Greipel has won his third stage of the 2012 Tour with a late throw to the line. The German has beaten Sagan by about half a wheel.

Wiggins is leading the peloton and Boasson Hagen is shaping up to sprint. There is less than 1km to go and Sanchez is still ahead of the bunch but he cannot do anything to hold off Wiggins.

With 2.2km to go, Sanchez has hit out. He has a lead of about 100m but now we see him being chased down by a rider from Argos-Shimano. Wiggins is at the front of the peloton that can see the stage leaders...

The riders must be praying for the barriers as holiday makers are not staying at the edge of the road as they strive to get a glimpse of the riders. Albasini and Vinokourov have been caught with 2.5km to go and now Sanchez (RAB) is on the attack.

There is 4km to go in the stage and Bak (LTB) has just swung off - job done. That leaves three Lotto-Belisol riders at the front of the bunch that's just 8" behind Albasini and Vinokourov.

There's only 11" between Vinokourov and Albasini with 5km to go in the 217km stage. There are now four Lotto-Belisol riders ahead of Sagan who still has a team-mate present to help set up a sprint.

The wind is blowing from the right side of the road.

Vinokourov and Albasini are sharing the work in the front of the stage. Each is spending about 30" in the wind before allowing the other to come through. It's this sort of cooperation that has helped them stay ahead of the bunch that is now 13" behind.

Vinokourov and Albasini are still at the front of the stage. They have a lead of 16" on the bunch led by Lotto-Belisol.

Despite the work of five Lotto-Belisol riders at the front of the yellow jersey's group, the two stage leaders are still 22" ahead. Greipel was one of the sprinters to stay in contact with the front group over the climb... and it was this obstacle that eliminated the likes of Goss, Cavendish and Farrar.

Hutarovich is another sprinter who has made the front group.

Albasini and Vinokourov are inside the final 13km and have a lead of 22". There are five Lotto-Belisol riders at the front of the peloton. Greipel is there and he's being closely marked by Sagan (LIQ).

Albasini has caught Vinokourov with 15.5km to go. This pair is about of the yellow jersey's bunch by about 100m. Cavendish's group is at 1'05".

Vinokourov (AST) has attacked the peloton with 16km to go. He is being chased down by Albasini (OGE).

There is a group of sprint specialists - including Cavendish and Goss - in a group that is 1'25" behind the stage leaders.

The GC favourites are now in the lead of the 13th stage. They are 20" ahead of the next best group and there are about 25 men in the group at the front that includes Wiggins, Froome, Nibali, Evans, Van den Broeck, Zubeldia, van Garderen et al.

Rogers is now at the front and Wiggins also has the support of Boasson Hagen.

The green jersey survived the steep slopes of the climb and Sagan is now at the front of the peloton that is led by Rogers.

The brief stint of Evans in the lead is over. There is now a Omega Pharma rider on the attack inside the final 20km of the stage.

Evans is now in the lead of the stage. Van den Broeck was first over the top, followed by Evans.

Evans is at the front of the peloton as it ascends the Mont Saint Clair but Wiggins is right on the wheel of the Australian. Wiggins still has Froome by his side and van Garderen is right there for Cadel... the other leaders are stranded without support.

Katusha's Caruso has attacked the peloton but he's being caught by Evans and VDB who are closely marked by Wiggins on the climb.

Goss, Cavendish and Farrar have been dropped early on the climb.

There are now just two men ahead of the peloton: Morkov and Zingle (COF).

Two of the seven who were in pursuit of Morkov - Bouet and Urtasun - have been caught by the peloton.

It would seem that those in the recent crash are okay but we don't have images of them anymore so we cannot be sure. Kessiakoff did seem the worst affected but he was standing...

Gerrans and Chavanel have been dropped.

Morkov begins the climb with a lead of 1'00" on the peloton. The other escapees are 45" behind the stage leader.

Morkov is about to begin the ascent of the Mont Saint-Clair. This is a steep rise that is only 1.6km long but it has an average gradient of 10.2%. The top is at the 23km to go mark.

Kessiakoff is one of the riders caught up in a fall 26km from the finish.

Morkov began his solo attack with 64km to go. He is now 27km from the line and has a lead of 1'25" on the peloton. His former escape companions are about 50" behind.

