Stage 7 of the Tour de France 2012 promises to be the first GC selection of this year's Tour, starting from the city of Tomblaine and ending on the Category 1 mountain top finish at La Panche des Belles Filles.
The 199 km stage features an intermediate sprint at the 95.5 km to go mark and two Category 3 climbs that summit at the 87 km and 48.5 km to go mark.
The stage finishes on a Category 1 climb for the final 8.5 km which will bring out the GC contenders to challenge each other with multiple attacks.
After yesterday's crash carnage, GC contenders include Cadel Evans (BMC), Bradley Wiggins (Sky), Denis Menchov (Katusha), Samuel Sanchez (Euskatel), Vicenzo Nibali (Ag2r), Andreas Kloden (RadioShack), and Levi Leipheimer (Omega).
Out of contention are Frank Schleck (RadioShack), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin), and Robert Gesink (Rabobank), who were held up by yesterday's accident, but still may try to get in a breakaway for a long attack.
Dark horse winners for this stage include Chris Horner (RadioShack) and Peter Sagan (Liquigas), who may fare well on small, sharp climbing finish in today's stage.
In addition, this may be the last day for yellow-jersey holder Fabian Cancellera (RadioShack), who has a slim lead and will unlikely be able to hold it on the final climb.
Tune in below for live coverage of Stage 7 of the Tour de France 2012:
*** Stage 7 has ended, please click here for the latest live coverage of the Tour de France: /world-others/
