Stage 12
Hirschi soloes to Sarran
- Thursday 10 September 2020
- 218 km
- 3,389 m climbed
- Won by Marc Hirschi
The road
At the start
The longest day, 218km to Sarran
The general classification has not moved in four days — Roglič, Bernal at 21 seconds, Guillaume Martin at 28 — and three more riders are gone, Davide Formolo among them. Today is the longest stage of this Tour and the only one over 200 kilometres, rolling back into the Massif Central to Sarran, a village of three hundred souls. The last climb, the Suc au May, tops out 26 kilometres from the line.
How it was won
- 41 km to go
Hirschi on the attack again
Marc Hirschi, denied on stage 9, drives the day's move over the hills of the Correze, biding his time for one last dig on the final categorised climb.
- 26 km to go
Hirschi goes clear on the Suc au May
Over the Suc au May Hirschi launches his winning move, cresting alone with 25 undulating kilometres to defend to the line.
- At the line
Hirschi soloes to Sarran
Hirschi holds off the chase all the way to Sarran for his first Tour stage win, redemption after a fortnight of agonising near-misses.
The result
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc Hirschi | Team Sunweb | 5:08:49 |
| 2 | Pierre Rolland | B&B Hotels - Vital Concept p/b KTM | +0:47 |
| 3 | Søren Kragh Andersen | Team Sunweb | +0:52 |
The route on real terrain, every moment pinned to the kilometre it happened on — and the GPX to ride it yourself.