Kristoff wins TDF Stage 12

Saint-Ettienne - Norway's Alexander Kristoff has won the 185.5km 12th stage of the Tour de France after a sprint finish in Saint-Etienne on Thursday.

Peter Sagan took second on a stage for the fourth time this Tour without winning one, while young French sprinter Arnaud Demare was third.

Italian Vincenzo Nibali maintained the leader's yellow jersey after finishing safely in the peloton.

Another undulating stage which started in Bourg-en-Bresse in baking conditions proved something of a lull before the expected fireworks of Friday's first Alpine stage.

A five-man breakaway spent most of the day in front but was gradually whittled down to just Australian Simon Clarke.

He was caught by Frenchmen Cyril Gautier and Perrig Quemeneur with 20km left but they were all reeled in with 5km to go.

Sagan's Cannondale team took over the pace-setting duties in a bid to finally drag their team leader to a stage victory after eight top-10 finishes in the first 11 stages.

Several top sprinters had been shelled out the back of the field on the lumpy terrain leading up to the finish, making Sagan and German John Degenkolb amongst the favourites for sprint victory.

But following his win at Milan-San Remo back in March, Kristoff gained his second major success of the season.

And for Sagan, it was once again back to the drawing board as he looks for a first win this Tour having won four over the previous two editions.

Results from the 12th stage of Tour de France a 185.5km ride from Bourg-en-Bresse to Saint Etienne on Thursday:

Stage:1. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/KAT) 4h32min 11sec (average: 40,9 km/h)
2. Peter Sagan (SVK/CAN) at 0:00.
3. Arnaud Dmare (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
4. Michael Albasini (SUI/ORI) 0:00.
5. Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU/GRM) 0:00.
6. Matteo Trentin (ITA/OPQ) 0:00.
7. Daniele Bennati (ITA/TIN) 0:00.
8. Bryan Coquard (FRA/EUC) 0:00.
9. Daniel Oss (ITA/BMC) 0:00.
10. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
11. Jos Joaquin Rojas (ESP/MOV) 0:00.
12. Romain Feillu (FRA/BSE) 0:00.
13. Armindo Fonseca (FRA/BSE) 0:00.
14. John Degenkolb (GER/GIA) 0:00.
15. Jrgen Roelandts (BEL/LTB) 0:00.
16. Bauke Mollema (NED/BKN) 0:00.
17. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL/OPQ) 0:00.
18. Heinrich Haussler (AUS/IAM) 0:00.
19. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/COF) 0:00.
20. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/BSE) 0:00.
21. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) 0:00.
22. Chris Horner (USA/LAM) 0:00.
23. Simon Gerrans (AUS/ORI) 0:00.
24. Ben Gastauer (LUX/ALM) 0:00.
25. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/AST) 0:00.
26. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 0:00.
27. Brice Feillu (FRA/BSE) 0:00.
28. Bram Tankink (NED/BKN) 0:00.
29. Alexander Porsev (RUS/KAT) 0:00.
30. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/LTB) 0:00.
31. Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (DEN/AST) 0:00.
32. Mikel Nieve (ESP/SKY) 0:00.
33. Elia Viviani (ITA/CAN) 0:00.
34. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 0:00.
35. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 0:00.
36. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
37. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
38. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/SKY) 0:00.
39. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 0:00.
40. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
41. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/BKN) 0:00.
42. Laurens ten Dam (NED/BKN) 0:00.
43. Leopold Knig (CZE/APP) 0:00.
44. Paul Voss (GER/APP) 0:00.
45. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/TRE) 0:00.
46. Jean-Marc Bideau (FRA/BSE) 0:00.
47. Tanel Kangert (EST/AST) 0:00.
48. Rui Costa (POR/LAM) 0:00.
49. Frank Schleck (LUX/TRE) 0:00.
50. Jrme Pineau (FRA/IAM) 0:00.