Some riders who didn't make the front selection are: Millar, Zabriskie, Minard, Taaramae, Roy, Valverde, Leipheimer... there are many more but we don't even have a time check on this group that lost contact with 36km to go.

The seven in pursuit of Morkov are 58" behind. The peloton is at 1'48".

As far as we can tell, all the riders in the top 10 overall are in the front peloton after the recent split that was created by the BMC team that is still at the head of the peloton.

The BMC is now trying to split the peloton. Schar is the rider at the front and he's off on the left of the road. This is limiting the space that that riders have to follow wheels and already there are large groups of riders being spat out the back...

There are three squads at the front of the bunch that's 2'20" behind Morkov: BMC is on the right side of the road, Sky in the middle and Orica on the left...

Further to the recent newsflash explaining the average speed of the 12th stage of the 1998 race that ended Cap d'Agde, it's worth noting that Jalabert eventually quit his effort on the attack and the race ended with a bunch sprint... won by Tom Steels.

The latest victim of a flat tyre is Karsten Kroon of Saxo Bank. His team-mate, Morkov, is inside the final 35km of the stage with a lead of 2'45" on the peloton.

Morkov is currently 1'07" ahead of the seven other escapees and 3'10" ahead of the peloton.

The last time that Le Cap d'Agde hosted a finish of the Tour was in the problem plagued 1998 edition. There was a rider strike early in the stage from Tarascon-sur-Ariege to the seaside town but then Laurent Jalabert went on the attack with his brother Nicholas. It was a show of strength from the French champion that year and although his attack didn't survive until the finish, it was one of the reasons the average speed for the 12th stage of the 85th Tour de France was a superfast...

The fourth hour of the 13th stage has been raced at an average speed of 47.2km/h. The average since the start today is 43.4km/h.

The peloton is now in the windy zone and BMC has put five men on the front along with the Sky team. The bunch is 3'15" behind Morkov at the 170km mark.

Morkov has pushed his advantage up to over a minute. He has already worn the polka-dot jersey for several days in his first Tour. He also won the most votes for the most aggressive rider prize in stage three.

The peloton is no longer stretched out in one long line. The Orica team now shares the head of the bunch with teams like BMC, Liquigas and Sky. It is 3'20" behind Morkov.

Morkov is almost a minute ahead of the riders who had ridden with until the 64km to go mark. The wind is still blowing from behind and he's spinning an impressive cadence and increasing his advantage. He has 47km to go...

The peloton has just taken a sharp left turn which means the wind is now going to be blowing from the left side of the peloton.

Morkov began his move with 64km to go. He is now inside the final 50km and he has a lead of 43" on the seven other escapees. (The peloton is at 3'00".)

Morkov is 2'45" ahead of the peloton that still has GreenEdge riders at the front.

Once Morkov launched his escape, there wasn't any sign of any more attacks. The seven other breakaway riders are swapping off with relatively even turns but they are losing ground on the Saxo Bank rider who is now 35" ahead.

The Danish rider at the front of the stage is absolutely committed to his move. Morkov has a lead of 30" on the other escapees who are 2'10" ahead of the peloton.

Peter Sagan has rejoined the peloton without the assistance of any team-mates. His directeur sportif had a most vocal discussion with the commissaire after pacing the man in the green jersey back to the bunch following his puncture.

Morkov is speeding along on his own at the front of the stage. He is 60km from the finish and has a lead of 25" on the seven other escapees.

The speed of the peloton is extremely quick right now. The bunch is being assisted by a tailwind at the moment but, according to McEwen, the sidewinds will hit the peloton with 47km to go.

Sagan has had to stop to get a new front wheel after having a flat tyre.

Morkov's advantage with 63km to go is 15".

Morkov is committed to keeping the escape alive today. He has opened up a good lead on the seven other escapees.

With the advantage of the escapees down to under two minutes, Pineau has started the attacking action. He has been chased down but Morkov is now on his own at the front of the stage.

Pineau (OPQ), one of the riders in the escape, had to stop to get a new front wheel from his team car after a flat tyre. He's now racing to rejoin lead group.

Pineau has successfully rejoined the lead group after his puncture.

Kern (EUC) had lost about 20" on the peloton but he has wrestled his way back with 68km to go.

With 70km to go in the stage, the eight escapees have a lead of just 2'20". It's still Orica-GreenEdge setting the pace of the bunch and the speed they are tapping out is too much for Kern (EUC) who has been dropped by the peloton.

Every directeur sportif that LeTour.fr has spoken to today recognises that the end of this stage has the potential to be chaotic. The peloton certainly isn't allowing the escapees to gain much leeway. The bunch is now just 2'55" behind Morkov's group that was once 9'20" ahead.

The directeur sportif of FDJ-BigMat recently spoke with LeTour.fr and explained he expects at the Mont-Saint-Clair climb with 23km to go, and how it will affect his team's sprinters: “At the moment the Orica-GreenEdge team maintains the gap with the break and they're looking to set up a sprint finish,” said Thierry Bricaud. “But I think the Mont-Saint-Clair will make it difficult for any sprinter. And even leaders must all be careful because it's very tricky.
“This is a very...

We see four men from Orica at the front of the peloton at the same time that Peter Velits (OPQ) returns to the peloton after his recent crash.

The peloton was 3'40" behind the escapees at the site of the intermediate sprint. That has grown to 3'50".

Dave Zabriskie is in consultation with the race doctor after being caught in the crash at the 128.5km mark.

1. Urtusaun (EUS) 20pts

2. Curvers (ARG) 17pts

3. Pineau (OPQ) 15pts

4. Ladagnous (FDJ) 13pts

5. Engoulvent (SAU) 11pts

6. Dumoulin (COF) 10pts

7. Bouet (ALM) 9pts

8. Morkov (STB) 8pts

9. Sagan (LIQ) 7pts

10. Greipel (LTB) 6pts

11. Goss (OGE) 5pts

12. Impey (OGE) 4pts

13. Cooke (OGE) 3pts

14. Eisel (SKY) 2pts

15. Rogers (SKY) 1pt

Peter Velits is back on his bike after the crash at the 128.5km mark.

Peter Velits has been caught up in a crash as the peloton approached the intermediate sprint line.

The average speed for the third hour of stage 13 is 42.0km/h. The average for the first three hours is 42.1km/h.

1. Urtusaun (EUS) 20pts

2. Curvers (ARG) 17pts

3. Pineau (OPQ) 15pts

4. Ladagnous (FDJ) 13pts

5. Engoulvent (SAU) 11pts

6. Dumoulin (COF) 10pts

7. Bouet (ALM) 9pts

8. Morkov (STB) 8pts

The peloton is 4'00" behind and with two GreenEdge riders ahead of a line of Sky riders at the head of the peloton.

The eight stage leaders have reached the site of the intermediate sprint. Engoulvent is leading Pineau to the line but they don't look like they're going to race each other for the 20 points.

Urtasun (EUS) led them over the line gesturing for calm. They've been cooperating well in the move that began, really, in the first kilometre so they may as well keep on working together... that seems to be his sentiment.

In the past we've seen the teams managed by Bjarne Riis relish the chance to split the peloton to pieces when there's strong crosswinds. Is there, we asked Gates, any thought of the Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank doing that today? “We have but we've got to wait and see what direction the race takes. It's very open and the finish has the potential to be very dangerous for the GC riders. We don't have one so we're going to stay around Chris [Sorensen] as much as we can and also look after JJ at the...

“Michael [Morkov] has a big personal objective today,” Nick Gates explained to LeTour.fr recently, “as it's been five years since his father passed away and hopefully he can continue his attack ways and do something special today.”
The Danish rider is part of the escape (again) and his group of eight is now 4'30” ahead of the peloton. We asked Gates if it was discussed that Morkov – who has been on the attack for 622.5km before this stage – was going to get in the early...

At the 109km mark, the peloton is 5'00" behind Urtasun, Bouet, Dumoulin, Engoulvent, Ladagnous, Morkov, Pineau and Curvers.

Yesterday there was a change in the general classification that Tyler Farrar probably isn't too pleased with. The American's team-mate David Millar won the stage but the sprinter - who has been caught up in numerous falls during the early stanza of the Tour in 2012 - slipped from second last to last place in the general classification.

The position of 'Lanterne Rouge' had been held by Jimmy Engoulvent but the Frenchman finished 42nd in Annonay (8'01" behind Millar) and Farrar was...

Langeveld, Lancaster and Weening are the riders from Orica-GreenEdge who are at the front of the peloton as it makes its way through the feedzone in Quissac at the 99km mark.

What's Robbie McEwen's impression of what happened to Matt Goss at the finish of the stage when he was relegated and lost 30 points of his tally for the green jersey competition? “Obviously he's bitterly disappointed which is normal.

“Although I'm attached to the GreenEdge team I tried to be objective when I looked at the sprint and there was a little move there but not enough to warrant a disqualification,” said the team's consultant. “That penalty far outweighs what they say...

“We want to have a sprint so the team is riding for Gossie today,” Robbie McEwen recently told LeTour.fr.

“There'll be plenty of carnage in the final,” said the former rider who is now working as a consultant for the Orica-GreenEdge team. “I've done a reconnaissance of the finish and I can tell you it's already bloody windy! It's blowing a hooley down on the coast. On the way in [to Le Cap d'Agde] it's going to be nasty. From 47km to go, right through to seven kilometres...

One of the eight men who is in the escape today has a special reason for going on the attack in the first kilometre of stage 13. "It's been exactly five years (today) since my father passed away," said Michael Morkov earlier today. "I want to win this stage to honour him."

The rider who had been ranked in the top 10 earlier in this year's Tour, Tony Gallopin (RNT) has been suffering with illness the last few days. He's the latest man to quit the 99th Tour. There are now 193 riders left in the race.

The average speed for the second hour of stage 13 is 42.5km/h. The average since the start of the race today is 42.2km/h.

The peloton is at the 79km mark and it is now just 4'40" behind Morkov's group of eight.

LeTour.fr has recently caught up with the three-time winner of the green jersey at the Tour, Robbie McEwen. The Australian retired from racing earlier this year and he's now acting as a consultant for the Orica-GreenEdge. He has some interesting observations to make about the finish of today's stage (which we'll post shortly) but for the time being he offered confirmation of the obvious: the Australian team is at the front of the peloton (that's 5'20" behind the escapees) because it wants to...

The maximum gain of the Bouet group was 9'20" at the 35km mark. With Orica-GreenEdge at the front of the bunch since the 15km mark, it's becoming clear that the Australian team is trying to set things up for a sprint in Le Cap d'Adge. The latest time check has the peloton only 5'50" behind Bouet, Urtasun, Dumoulin, Engoulvent, Ladagnous, Morkov, Pineau and Curvers.

When he spoke to LeTour.fr before the start today, the sporting director of RadioShack-Nissan offered some insight to the state of his nephew, Tony, and discussed the risk of echelon's forming in the finale of the stage to Cap d'Agde: “Tony is struggling to recover from his illness,” said Alain Gallopin. “His condition is not terrible. I hope the race will be a little quiet for him today and he will manage to survive like that until the rest day.
“So far we still have a coherent...

After his crash at the 55km mark, Arashiro has rejoined the peloton (around the 59km mark). The bunch is now 6'30" behind the eight-man escape group that has been together since the 15km mark when Pineau was the last to join the move that reached a maximum gain of 9'20" when the bunch was at the 35km mark.

One of the riders who is in today's escape, Pablo Urtasun (EUS) has regularly been on the attack in this year's Tour. He was part of a four-man break in stage five and he made a last-minute bid for the stage honours in St-Quentin but was caught by the sprinters in the final 400m. The Spaniard finished that day in 25th place after being swallowed up by a big group of sprint specialists just before the line.

After his crash, the only Japanese rider in the peloton of the 2012 Tour, Yukiya Arashiro (EUC) is back on his bike and now racing to rejoin the bunch.

At the 53km mark, the eight escapees have an advantage of 7'05" on the peloton.

There has been a crash in the peloton that's involved Arashiro (EUC) and Kuchinski (KAT).

Morkov (STB) is the rider who was in escapes on three successive days at the start of this year's Tour - the first for the Dane. Before today he has spent a total of 622.5km in escape groups during the 2012 Tour.

Of the eight men in the lead at the moment - currently 7'15" ahead of the peloton - three were part of the escape in stage one. They are Michael Morkov (STB), Urtasun (EUS) and Bouet (ALM). They attacked in the first kilometre on the first Sunday of the 99th Tour and were ahead of the peloton for 190km before being caught just 8km from the line.

Matt Goss might have been relegated after stage 12 but he's trying to keep his spirits high. In the sprints he's done in the last few days, he's finished ahead of Sagan. “There's only one head-to-head sprint that he beat me in and that was the stage he won with his Hulk salute," Goss said to LeTour.fr this morning. "That's the only time he's been ahead of me on the flat since the start of the Tour. That's why I think he might have gone a little bit over the top with his gestures at the...

The average speed for the escapees in the first hour is 41.8km/h. They are currently over nine minutes ahead of the bunch.

The escape is now 9'20" ahead of the peloton. The best on GC of the breakaway is Maxime Bouet (ALM). He has finished in the top 10 of a Tour stage three times since making his debut in 2009. On the day of the big split in the bunch because of the coastal wind in stage three of the 2009 race he was ninth: that was in La Grand Motte, not far from where today's race finishes.

In stage 10 of the 2010 race, he was sixth from an escape group of six... that was the day Sergio Paulinho won in...

Of the eight who are in the lead of stage 13, only one has previoulsy won a stage of the Tour de France. That's the Cofidis representative in the move that is now over eight minutes ahead of the peloton, Samuel Dumoulin.

The Frenchman was fourth in stage five this year (one place ahead of Cavendish, in the bunch sprint in St-Quentin). His stage victory was in stage four of the 2008 race in Nantes at the end of a long, wet escape.

The question on the official site of the Tour de France - LeTour.fr - today is:

On a flat stage, who of these sprinters will be the best in stage 13?

- Sagan

- Goss

- Cavendish

- Greipel

- Hutarovich

Let us know what you think and click the button of the rider you think will be the best at Le Cap d'Agde.

The latest time check has the eight escapees ahead of the peloton by six minutes. The bunch has just reached the 29km mark.

Here's a reminder of the eight men in the escape (that is now 5'00" ahead of the peloton):

Maxime Bouet (FRA) ALM - 54th overall, at 1h04'58"

Michael Morkov (DEN) STB - 85th overall, at 1h23'15"

Jerome Pineau (FRA) OPQ - 95th overall, 1h32'29"

Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA) FDJ - 107th overall, at 1h38'57"

Samuel Dumoulin (FRA) COF - 124th overall, at 1h51'43"

Roy Curvers (NED) ARG - 141st overall, at 1h57'50"

Pablo Urtasun (ESP) EUS - 153rd...

At the 23.5km mark of the 217km stage to Le Cap d'Agde. The eight stage leaders have an advantage of 4'05" on the peloton that continues to be led by Orica-GreenEdge riders.

Goss told LeTour.fr this mornign that his bid for the green jersey is essentially over. So, we asked, does that mean intermediate sprints are no longer an objective? “I don't know, to be honest," he said. "We'll have a meeting this morning before the race and see what we think.”

The likely scenario is that it'll be pretty windy at the finish. Does Matt Goss have a plan to try and split things up a bit? “No, we haven't really discussed today's plan yet. We're on our way to...

It's overcast at the moment and the temperature in the car that has the chief commissaire inside is 25.5 degrees Celsius.

There are now eight men in the lead of the stage, including five Frenchmen. They are 4'00" ahead of the peloton that's being led by Orica-GreenEdge.

One of the big talking points after the stage to Annonay yesterday was the relegation of Matt Goss (from 6th to 7th). The Australian told LeTour.fr this morning that he wasn't too worried about that, but the race jury also penalised him 30 points from his tally in the green jersey competition. Here are some of the comments from the Orica-GreenEdge rider from this morning.

We asked if he could give a review of how you think about it now that you've had a night to consider the ruling....

Pineau still has 55" between him and the seven men at the front of the stage but the escapees are closer than the peloton which is currently over three minutes behind the group that includes: Bouet, Urtasun, Dumoulin, Engoulvent, Ladagnous, Morkov and Curvers.

Of the seven men at the front of the stage, Maxime Bouet (ALM) is the best on GC. He was 54th overall at the start of the day, 1h04'58" behind Wiggins in the overall rankings.

