycling Union (UCI) to implement the mandatory use of helmets in all races.

It brought back memories to fellow Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov, now the Astana manager who was Kivilev’s best friend.

Friday’s 13th stage takes the peloton to the Alps with a mountaintop finish in Chamrousse.

Meanwhile, American Andrew Talansky withdrew on Thursday a day after riding for several hours with excruciating back pain.