The 2021 Tour de France was the 108th edition of Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour began in Brest, France on 26 June, and Stage 12 from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes occurred on 8 July. The race finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 18 July.
Classification standings Legend Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the leader of the team classification Denotes the winner of the combativity award
Stage 12 8 July 2021 – Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes,
The twelfth stage featured a long course from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes. The undulating course featured only one categorized climb on the route, the third-category Côte du Belvédère de Tharaux, after , and one intermediate sprint in Uzès with around left. With to go, there was a long uncategorized climb at an average gradient of 3 percent before a downhill run to the finish. Much like on stage 10, there was a threat of crosswinds along the way.
Before the stage, Peter Sagan () abandoned the race due to his recurring knee injury. Immediately from the start, the peloton set a furious pace that began to form echelons, with the peloton being split into three groups and all the GC contenders making it into the first group. After around of racing, a 13-man break went away while the groups who were caught out rejoined the main peloton. Most notable of them was the world champion, Julian Alaphilippe (), who made the break for the second consecutive day. The break immediately extended their advantage, and without any teams chasing behind, it became almost certain that the break would go all the way and contest for the stage win.
With to go, Nils Politt () attacked with Connor Swift (), but the move was chased down. A few kilometres later, Politt attacked again, this time with Stefan Küng (), Harry Sweeny (), and Imanol Erviti (). The quartet gradually built up their advantage over the rest of their breakaway companions. from the finish, Sweeny launched an acceleration that dropped Küng. With left, Politt was once again on the attack, this time with no response from Erviti and Sweeny. On the downhill run-in to the finish, Politt extended his lead to win his first Tour stage, 31 seconds ahead of Erviti and Sweeny. Küng finished seconds ahead of a group containing most of the other breakaway riders, with Luka Mezgec () winning the sprint for fifth. Stefan Bissegger () was the last of the breakaway members to finish, crossing the line by himself over five minutes behind Politt. About ten minutes after Bissegger, Mark Cavendish () led the peloton home, sprinting for the few remaining points on offer to slightly extend his lead in the points classification. All the GC contenders finished safely in the peloton and the top ten remained unchanged.
Stage 13 9 July 2021 – Nîmes to Carcassonne,
The thirteenth stage saw the Tour continue west across southwestern France towards the Pyrenees. With a distance of , it marked the second longest stage of this year's Tour. The undulating route ran roughly parallel to the Mediterranean coast, with crosswinds once again being a possibility. The first half of the stage featured both the day's only categorized climb and the intermediate sprint. The fourth-category Côte du Pic Saint-Loup, which is long at an average gradient of 3.7 percent, summited at into the stage, while the intermediate sprint in Fontès was at . Three uncategorized climbs preceded a flat run-in to the final kilometre, with a slight uphill drag to the finish line.
The first few kilometres were marked by several attacks before a trio of riders broke away with around to go. The break included Sean Bennett (), Pierre Latour (), and Omer Goldstein (). After a while, Georg Zimmermann () attempted to bridge from the peloton to the break, albeit unsuccessfully. The trio built a lead of two and a half minutes before the gap came down due to several riders attempting to bridge over to the break. Eventually, took control at the front of the peloton, allowing the break to increase their advantage once again. The trio led by a maximum of four and a half minutes before the peloton started to chase in earnest. At the intermediate sprint, the break took maximum points before Sonny Colbrelli () outsprinted Michael Matthews () for the remaining points on offer as Mark Cavendish () rode closely behind. With to go, the break started attacking each other as Bennett accelerated off the front. Latour and Goldstein managed to bridge up to Bennett before eventually dropping him as well. At around the same time, Philippe Gilbert () and Alex Aranburu () attempted to attack from the peloton but managed to mark the attacks.
