MONT VENTOUX, France (AP) — Thomas De Gendt won the wind-shortened 12th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday after getting into an early breakaway and easily sprinting past Serge Pauwels on the steep slopes of Mont Ventoux.
With the wind blowing at 125 kph (nearly 80 mph) on top of the "Giant of Provence," organizers moved the finish line six kilometers (3.7 miles) down the road to the Chalet Reynard.
It was still a grueling 10-kilometer (6-mile) climb featuring several sections with gradients exceeding 10 percent.
On Bastille Day, the 178-kilometer (111-mile) leg began in Montpellier near the Mediterranean coast, passed by the 15th-century Chateau of Tarascon, and scaled the hilltop village of Gordes.