Tour de France 2025 live: Stage 12 route and updates today with fireworks imminent on Pyrenean road to Hautacam

Stage 12 begins with the neutralised start at 1.10pm local time (12.10pm BST), with an expected finish time at 5.30pm local time (4.30pm BST).

That’s because we finally reach the mountains: the riders are into the Pyrenees, with today’s route spanning 180km from Auch to Hautacam, with 3,850m of elevation gain along the way.

Four categorised climbs are on the menu: the cat-four Cote de Labatmale is a bit of a gentle warm-up, before back-to-back ascents of the cat-one Col du Soulor (11.8km at an average of 7.3%) and the cat-two Col des Borderes (3.1km at an average 7.7%), with just a short descent breaking the two up.

There’s then a long, broken-up descent off the Borderes before the gradient rises again up to Hautacam: 13.5km at an average of 7.8%, a far cry from the short, sharp climbs in Normandy and Brittany that littered the first week’s action.

The formidable Hautacam is the first hors-categorie climb of the race and it’s a summit finish to boot, with plenty of points on offer in the King of the Mountains competition but more importantly, it may as well be bait for the marauding Pogacar to stamp his authority on the race, wrestle back the yellow jersey, and add to his already impressive haul of 19 Tour stage wins and counting.

Bonjour and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of stage 12 of the Tour de France!

The battle for yellow well and truly kicks off today with the first hors-categorie climb of this year’s race, the formidable Hautacam. Fireworks incoming…