With to go, a crash on a descent took out several riders at the back of the peloton, with other riders also falling down a small ravine. All of them managed to get back up, but the crash led to the abandonment of Roger Kluge () and the duo of Simon Yates and Lucas Hamilton. Among the survivors, Tim Declercq () and Søren Kragh Andersen () seemed to fare the worst, with both riders finishing over 15 minutes down. from the finish, Latour and Goldstein were brought back by the peloton, prompting an attack from Quentin Pacher () a few moments later. Pacher was allowed an advantage of a minute and a half while Jan Bakelants () also attacked from the peloton. Bakelants was eventually reeled in with to go while Pacher was brought back with left to the finish. Shortly afterwards, several teams attempted to split the peloton into echelons, but the winds were not strong enough to cause such splits. The sprinters' teams soon began to go to the front to prepare for a bunch sprint. In a chaotic sprint to the line, one of Cavendish's lead-out men, Davide Ballerini, managed to get a small gap after Michael Mørkøv briefly lost his wheel. Iván García Cortina () soon bridged over to Ballerini with Mørkøv, Cavendish, and Jasper Philipsen () on his wheel. Mørkøv successfully led out Cavendish for the win, his fourth of the race. Mørkøv managed to hold on to second place on the stage with Philipsen finishing in third. With his win, Cavendish equalled Eddy Merckx's record for the most number of Tour stage wins with 34. He also increased his lead in the points classification to 101 over Matthews. All the GC contenders finished safely in the main peloton, leaving the top ten unchanged.
Stage 14 10 July 2021 – Carcassonne to Quillan,
The fourteenth stage took the riders from Carcassonne to Quillan, making its debut as a Tour stage finish, with a terrain that was expected to suit a breakaway. The first few kilometres were on a false flat section before the riders tackled the third-category , a climb with an average gradient of 5.3 percent. Another false flat section led to the intermediate sprint in Lavelanet after before the riders reached the second-category , which is long with an average gradient of 8.7 percent. A short descent led to the second-category , at long with an average gradient of 5.7 percent. A flat section and short descent led to the third-category Côte de Galinagues, a long climb with an average gradient of 9 percent. A long downhill segment led to the final climb of the day, the second-category . The climb, which is long with an average of 7.4 percent, offered eight, five, and two bonus seconds to the first three riders, respectively, to reach the summit at from the line. From there, the descent led to the finish in Quillan.
Following the aftermath of the crash the previous day, two more riders abandoned as Søren Kragh Andersen () and Warren Barguil () did not start the stage. There were several attempts to break away, but it eventually took almost for the breakaway to be fully established. was especially keen on having a representative in the break, with Toms Skujiņš and Julien Bernard involved in various moves. Kristian Sbaragli () kicked off proceedings and built up a lead of almost two minutes before a four-man chase group soon went away in pursuit of him. The quartet managed to bridge over to Sbaragli but their advantage continued to decrease due to the constant attacking from behind. With to go, just after the intermediate sprint, the quintet up front was eventually caught as several riders continued to attack. On the Col de Montségur, Wout Poels () and Mattia Cattaneo () were able to establish a gap, with Michael Woods () also bridging to them soon after. A seven-man chase group including Guillaume Martin (), who started the day in ninth place, also formed behind while began to control the peloton. Near the top, Woods attacked in pursuit of the KOM points, with Poels bridging up to him and outsprinting him for the maximum points. On the descent, Cattaneo made his way back up to Woods and Poels while a group containing Pierre Rolland () also attacked from the peloton. At the top of the second-category Col de la Croix des Morts, Woods outsprinted Poels for the maximum points, drawing level on points with the mountains classification leader, Nairo Quintana (). With to go, the seven-man group joined up with the trio at the front while the Rolland group made it to the front group with left, making for a total of fourteen riders in the break.
As the break neared the top of the Côte de Galinagues, Poels outsprinted Woods for the KOM points, with the single point gained by Woods giving him the lead in the KOM competition. On the descent, Woods slipped on a curve, forcing some of his breakaway companions off-road. He would get back up but he had to spend extra energy to get to the front group. With to go and still on the descent, Bauke Mollema () attacked off the front. He gained an advantage of more than a minute over his breakaway companions ahead of the final climb of the Col de Saint-Louis. From behind, made their way to the front of the peloton to protect Rigoberto Urán’s second place on GC. The chasing group soon began to attack each other but Mollema kept his lead at about a minute. Mollema crested the top of the climb with a lead of more than a minute over a group containing Woods, Cattaneo, Sergio Higuita (), and Patrick Konrad () while Martin’s group crested the top at almost a minute and a half. Mollema would go on to solo to the stage win, his second career Tour victory after his first in 2017 from a similar move on similar terrain. He crossed the line at 1' 04" ahead of Konrad and Higuita. Martin crossed the line at almost a minute and a half behind while the yellow jersey group cruised over the finish line almost seven minutes down. As a result, Martin rose to second overall at around four minutes down while Cattaneo, who finished with the first chasing group, moved into the top ten at almost ten minutes behind Tadej Pogačar (), who kept the maillot jaune.
Stage 15 11 July 2021 – Céret to Andorra la Vella (Andorra),