Marc Hirschi claims stage 12 with heroic solo effort – Tour de France

Tour de France 2020

Stage 12

The in-form Marc Hirschi bounced back from his succession of near misses with a magnificent solo win in Stage 12 of the Tour de France on the longest day of the race.

Twice denied a victory in the opening week of his maiden Grand Tour, Hirschi benefitted from a Team Subweb masterclass to become the first Swiss stage winner on the Tour since Fabian Cancellara in 2012.

Youngster Hirschi, 22, used a softening attack from teammates Soren Kragh Andersen and Tiesj Benoot as a launchpad, zipping clear on the fourth and final categorised climb of the day with 28 leg-sapping kilometres remaining.

Despite a big effort from Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) to ride back into contention, Hirschi kept his cool over the lumpy approach into Sarran to secure his first win as a professional in mesmerising fashion.

Hirschi finished 47 seconds clear of veteran Frenchman Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) before Danish teammate Kragh Andersen led a splintered chase group home with a punch of the air as he took third. With a third Sunweb rider, Ireland’s Nico Roche, also in the top 10, it was a case of job well done for a team that has been knocking on the door since the start of the 107th edition of the race.

Alaphilippe, who denied Hirschi in Stage 2 at Nice, came home a distant eleventh place after a mechanical in the closing kilometres, while Slovakia’s Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) led the main field over the line 2’30” in arrears to slightly reduce his deficit to Ireland’s Sam Bennett (Deceninck-QuickStep) in their battle for the green jersey.

In the fight for yellow there was no change as Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) retained his 21-second lead over the Colombian white jersey Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) ahead of Friday’s summit finish in the Massif Central.

But the day belonged to the heroic Hirschi, whose gutsy ride also saw him come to within five-points of the polka dot jersey currently being worn by Frenchman Benoit Cosnefroy (Ag2R-La Mondiale).

“It’s unbelievable because I was two times close,” the Swiss said with reference to his near-misses in Stages 2 and 9. “Today I never believed I could make it but I went full gas for the last kilometres. It’s super nice. I can’t describe the feeling.

The breakaway on stage 12.

“I was always doubting because the chasers were always close – and last time I was caught. It’s my first pro victory and it’s in the tour. It couldn’t be better – it’s a dream.”

Asked if being beaten by Slovenians Tadej Pogacar and Roglic after his exploits in the Pyrenees had inspired him, Hirschi said: “The last results gave me lots of confidence because I knew I could do it. It gave me some extra power. Just to start the Tour was a dream, but to have a stage win so young is amazing.”

The longest stage of the 2020 Tour de France was played out under a cloudless sky and took the peloton over some rolling terrain into the Correze region of central France. At 218km, it was the only stage of the Tour over 200km and the shortest longest stage ever in Tour history.

After a typically frantic opening stanza, a group of four riders managed to break clear, helped in part by a small touch of wheels in the peloton which held up the likes of Frenchman Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Kazakhstan’s Alexey Lutsenko (Astana).

The four leaders – Spaniards Luis León Sánchez (Astana) and Imanol Erviti (Movistar), and Germans Nils Politt (Israeel Start-Up Nation) and Max Walscheid (NTT Pro Cycling) – built up a lead of around a minute, but soon had two riders in pursuit after an intense period of acceleration from Peter Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe team.

Frenchman Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Direct Energie) and the Danish national champion Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) managed to join the leaders shortly after the intermediate sprint, with 155km remaining.

In the sprint, Sam Bennett extended his lead over Sagan in the green jersey standings by two points after eclipsing the Slovakian for seventh place as the peloton came through around two minutes down on the leaders.

A ceasefire ensued as Bora-Hansgrohe came to the front of the pack to keep a check on the break alongside the orange jerseys of CCC Team, working for the Italian Matteo Trentin the the Belgian Olympic champion Greg van Avermaet.

The gap hovered around the two-minute mark as the riders passed through Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, the hometown of the late Tour legend Raymond Poulidor, with a series of pieces of astonishing field art commemorating the career of the ‘Eternal Second’ of the Tour.

With Bora and CCC refusing to give the break any leeway, the inevitable happened after the first two fourth-category climbs. Asgreen and Erviti were the last two men to give up the ghost as Sunweb sent two riders – Tiesj Benoot and Soren Kragh Andersen – up the road with 50km remaining.

Fans cheer on Groupama-FDJ rider Sebastien Reichenbach, Deceuninck-Quick Step riders Dries Devenyns and Julian Alaphilippe as they climb on stage 12.

The fast pace had seen Bora successful drop Bennett and all the sprinters – although Sagan, too, felt the pinch on the Cat.2 bonus climb of Suc au May inside the final 30km.

Sunweb’s grip on proceedings became apparent when Swiss tyro Marc Hirschi used his two teammates’ move as a springboard for his own attack, the 21-year-old Tour debutant skipping past Spaniard Marc Soler and Germany’s Max Schachmann on the climb.

With Sagan battling back on but the pack looking unlikely to contest the win, Bora put their eggs in the basket of Paris-Nice winner Schachmann, who rode in pursuit with Movistar’s Soler.

Hirschi opened up a 30-second gap over his two chasers and 50 seconds over another group of a dozen riders being driven by the French livewire Alaphilippe, who joined forces with teammates Bob Jungels and Dries Devenyns in a bid to give QuickStep their third stage win of the race.

But Alaphilippe’s numerous attacks unhinged the chase group which, despite picking up Schachmann and Soler, was unable to make any inroads in its calamitous pursuit of the lone leader. Behind, Jumbo-Visma came to the front to call a ceasefire in the main field and protect their man in yellow after the deficit stretched above the two-minute mark.

Entering the final 20km it was still touch and go for Hirschi, who retained a 50-second gap over his pursuers. But with Kragh Andersen and now Roche present to cover any moves, and no unified chase over the rolling roads, it soon became clear that Sunweb’s efforts were going to pay off.

Hirschi’s victory was just deserts for a rider showing maturity beyond his years and a team that has never ceased to get into the right move and fight for the win – as emphasised by placing three riders in the top 10.

Schachmann took sixth place for Bora-Hansgrohe – scant consolation for the team which had looked to take the stage by the scruff of the neck. Sagan’s thirteenth place saw him pick up a handful of green jersey points and cut rival Bennett’s lead to 66 points but that was a poor return for all the effort made by the former world champion’s teammates.

To compound matters for Bora, their German GC rider Emanuel Buchmann cracked on the approach to Sarran and came home over 10 minutes down on the yellow jersey group – last year’s fourth place rider now dropping out of the top 20. For their part, CCC Team hardly fared any better, with van Avermaet, their best-placed rider, only able to take fourteenth.

The focus shifts from green to yellow and polka dots in tomorrow’s undulating 191.5km Stage 13 through the Massif Central. Featuring seven categorised climbs, the stage has 36 king of the mountains points on offer and should see a GC showdown on the final climb of Puy Mary.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *