Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych of the Discovery Channel team won the 12th stage of the Tour de France on Friday to deprive the hosts of a coveted victory on Bastille Day.
American Floyd Landis retained the race leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Saturday’s 13th stage, at 230km the longest of the race, between Beziers and Montelimar.
The 30-year-old Phonak rider retained his lead over Frenchman Cyril Dessel of AG2R, with his main rival, Russian Denis Menchov, still in third place at 1:01.
Popovych, one of the previous day’s big losers in the Pyrenees, claimed his first Tour stage win after outfoxing Spain’s Oscar Freire and Italian Alessandro Ballan 2km from the finish.
The Spaniard followed the Italian over the line about 30secs later having already decided to give up the chase on Popovych.
In fourth place was Frenchman Christophe Le Mevel, of Credit Agricole.
The main bunch with yellow jersey wearer Landis came in around just over three minutes later. — AFP
