Nicki Sorensen wins Stage 12

A sprint stage and Cavendish does not win! Who'd thunk!
Other than knocking Cavendish off his bike or surrounding him with 40 other riders during the last 100 meters, the only honest way to beat him is to break away from the peloton and attack at the right time. Nicki Sorensen did just that today. I enjoy seeing the breakaways being caught most of the time, but this tour it's ridiculous, they are never caught. IT'S BORING! The only thing exciting about stage 12 was the sprint for 8th place. Thank God, no more sprints til the Champs Elysees.

Prediction for stage 13: With two Cat 1's and a 17 km Cat 2, the sprinters will not be near the lead after a 21 km downhill finish. Any rider with a 2 min lead over the Col du Firstplan should hold on for the win. Just depends on how many go over the summit at that time. Would like to see Christian Vande Velde in that group, but he got pretty beat up today. Look for Team Saxo-Bank to try to move up Andy Schleck, but Team Astana will now show their power. Kloden is good on the desent, but the battle will be between Lance and Alberto. This day will go to Alberto Contador.



Overall rankings after stage 12:
1 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 48:27:21
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0:00:06
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:00:08
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0:00:39
5 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:00:46
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:00:54
7 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC 0:01:00
8 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:01:24
9 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:01:49
10 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:01:54
11 Luis León Sánchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:02:16
12 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team Columbia - HTC 0:02:21
13 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:02:25
14 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 0:02:40
15 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:45
16 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:02:52
17 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:03:02
18 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0:03:07
19 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia - HTC 0:03:16
20 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 0:03:49
21 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:03:58
22 Haimar Zubeldia Aguirre (Spa) Astana 0:04:14
23 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Astana 0:04:20
24 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram
25 Brice Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 0:04:26