Tour de France 2018: Stage 12 time, TV schedule, and live stream info

It’s sad to think that there are only four true mountain stages left in the Tour de France, and just two more mountain top finishes. We need to savor courses like Stage 12, which will complete a trifecta of ridiculously hard Alps stages with one of the Tour’s most historically significant climbs: Alpe d’Huez.

Among the Tour de France’s must-watch stages, Thursday’s is among the must watch-iest. Racing will begin at 6:10 a.m. ET (12:10 p.m. local time). NBCSN will begin broadcasting at 6:30 a.m., as will the NBC Sports app. Commercial-free coverage for NBC Sports Gold subscribers will begin at 6 a.m. Those with subscriptions to FuboTV can also access coverage.

After two days in the Alps, we may have narrowed down the yellow jersey competition to two riders, both for Team Sky: Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome. Thursday ought to confirm. If, say, Romain Bardet or Nairo Quintana still have intentions of wearing the yellow jersey in Paris, they will need to decimate Sky up the final climb. Easier said than done, but at 13.8 kilometers and an average 8.1 percent gradient, Alpe d’Huez is the perfect setting for a race-altering attack.

Until riders get to Alpe d’Huez with less than 20 kilometers to go, expect the stage to unfold similarly to what we’ve seen the last two days. Sky’s train was six — SIX — riders strong at the base of the Wednesday’s final climb to La Rosière, and though the climbs to Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Croix de Fer are leg-liquefyingly long — rated the second and third hardest climbs of the Tour according to Podium Café, respectively — the competition may have a difficult time breaking the Sky Train from their relatively gentle slopes.

Then again, it’s getting to be desperation time for those who spent the last year targeting this Tour. The great thing about a brutal race is that there’s no telling on which climb Froome might start feeling the Giro d’Italia weigh a little more heavily in his legs, or when Thomas might suffer one of the let downs that have hampered him in the past.

It may be getting late early for some Tour contenders, but one great move can change a lot, and there is opportunity aplenty on the road to Alpe d’Huez.

(And if those opportunities pass us by again, well, at least we can enjoy the view up the absurd Lacets de Montvernier)

TV schedule: NBCSN, beginning at 6:30 a.m. ET. Also available on FuboTV.

Streaming: NBC Sports app (free, with commercials) beginning at 6:30 a.m. ET., and NBC Sports Gold (paid, no commercials) beginning at 6 a.m.