"GC guys never have a day off. What happened to Primoz today unfortunately underlines it" - Remco Evenepoel sees podium chances boosted at Tour de France by Roglic crash

Whilst stage 12 was supposed to be a more relaxed day for the general classification challengers, both Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic were caught up in crashes, with the latter losing significant time as a result.

Although Soudal - Quick-Step leader Remco Evenepoel was the biggest inadvertent beneficiary of Roglic's crash, which saw the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe leader eventually lose more than two minutes and slip to 6th overall at 4:42 down, Evenepoel, who now holds a 3:04 advantage in the fight for the podium at the Tour de France, admits he shares some sympathy for his rival.

“I only learned after the stage that Primoz Roglic has crashed. It was a nervous, hectic final, with lots of road furniture, so the racing was pretty fast coming into the last kilometres," Evenepoel assesses in his post-stage interview afterwards. "It sounds like a cliche, but us GC guys never have a day off in a stage race. What happened to Primoz today unfortunately underlines it."

"It was a pretty tough stage. There was a big fight for the breakaway in the opening kilometres, and then Alpecin put in a very hard pace on the hilly section mid-race. Luckily, it all ended well for us," concludes Evenepoel, who still sits 2nd overall in the general classification, just 1:04 down on Tadej Pogacar. "I found myself a little alone with Gianni Moscon, which wasn't the most comfortable, but I still reached the finish without any problem. It’s my teammates’ job to keep me up front as much as possible.”

2024 Tour de France stage 12 results: