Tour de France 2025 Stage 12: Breakaway artists and GC hitters meet at Hautacam

Tour de France 2025 Stage 12 finishes atop Hautacam, the first high-mountain showdown of this year’s race. Expect fireworks on the final 13.6 km climb at 7.8%.

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by The Tipster

2 months ago 0 293

Tour de France 2025 Stage 12

🚵‍♂️ First big test in the high mountains

Tour de France 2025 Stage 12 takes the peloton from Auch to the summit of Hautacam, a climb drenched in Tour de France lore. After several hilly and punchy days, this is the first true high-mountain finish of the race, and it comes with a punishing 3,850 metres of elevation over 180.6 kilometres.

The stage is neatly split in two. The first 122 kilometres are almost pan-flat, but the final 60 serve up a brutal triple punch: Col du Soulor, Col des Bordères, and then the 13.6 km, 7.8% ascent to Hautacam.

Will we see fireworks from the GC favourites? Or will a strong breakaway have its day?

🏔 The route: Calm before the storm

The day starts gently in Auch, meandering east for over 120 kilometres without any real climbing. This terrain is perfect for establishing the day’s breakaway, and we can expect a mix of climbers, opportunists, and team helpers to go up the road early.

But everything changes after the intermediate sprint in Ferrières.

Here’s what the peloton will face in the final 58.3 km:

Col du Soulor: 11.9 km at 7.3%
Col des Bordères: 3.1 km at 7.6%
Final climb to Hautacam: 13.6 km at 7.8%, with sections over 11%

This final climb has been the scene of iconic Tour battles in the past. Most notably, in 2022, Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard dismantled Tadej Pogacar on these slopes. Today, Van Aert is unlikely to be pulling on the front, but will Vingegaard find similar success?

🔥 Tactics: A stage of two races?

With the yellow jersey battle still tight — and Ben Healy in an unexpected race lead — the dynamic could get messy. There are two likely scripts for Tour de France 2025 Stage 12:

A strong breakaway goes early, builds enough of a gap, and battles for the win on Hautacam.
GC teams ramp up the pace late and reel in the break to set up a big-name showdown.

The latter is less likely, at least until the final climb. Most GC contenders will want to test the waters, but not fully commit this early in the Pyrenees — especially with harder stages to come.

But with steep ramps at the top of Hautacam, gaps could open naturally — and riders like Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel will be forced to react if someone else lights the fuse.

🏁 Hautacam: The final climb

13.6 km at 7.8%, but extremely irregular
Kilometres 8–9: 10.3% and 11.3%
Kilometre 11: 10.4%

This isn’t a climb you can pace; it’s one where surges and suffering dominate. The final 5 kilometres are especially vicious, and if a rider gets dropped here, time losses can balloon.

🌟 Favourites for Tour de France 2025 Stage 12

Breakaway contenders:

Thymen Arensman – In great shape and tailor-made for this kind of stage
Michael Storer – Superb on long climbs and always aggressive
Ben O’Connor – Can climb with the best when allowed freedom

GC outsiders who might attack:

Lenny Martinez, Mattias Skjelmose, Michael Woods, Pablo Castrillo

Top GC names:

Tadej Pogacar – Will want to test rivals, especially after his Hautacam loss in 2022
Jonas Vingegaard – Has history here and will remember the damage he did last time
Simon Yates, Sepp Kuss, Geraint Thomas – All proven climbers capable of mixing it with the elite