A flurry of numbers, statistics, and points of reflection from the twelfth stage of the Tour de France.

20: POGACAR EQUALS NICOLAS FRANTZ
Tadej Pogacar raises his arms for the 20th time at the Tour, reaching Luxembourg's Nicolas Frantz for 6th place among riders with the most victories. His next goal: the 22 victories of French rider André Darrigade. Tadej Pogacar has won at least 3 stages in 5 of his first 6 Tours. A result he shares with Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Mark Cavendish.

2'10": POGACAR STRIKES AGAIN
"I thought about 2022," Tadej Pogacar admitted after his victory. Three years ago, the stage that ended in Hautacam was won by Jonas Vingegaard with 1'04" advantage over the Slovenian. He took his revenge on the same climb by winning with a 2'10" advantage.

3: LIPOWITZ FOR GERMANY
Recently 2nd at Paris-Nice, Florian Lipowitz is facing his first Tour and has secured his first top-3 placement by finishing 3rd at Hautacam. He is the first German to podium in a mountain stage since Lennard Kamna's victory in Villard-de-Lans in 2020 (16th stage).

152: BRUNO SOLO
In the breakaway, Bruno Armirail then tried his luck going solo, before being caught by Tadej Pogacar. His 152-kilometer attempt earned him the combativity award for the second time in 2025, after being awarded in stage 2. France already has 7 combativity awards in 2025 (Armirail x2, Mattéo Vercher x2, Lenny Martinez, Ewen Costiou, Mathieu Burgaudeau), as many as in 2020.

2009: GREAT BATTLE AMONG YOUNG RIDERS
The young riders' classification is highly contested. Remco Evenepoel is now leading ahead of Florian Lipowitz (+49") and Kévin Vauquelin (+55"). This is the first time the top three have been so close after 12 stages since 2009, 16 years ago! At the time, Tony Martin was leading ahead of Andy Schleck (+49") and Vincenzo Nibali (+54").

7: HAUTACAM, A GOOD SIGN FOR POGACAR?
This is the seventh time a Tour finish has been judged at Hautacam, where Tadej Pogacar had never won. The last winners here - Vincenzo Nibali in 2014 (stage 18), Jonas Vingegaard in 2022 (stage 18) - won the Tour three days later, but were already leading the general classification before the stage. The last time the yellow jersey changed at Hautacam was in 2008, when Cadel Evans snatched it from Kim Kirchen. The Australian, however, lost it later.

38: MICHAEL THE FIGHTER
Michael Woods was first at the top of Col du Soulor. At 38 years, 9 months, and 5 days, he is the oldest rider to lead a Cat.1 climb since Jens Voigt at Mont Revard in 2013 - the German was 41 years, 10 months, and 3 days old. In 2010, Christophe Moreau conquered Col du Tourmalet and Col d'Aubisque (HC) at 39 years, 3 months, and 8 days, a week after doing the same at Col de la Colombière (Cat.1). They are the three oldest cyclists to achieve such feats on such challenging peaks since World War II.

6-0: VINGEGAARD'S BLACK SHEEP
Jonas Vingegaard has reached 8 stage podiums without winning. Six of these 8 podiums are 2nd place behind Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian leads the Dane 6-0 in their confrontations. Four in 2024 (Saint-Lary-Soulan, Plateau de Beille, Col de la Couillole, Nice) and two in 2025 (Mûr-de-Bretagne, Hautacam). The 14th Pogacar-Vingegaard Tour 1-2 (in both orders) recorded today is a new record for two riders. The Slovenian has won 11 times in front of the Dane, while Vingegaard has won only three times in front of his black sheep.

3: BACK IN YELLOW
From the beginning, Tadej Pogacar had won the Yellow Jersey twice, but had also lost it twice. He has now taken it for the third time. The last rider to do so was Greg LeMond in 1989: the American wore the Yellow Jersey from the 5th to the 9th stage, lost it to Laurent Fignon, then reclaimed it for the 15th and 16th stages, lost it again to the Frenchman, before definitively winning it on the last day. Only two other riders have had similar numbers: André Darrigade in 1956 (16th at the finish) and Eddy Merckx in 1974 (winner).

17: IT WAS WRITTEN SOMEWHERE
This Thursday, July 17, marked Tadej Pogacar's 117th stage at the Tour. Winning for the 20th time, he has a 17% success rate!