Kristoff pockets win in stage 12

Norway’s Alexander Kristoff beat Peter Sagan in a sprint to win the 12th stage of the Tour de France, a 185.5km ride from Bourg en Bresse.

Katusha ride Kristoff timed his effort perfectly to win with a comfortable margin to leave Slovakian Sagan, who looks set to win the green jersey for points classification, still without a win on the Tour this year.

French champion Arnaud Demare took third place and Italian Vincenzo Nibali retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.

A five-man breakaway was reduced to four when Spain’s David de la Cruz went down hard on a bend and pulled out with a suspected broken collarbone.

Then they were just two, Dutchman Sebastian Langeveld and Simon Clarke of Australia on their own ahead of a bunch led by Europcar and Giant-Shimano who were looking to set up their sprinters for the finale.

Europcar played another card, however, with Frenchmen Perrig Quemeneur and Cyril Gauthier attacking to join Clarke after the Australian had shaken off Langeveld.

But the peloton led by Giant-Shimano reined them in with a few kilometres left.