The 2021 Tour de France was the 108th edition of Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour began in Brest, France on 26 June, and Stage 12 from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes occurred on 8 July. The race finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 18 July.
Classification standings
Stage 12
8 July 2021 – Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes,
The twelfth stage featured a long course from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes. The undulating course featured only one categorized climb on the route, the third-category Côte du Belvédère de Tharaux, after , and one intermediate sprint in Uzès with around left. With to go, there was a long uncategorized climb at an average gradient of 3 percent before a downhill run to the finish. Much like on stage 10, there was a threat of crosswinds along the way.
Before the stage, Peter Sagan () abandoned the race due to his recurring knee injury. Immediately from the start, the peloton set a furious pace that began to form echelons, with the peloton being split into three groups and all the GC contenders making it into the first group. After around of racing, a 13-man break went away while the groups who were caught out rejoined the main peloton. Most notable of them was the world champion, Julian Alaphilippe (), who made the break for the second consecutive day. The break immediately extended their advantage, and without any teams chasing behind, it became almost certain that the break would go all the way and contest for the stage win.
With to go, Nils Politt () attacked with Connor Swift (), but the move was chased down. A few kilometres later, Politt attacked again, this time with Stefan Küng (), Harry Sweeny (), and Imanol Erviti (). The quartet gradually built up their advantage over the rest of their breakaway companions. from the finish, Sweeny launched an acceleration that dropped Küng. With left, Politt was once again on the attack, this time with no response from Erviti and Sweeny. On the downhill run-in to the finish, Politt extended his lead to win his first Tour stage, 31 seconds ahead of Erviti and Sweeny. Küng finished seconds ahead of a group containing most of the other breakaway riders, with Luka Mezgec () winning the sprint for fifth. Stefan Bissegger () was the last of the breakaway members to finish, crossing the line by himself over five minutes behind Politt. About ten minutes after Bissegger, Mark Cavendish () led the peloton home, sprinting for the few remaining points on offer to slightly extend his lead in the points classification. All the GC contenders finished safely in the peloton and the top ten remained unchanged.
Stage 13
9 July 2021 – Nîmes to Carcassonne,
The thirteenth stage saw the Tour continue west across southwestern France towards the Pyrenees. With a distance of , it marked the second longest stage of this year's Tour. The undulating route ran roughly parallel to the Mediterranean coast, with crosswinds once again being a possibility. The first half of the stage featured both the day's only categorized climb and the intermediate sprint. The fourth-category Côte du Pic Saint-Loup, which is long at an average gradient of 3.7 percent, summitted at into the stage, while the intermediate sprint in Fontès was at . Three uncategorized climbs preceded a flat run-in to the final kilometre, with a slight uphill drag to the finish line.
The first few kilometres were marked by several attacks before a trio of riders broke away with around to go. The break included Sean Bennett (), Pierre Latour (), and Omer Goldstein (). After a while, Georg Zimmermann () attempted to bridge from the peloton to the break, albeit unsuccessfully. The trio built a lead of two and a half minutes before the gap came down due to several riders attempting to bridge over to the break. Eventually, took control at the front of the peloton, allowing the break to increase their advantage once again. The trio led by a maximum of four and a half minutes before the peloton started to chase in earnest. At the intermediate sprint, the break took maximum points before Sonny Colbrelli () outsprinted Michael Matthews () for the remaining points on offer as Mark Cavendish () rode closely behind. With to go, the break started attacking each other as Bennett accelerated off the front. Latour and Goldstein managed to bridge up to Bennett before eventually dropping him as well. At around the same time, Philippe Gilbert () and Alex Aranburu () attempted to attack from the peloton but managed to mark the attacks.