2015 Tour de France results and standings, Stage 12: Joaquim Rodriguez grits way to breakaway win

Joaquim Rodriguez gritted his way up a rainy, windy climb to Plateau de Beille, leaving behind Jakob Fuglsang, Romain Bardet, Michal Kwiatkowski and a plucky Sep Vanmarcke along the way. It was a masterful climb. Fuglsang, Bardet and Kwiatkowski are all serious climbers, and Rodriguez took away time from all of them, winning by more than a minute.

Rodriguez left his breakaway mates, Bardet and Fuglsang. with fewer than eight kilometers remaining and quickly cracked Kwiatkowski, who attempted to take the stage himself after leaving Vanmarcke. The stage win is Rodriguez’s second of this Tour and third of his career.

Roughly seven minutes back on the climb, the pre-race favorites took turns throwing punches at each other. Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali, Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde all attempted breakaways up the final climb in hopes of cracking Team Sky’s ironclad barrier around Chris Froome. It didn’t work. With every punch, Geraint Thomas countered by nudging up the pace to tow the chase back up to the break.

Froome looked most vulnerable when he made a move himself. He was followed tightly by Quintana, Contador and Tejay Van Garderen, and then Alejandro Valverde tried to slingshot around the riders. He too was reeled in, however, and eventually Thomas restored order and re-established the pace in front of a chase filled with the Tour’s heaviest hitters.

Ultimately, only Valverde was able to take one second from Froome, sprinting hard with under a kilometer to go to sneak ahead of the Maillot Jaune. Sky won’t be happy about conceding any time, but Valverde’s surge shouldn’t worry Froome much. After the stage, Froome and Team Sky still have a firm grasp on this year’s race.

If there’s one thing to take away from the stage, it’s that teams may be willing to collaborate to weaken Sky’s hegemony. The constant counter-punching almost felt coordinated, and it briefly left Froome vulnerable twice -- once when Richie Porte chased Valverde and left Froome unprotected, and a little later when Froome went solo.

Froome clearly won the Pyrenees, but the Alps are looming and Thursday was a good indication that the rest of the field will do everything it can to make his life difficult.

So ended a hard day, but it could have been worse. Rain and hail pelted the finish line for much of the day before clearing way for the riders.

For as much chaos as occurs at the Tour de France, it’s good to remember that it could always somehow be worse.