Overall:
1. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/AST) 51h31min 34sec
2. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) at 2:23.
3. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 2:47.
4. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 3:01.
5. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 3:47.
6. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 3:56.
7. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 3:57.
8. Bauke Mollema (NED/BKN) 4:08.
9. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/LTB) 4:18.
10. Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (DEN/AST) 4:31.
11. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL/OPQ) 4:39.
12. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 5:17.
13. Rui Costa (POR/LAM) 5:34.
14. Mikel Nieve (ESP/SKY) 6:03.
15. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 6:47.
16. Chris Horner (USA/LAM) 7:33.
17. Laurens ten Dam (NED/BKN) 7:42.
18. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/TRE) 8:01.
19. Leopold Knig (CZE/APP) 8:25.
20. Tony Gallopin (FRA/LTB) 8:57.
21. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 9:12.
22. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 10:32.
23. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/BKN) 10:35.
24. Brice Feillu (FRA/BSE) 11:32.
25. Frank Schleck (LUX/TRE) 11:51.
26. Tanel Kangert (EST/AST) 15:27.
27. Tom Dumoulin (NED/GIA) 17:17.
28. Jan Bakelants (BEL/OPQ) 20:42.
29. John Gadret (FRA/MOV) 23:51.
30. Peter Velits (SVK/BMC) 24:24.
31. Bram Tankink (NED/BKN) 25:51.
32. Tony Martin (GER/OPQ) 28:24.
33. Ben Gastauer (LUX/ALM) 35:06.
34. Peter Sagan (SVK/CAN) 41:08.
35. Giovanni Visconti (ITA/MOV) 42:07.
36. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) 42:22.
37. Daniel Navarro (ESP/COF) 44:40.
38. Kristijan Durasek (CRO/LAM) 45:16.
39. Arnold Jeannesson (FRA/FDJ) 45:18.
40. Jos Joaquin Rojas (ESP/MOV) 45:26.
41. Michael Rogers (AUS/TIN) 47:48.
42. Michal Golas (POL/OPQ) 48:20.
43. Michael Schr (SUI/BMC) 51:15.
44. Luis ngel Mat (ESP/COF) 52:43.
45. Paul Voss (GER/APP) 53:29.
46. Michele Scarponi (ITA/AST) 54:44.
47. Marcel Wyss (SUI/IAM) 55:36.
48. Simon Gerrans (AUS/ORI) 55:39.
49. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/IAM) 55:46.
50. Daniel Oss (ITA/BMC) 56:26.
51. Nicolas Roche (IRL/TIN) 57:34.
52. Michael Albasini (SUI/ORI) 58:14.
53. Tom Slagter (NED/GRM) 59:10.
54. Jos Serpa Perez (COL/LAM) 59:33.
55. Peter Stetina (USA/BMC) 59:58.
56. Jens Keukeleire (BEL/ORI) 1h00:08.
57. Martin Elmiger (SUI/IAM) 1h01:11.
58. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 1h01:14.
59. Rafael Valls (ESP/LAM) 1h02:18.
60. Jon Izagirre (ESP/MOV) 1h03:29.
61. Amal Moinard (FRA/BMC) 1h04:55.
62. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 1h07:07.
63. Matteo Trentin (ITA/OPQ) 1h08:28.
64. Alessandro De Marchi (ITA/CAN) 1h09:23.
65. Marco Marcato (ITA/CAN) 1h09:30.
66. Mickal Cherel (FRA/ALM) 1h09:41.
67. Tiago Machado (POR/APP) 1h12:49.
68. Simon Spilak (SLO/KAT) 1h13:50.
69. Adam Hansen (AUS/LTB) 1h13:57.
70. Joaquin Rodriguez (ESP/KAT) 1h14:15.
71. Florian Guillou (FRA/BSE) 1h16:43.
72. Matteo Montaguti (ITA/ALM) 1h16:45.
73. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 1h18:01.
74. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/LTB) 1h18:16.
75. Sep Vanmarcke (BEL/BKN) 1h19:11.
76. Lieuwe Westra (NED/AST) 1h20:44.
77. Niki Terpstra (NED/OPQ) 1h21:01.
78. Rudy Molard (FRA/COF) 1h21:54.
79. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/COF) 1h22:32.
80. Julien Simon (FRA/COF) 1h22:43.
81. Markel Irizar (ESP/TRE) 1h22:54.
82. Sbastien Reichenbach (SUI/IAM) 1h23:01.
83. Johan Van Summeren (BEL/GRM) 1h23:25.
84. Daniele Bennati (ITA/TIN) 1h24:18.
85. Koen de Kort (NED/GIA) 1h24:29.
86. Rubn Plaza (ESP/MOV) 1h24:51.
87. Kvin Reza (FRA/EUC) 1h24:57.
88. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/ALM) 1h26:04.
89. Benjamin King (USA/GRM) 1h26:08.
90. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 1h26:11.
91. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 1h26:25.
92. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 1h26:27.
93. Bryan Coquard (FRA/EUC) 1h26:30.
94. Fabio Sabatini (ITA/CAN) 1h27:39.
95. Jrme Pineau (FRA/IAM) 1h27:42.
96. Heinrich Haussler (AUS/IAM) 1h27:50.
97. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/SKY) 1h28:00.
98. Sbastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 1h28:08.
99. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/EUC) 1h28:16.
100. Jan Brta (CZE/APP) 1h28:57.
101. Jos Herrada Lopez (ESP/MOV) 1h29:05.
102. Sergio Paulinho (POR/TIN) 1h29:07.
103. Maciej Bodnar (POL/CAN) 1h29:14.
104. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 1h30:01.
105. Nlson Oliveira (POR/LAM) 1h30:23.
106. Jrgen Roelandts (BEL/LTB) 1h30:24.
107. Gregory Rast (SUI/TRE) 1h31:11.
108. Bartosz Huzarski (POL/APP) 1h31:49.
109. Simon Clarke (AUS/ORI) 1h31:54.
110. Jens Voigt (GER/TRE) 1h33:21.
111. Simon Yates (ENG/ORI) 1h33:26.
112. Roy Curvers (NED/GIA) 1h35:14.
113. Perrig Quemeneur (FRA/EUC) 1h36:01.
114. Lars Boom (NED/BKN) 1h36:33.
115. Maarten Wijnants (BEL/BKN) 1h36:34.
116. Gatis Smukulis (LAT/KAT) 1h36:39.
117. Luke Durbridge (AUS/ORI) 1h37:38.
118. John Degenkolb (GER/GIA) 1h38:25.
119. Imanol Erviti (ESP/MOV) 1h39:05.
120. David Lopez (ESP/SKY) 1h39:13.
121. Benat Intxausti (ESP/MOV) 1h40:24.
122. Cedric Pineau (FRA/FDJ) 1h42:09.
123. Reto Hollenstein (SUI/IAM) 1h42:23.
124. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 1h42:44.
125. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/KAT) 1h43:32.
126. Alexander Porsev (RUS/KAT) 1h44:06.
127. Jean-Marc Bideau (FRA/BSE) 1h44:21.
128. Sbastian Langeveld (NED/GRM) 1h47:17.
129. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/BSE) 1h48:29.
130. Rafal Majka (POL/TIN) 1h48:54.
131. Alexandre Pichot (FRA/EUC) 1h48:56.
132. Florian Vachon (FRA/BSE) 1h49:56.
133. Svein Tuft (CAN/ORI) 1h50:42.
134. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 1h50:55.
135. Christian Meier (CAN/ORI) 1h52:43.
136. Luca Paolini (ITA/KAT) 1h54:00.
137. Kristjan Koren (SLO/CAN) 1h54:10.
138. Matteo Tosatto (ITA/TIN) 1h54:25.
139. Alex Howes (USA/GRM) 1h57:01.
140. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/SKY) 1h58:53.
141. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 1h59:19.
142. Dmitriy Gruzdev (KAZ/AST) 1h59:21.
143. Tom Leezer (NED/BKN) 1h59:26.
144. Arnaud Gerard (FRA/BSE) 2h00:59.
145. Jack Bauer (NZL/GRM) 2h04:22.
146. Dries Devenyns (BEL/GIA) 2h04:36.
147. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LTB) 2h04:44.
148. Armindo Fonseca (FRA/BSE) 2h05:15.
149. Jos Mendes (POR/APP) 2h05:25.
150. Matthew Busche (USA/TRE) 2h05:32.
151. Mark Renshaw (AUS/OPQ) 2h08:21.
152. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 2h09:11.
153. Vladimir Isaichev (RUS/KAT) 2h09:24.
154. Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU/GRM) 2h09:32.
155. Michael Morkov (DEN/TIN) 2h10:08.
156. Zakkari Dempster (AUS/APP) 2h10:20.
157. Albert Timmer (NED/GIA) 2h11:21.
158. Benoit Jarrier (FRA/BSE) 2h11:50.
159. Mickael Delage (FRA/FDJ) 2h11:59.
160. Tom Veelers (NED/GIA) 2h12:23.
161. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 2h12:36.
162. Roger Kluge (GER/IAM) 2h13:38.
163. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/AST) 2h14:07.
164. Romain Feillu (FRA/BSE) 2h14:43.
165. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA/OPQ) 2h15:27.
166. Andreas Schillinger (GER/APP) 2h15:41.
167. Andr Greipel (GER/LTB) 2h16:07.
168. Arnaud Dmare (FRA/FDJ) 2h19:29.
169. Danny Pate (USA/SKY) 2h19:36.
170. Adrien Petit (FRA/COF) 2h20:21.
171. Janier Acavedo (COL/GRM) 2h21:16.
172. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/CAN) 2h25:14.
173. Marcel Kittel (GER/GIA) 2h25:55.
174. William Bonnet (FRA/FDJ) 2h27:13.
175. Elia Viviani (ITA/CAN) 2h27:35.
176. Davide Cimolai (ITA/LAM) 2h28:33.
177. Cheng Ji (CHN/GIA) 2h53:31.