Stage 12

Stage 12 is a 179.1 km stage run on July 16, taking riders from the Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours to Chalon-sur-Saône through Burgundy, with three minor categorised climbs and a bunch sprint finish considered the clear favourite outcome. It’s the second of back-to-back flat stages, immediately following Stage 11’s finish in Nevers, giving sprint teams a genuine two-day window to chase results before the terrain begins changing again.

What makes the start of this stage genuinely unusual is the venue itself. The Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours spent nearly two decades as a fixture of the Formula 1 calendar, hosting the French Grand Prix from 1991 to 2008. Cycling has visited the circuit before, briefly, but never for the Tour de France itself, Stage 12 marks the race’s first true arrival at a venue more associated with V10 engines and pit strategy than bunch sprints and breakaways.