Tour de France Stage 14 - Limoux to Foix
Stage 14 of the 2012 Tour de France from Limoux to Foix, a journey of 191 km or 118 miles that took riders over two (2) category one Pyrennes climbs, was almost predictable. A long breakaway group that incuded Luis Leon Sanchez, Philip Gilbert, Peter Sagan and others got away early, and the peloton let them go. But when Sanchez found himself with a small group that included Sagan with 10K to go, he waited until Sagan went for a snack before he laid down the heat. A top time trialist, Sanchez was able to stay clear and solo for victory, his fourth stage win in his last four Tour participations.
- Km 30.0 - Col du Portel (601 m)5.3 kilometre-long climb at 6.3% - category 2
- Km 126.5 - Port de Lers (1 517 m)11.4 kilometre-long climb at 7% - category 1
- Km 152.5 - Mur de Péguère (1 375 m)9.3 kilometre-long climb at 7.9% - category 1
Meanwhile, back in the peloton, trouble was brewing. Apparently, someone was none-too-happy that the never before featured Mur de Péguère was being featured in the 2012 Tour de France. They took their revenge by throwing tacks on road at the top of the climb, ensnaring Cadel Evans and others. Evans lost of 90 seconds trying to get a wheel replacement, when his white jersey teammate Teejay van Garderen ignored his plea for help. Fortunately, the Yellow Jersey, himself "tacked" and flatted on the descent from the Mur, called a truce and urged his fellow Tour de France contenders to cease hostilities while Cadel got back on the group. Apparently, however, Pierre Rolland didn't get the memo, and he pressed on. At the point that his escape was encroaching upon Van Den Broeck's and Nibali's placing, however, Liquigas and Lotto pressed on, leaving Cadel and his boys to chase harder than expected.
Despite all the excitement and confusion, there were no changes of substance in the overall results.
Stage 14 Results - Top 10 Finishers
| 1 | Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team | 4:50:29 |
| 2 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:00:47 |
| 3 | Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat | |
| 4 | Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team | |
| 5 | Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | |
| 6 | Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | 0:02:51 |
| 7 | Sébastien Minard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 8 | Martin Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep | 0:03:49 |
| 9 | Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha Team | 0:04:51 |
| 10 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | 0:04:53 |
General Classification after Stage 14 (Top 20)
| 1 | Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling | 16:41:16 |
| 2 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling | 0:02:05 |
| 3 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:02:23 |
| 4 | Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team | 0:03:19 |
| 5 | Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team | 0:04:48 |
| 6 | Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:06:15 |
| 7 | Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team | 0:06:57 |
| 8 | Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team | 0:07:30 |
| 9 | Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:08:31 |
| 10 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat | 0:08:51 |
| 11 | Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:09:29 |
| 12 | Frank Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:09:45 |
| 13 | Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:10:49 |
| 14 | Jerome Coppel (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:11:27 |
| 15 | Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:12:41 |
| 16 | Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha Team | 0:17:21 |
| 17 | Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:17:41 |
| 18 | Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | 0:18:04 |
| 19 | Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team | 0:19:02 |
| 20 | Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | 0:20:12 |
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