2012 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20

Stage 11 of the 2012 Tour de France was contested on 12 July and the race concluded with Stage 20 on 22 July. The second half of the race was situated entirely within France; starting with a mountain stage from Albertville to La Toussuire-Les Sybelles – incorporating two hors catégorie climbs during the stage – before the customary race-concluding stage finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Following his victory in the ninth stage individual time trial, Team Sky rider Bradley Wiggins held the lead into the second half of the race. He maintained his race lead throughout the second half of the race, holding a lead of 2 minutes and 5 seconds – transpiring from stage 9 – until the race's final individual time trial, held on the penultimate day of the race. Wiggins won the stage by 1 minute and 16 seconds ahead of his team-mate Chris Froome, and Wiggins ultimately held his lead into Paris the following day to win the race overall by 3 minutes and 21 seconds, to become the first rider from Great Britain to win a Grand Tour race. Froome finished second, while the final podium was completed by former Vuelta a España winner Vincenzo Nibali, riding for the Liquigas–Cannondale team, who was the only other rider to finish within 10 minutes of Wiggins' final overall time.

Only Wiggins' team-mate Mark Cavendish was able to win more than one stage during the second half of the race, winning two of the final three stages including a fourth consecutive final stage victory in Paris. This victory allowed him to become the most prolific sprinter at the Tour de France with 23 stage victories, surpassing the record of 22 which had been held for 48 years by France's André Darrigade. Three French riders – Pierre Rolland, Pierrick Fédrigo and Thomas Voeckler – each took a stage victory during the second half of the race, with Voeckler's victory in the queen stage helping in part for him to become the eventual winner of the mountains classification. Other stage victories were taken by David Millar, André Greipel, Luis León Sánchez and Alejandro Valverde.

...
Wikipedia