Engoulvent (SAU) and Bouet (ALM) have caught the five in the lead of the stage. The capture was at the 7km mark.

Jerome Pineau (OPQ) continues his counter-attack and he's 1'05" behind the seven in the lead.

The advantage of Morkov's group over the peloton is up to 2'55".

There is no threat to the yellow jersey in the escape today with Morkov (STB) the best on GC after 12 stages; 85th overall and one hour, 23 minutes and 15 seconds behind Wiggins.

Jerome Pineau (OPQ) is the eighth rider in the stage. He is making a bid to bridge the gap to the leaders who are 1'10" ahead.

At the 5km mark, the bunch is already 2'00" behind Morkov's quintet.

The two counter-attackers have joined forces and they are 27" behind the five who have been in the lead since 1.5km.

There are seven men ahead of the bunch. At the 4km mark, the situation is as follows:

In the lead are five: Urtasun, Dumoulin, Ladagnous, Morkov and Curvers. They have an advantage of 15" on Engoulvent (SAU) and 20" on Bouet (ALM).

The peloton is at 1'05".

Only two men have worn the white jersey in the 2012 Tour de France: Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Rein Taaramae (COF). The young American now has a significant buffer over the Estonian who lost a lot of time in the 11th stage, slipping down the general classification from 12th to 28th. But van Garderen is still being challenged for the lead of the youth classification – only now his nearest rival is the youngest man in the race: Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) who is now 10th overall and just 1'54”...

Burghardt may have started the attack today but he's not been named in the lead group that is now being pursued by Engoulvent and Bouet.

The lead group is composed of the following men: Urtasun (EUS), Dumoulin (COF), Ladagnous (FDJ), Morkov (STB) and Curvers (ARG).

The five escapees already have a time check: they are 15" ahead of the bunch.

There are now five men at the front of the stage. The move was instigated by Marcus Burghardt (BMC). The quintet joined forces at the 1.5km mark.

The official start of the 13th stage was at 11.55pm. There has been an immediate attack by Burghardt (BMC). There are 164 riders still in the race with no one reitring overnight.

It's an extremely fast first kilometre...

Astana now has two riders in the top four of the climbing classification. This will be the fourth day that Frederik Kessiakoff has worn the polka-dot jersey in the 2012 Tour. He has a total of 66 points, 10 more than Pierre Rolland (EUC) while Chris Sorensen (STB) is ranked third with 39 points.
Robert Kiserlovski (AST) moved up from 13th to fourth place thanks to the 20 points he picked by being the first over both the col du Grand Cucheron and col du Granier in stage 12. The Croatian...

There was a significant blow for Matt Goss and his green jersey ambitions at the finish of stage 12. The Australian finished ahead of his main rival in the sprint for sixth place. Peter Sagan and Goss were a second ahead of the rest of the peloton in Annonay and so their positions were reversed by the race jury: Sagan from 7th to 6th and vice-versa for Goss... but there's more to it. The commissaires also fined Goss 200 Swiss Francs and penalised him 30 points (and 30”).
All this...

On this national holiday for Bastille Day there are hordes of people cheering on the riders even before the stage officially begins.

The 217km route to the south takes the peloton through three departments: starting in Drôme, the race crosses into Vaucluse at the 7km mark and then to Hérault for the final 108km.

This is the sixth day that Bradley Wiggins will wear the Tour de France's yellow jersey. There was no change to the top order of the general classification because of stage 12, even though five men finished over seven minutes ahead of the main peloton. The main beneficiary of the escape was, of course, the winner in Annonay (David Millar) but Egoi Martinez (EUS) did move up from 22nd overall to 18th.
The 217km stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to the seaside town of Cap d'Agde is...

The bunch is going to start rolling through the neutral zone in two minutes. The riders have gathered on the line in St-Paul-Trois-Chateaux.

A second transitional stage in succession takes riders a day closer to the Pyrenees. On the national holiday for Bastille Day, the peloton faces a journey of 217km from St-Paul-Trois-Chateaux down to the resort town of Le Cap d'Agde.

The riders are currently assembling on the line for the 'départ fictif' and they face a 5.5km neutral zone before arriving at the site of the official start. This is expected to be at about 11.55am.

This will be the hottest day of the 99th Tour...