Stage 12 -- July 13: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Annonay/Davézieux, 226 km (140.4 mi)
This is what winning clean will do to you. A more satisfying victory ... once you recover, of course. Photograph: AFP
Last week sometime I talked about waiting years for a British Yellow jersey contender to come along only two to come along at once, but how about stage winners? I remember in 1996 it being a big deal among the British cycling community that one of their own, Max Sciandri, had won a stage of the Tour de France for aside from Chris Boardman in prologues, it was such a rarity. Then along game the likes of Mark Cavendish who would bring home four or five sprint victories for Britain in a single Tour to the point it was rare for the nation not to have a stage winner, but there was far from the outright dominance we're seeing here in 2012. Thanks today to the stage win by the old boy, David Millar, Britain now have four different stage winners in this Tour to go with the GC domination by Brad Wiggins and Chris Froome. Unthinkable not so long ago.
Millar, like Sciandri and even Boardman in prologues, was the rare British stage winner in his early days of the Tour. He won the 2000 Prologue in his very first Tour at Futuroscope, he won a flat stage breakaway at the 2002 Tour, and a year later he won the long time-trial the day before the ride into Paris. Millar was the top dog of British cycling in the Tour though never likely to be a GC contender and his wins were celebrated as great moments for British cycling. Then he failed a doping test. After years of riding clean he succumbed to the pressures and it cost him dear. Now a reformed character and a staunch anti-doping advocate, Millar is back in the peloton and one of it's elder statesmen. To see him win like he did yesterday and to know he was doing it clean, was a great thing.
Mark Cavendish opened the British account, as expected, back on stage two and was followed a few days later on a mountain top finish by Chris Froome. By then Brad Wiggins was into the Yellow jersey and he followed that up with the time-trial victory. It felt as though things couldn't get any better until Millar got into the early break that was able to stick and came from it to take the win. Four from Britain's five riders in this Tour, the Yellow jersey, and the Olympics still to come.
Should Britain do as they are expected to do on the track in London, 2012 will go down as the nations greatest ever cycling year. In this Tour alone Britain have taken wins from a sprint stage, mountain stage, time-trial, and breakaway stage, and don't try tell any of them, or Steve Cummings the other British entrant, that the winning is over. Indeed, all four of Britain's Olympic road team that are riding in this Tour have taken stage wins and Millar was quick to mention this at the finish.
"Our Olympic team is made up of Tour de France stage winners and that should make it quite a force," said an exhausted Millar at the line. "I never thought I would see Britons dominating like this at the Tour."
And Millar always looked like winning once it was clear the break would stay away. When anyone attacked it was he that chased it down until which time just himself and Jean-Christophe Peraud were left to fight out the sprint. Millar was only too happy to lead it out, clearly confident he would win it and when the sprint was opened up by Peraud, there was only going to be one winner.
Gone now are the days of hoping that maybe Boardman could win the prologue, Sean Yates or Sciandri could snatch a win from a successful break on a flat stage to satisfy the British goals at the Tour. This nation is now the sports dominant force and really, it's all come about in the last half decade. David Millar has bridged that gap and he's still winning.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I think this is as good a win as I've had in my career. And it's particularly poignant that it came today on the 45th anniversary of Tommy Simpson's death. I think it's a full circle in a way. I'm an ex-doper and I'm very proud of where our sport is today and what we've done to change it. I think we mustn't forget the past and I'm one of the people who have made mistakes and I want people to know that I am clean now and the sport is a different sport. We should be very proud of it.” -- David Millar remembers one of Britain's greatest 45 years after his death.
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ABANDONMENT'S
Robert Gesink, a potential top ten man prior to the race beginning, has been invisable so far in this race and failed to start today's stage. Tom Veelers abandoned the stage, as did David Moncoutié. The Cofidis rider was trying to chase down the break when he fell and broke his collarbone.
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STAGE 12 RESULT
1. David Millar (GBr) Garmin Sharp in 5-42-46
2. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at st
3. Egoi Martinez (Esp) Euskatel - Euskadi at 5 sec
4. Cyril Gautier (Fra) Europcar
5. Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Astana all at st
6. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale at 7-53
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 12
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky 54-34-33
2. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 2-05
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale at 2-23
4. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at 3-19
5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto-Belisol at 4-48
6. Haimar Zubeldia (Esp) Radioshack-Nissan at 6-15
