A chronological recap of stage 12 of the Tour de France, which saw the peloton race from Montpellier to Castres.

178.5km - The official start is given on stage 12 of the Tour de France!

174km - Those two are joined by Axel Merckx (T-Mobile), Inaki Isasi (Euskaltel), Juan Manuel Garate (Quickstep), Ralf Grabsch (Milram), Daniel Navarro (Astana) and Felix Cardenas (Barloworld). The eight-man group now has a 20-second lead over the peloton.

174km - Alberto Ongarato of the Milram team has abandoned. He fell in the opening stages and Milram are now down to seven riders.

173km - Now Anthony Charteau (Crédit Agricole) has to roll back to the team car after suffering a puncture.

170km - The peloton have kept a high tempo, and the breakaway group has not managed to extend its lead to beyond 30 seconds. Liquigas and Lampre are pushing the pace along at the front.

166km - Another fall in the pack! What an eventful start to the stage we're having. This time Bram Tankink of the Quickstep team hits the deck. Meanwhile, Ongarato has been taken to hospital following his crash.

163km - The peloton swallows up the breakaway. Sylvain Chavanel makes one desperate bid to stay clear with a big push, but can't maintain it.

159km - Ruben¨Perez (Euskaltel) tries an attack now, but the high speed of the peloton is preventing any of these attacks from going clear.

156km - This feisty Spaniard is determined to go clear. He launches another attack, follwed by Bernhard Eisel (T-Mobile), Cristian Moreni (Cofidis), and Juan Manuel Garate (Quick Step). Their chances don't look good though, given the speed of the peloton.

153km - The Cofidis team have taken over at the head of the field as the three escapees are reeled in. They are now arriving at the foot of the first climb of the day, the Category 4 côte de Cantagal.

150km - FdJ's Philippe Gilbert takes the three points available at the top of the la côte de Cantagal ahead of Saunier Duval's David Millar (2pts) and Cofidis' Staf Scheirlinckx (1 pt).

149km - Robert Forster suffers a puncture as the Lampre and Liquigas teams keep things moving along swiftly at the front.

146km - Another attack. Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), Laurent Lefèvre (Bouygues Telecom), Moises Duenas (Agritubel), Manuel Beltran (Liquigas), Matteo Tossatto (Quick Step), and David Millar (Saunier Duval) go clear, but are all about to be swallowed up again.

144km - Yellow jersey Michael Rasmussen admitted before the stage that he had made an "administrative error" in failing to notify the UCI of his whereabouts for two out of competition drug tests he missed. He has now been dropped by the Danish cycling federation for the upcoming World Championships and the Olympics.

137km - The peloton is doing everything it can to make sure no riders break clear. Those at the front of the pack are pretty much working flat out.

133km - The average speed over the first hour of racing is 43,4km/h.

128km - Anthony Charteau (Crédit Agricole), who fell a little earlier in the stage, has called the medical car.

127km - The next attack has come from Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel) and Pierrick Fedrigo (Bouygues Telecom).

125km - Francisco Perez (Caisse d'Epargne), Tadej Valjavec (Lampre), Benoït Vaugrenard (FDJeux) and two others try a counter-attack, but are swallowed back up again.

124km - Fedrigo and Txurruka now have a 25 second lead over the pack as they approach the foot of the second climb of the day, the côte du Mas-Rouet

122km - It looks like we have our breakaway for the day! The lead duo have increased their advantage to 45" on the peloton, while Christophe Le Mevel tries to bridge the gap.

121km - Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel), Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom), Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel), and Juan Manuel Garate (Quick Step) now make a break! They want to be part of the breakaway action too!

120km - Here's how they cross the summit of the côte du Mas-Rouet: Txurruka (Euskaltel) 3pts; Fedrigo (Bouygues Telecom) 2pts; et Garate (Quick Step) 1pt.

119km - The five counter-attackers have been caught by the pack, though Sandy Casar (FDJeux) and Gert Steegmans (Quick Step) immediately break, with success!

110km - Fedrigo and Txurruka have now extended their lead to 4'30" on the pack.

107km - The peloton has now slowed right down. They seem content to let this pair go. The gap has just gone over the five-minute mark.

105km - Marcus Burghardt has decided he wants to join the pair and is off in pursuit on the Col du Buis.

100km - The gap has stretched to 8'00" as the Quickstep team move to the front of the peloton with 100 kilometres racing remaining. Txurruka collected the 3 points at the top of the Col du Buis followed by Fedrigo (2pts) and Burghardt (1pt).

97km - The sun is just about breaking through! It was an overcast, windy start to the stage, though conditions are improving here in the South of France.

92km - The gap hits the 10'00" mark with just oevr 90 kilometres remaining.

90km - Marcus Burghardt is in no man's land right now. He's 6'40" behind the two leaders, and 3'30" ahead of the peloton. Whatever happens, he won't be seeing anyone else for a while.

86km - The two leaders are not exactly a huge threat to leader Michael Rasmussen. The better-placed of the two is Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel). He's 35th on the GC, 22'37" down on the Dane.

85km - The Liquigas team are on the front of the peloton looking to make sure Filippo Pozzato and Murilio Fischer get a shot at the stage win.

80km - After peaking at just over 11 minutes, the gap is now beginning to edge down thanks to the efforts of the Liquigas squad.

70km - The gap is down to 9'00" as the peloton enters the feeding zone.

68km - As we're in the middle of a big breakaway stage, here's a few facts about the breakaways of the Tour so far. The Cofidis team have been the most attacking of the race. Their riders have spent a total of 975 kilometres in breakaways, followed by Francaise des Jeux with 927km.

63km - Marcus Burghardt is still plowing a lonely furrow in no man's land between the peloton and the lead two. He is highly unlikely to stay away though. The pack are closing in, and are just 7'30" behind the lead duo. In fact the latest split has shown he is about to be swallowed up by the peloton.

60km - Burghardt drops back into the pack.

57km - The gap has ben whittled down to 5'30" as the lead duo take on the biggest climb of the day, the second-category Montée de la Jeante.

54km - Britain's Charly Wegelius is leading his Liquigas team, and indeed the peloton, up the Montée de la Jeante. he's doing some excellent work for Pozzato and Fischer here.

51km - The entire Liquigas team is towing the peloton along. There are a sprinkling of Caisse d'Epargne and Sg2r riders at the front, though nobody else seems bothered about chasing. Poor old Francisco Ventoso is just off the back. He is suffering from a sore wrist, which is heavily bandaged. 5'08" now the gap.

50km - The wind is absolutely howling as Astana move ominously to the front. Surely, given the fact we have a crucial time-trial tomorrow, they're not going to put the hammer down quite like they did yesterday?!

49km - Gerolsteiner's Sven Krauss is off the back of the peloton. The big man's not a fan of these climbs.

47km - Amets Txurreka takes the ten points for crossing the top of the Montee de la Jeante just ahead of Pierrick Fedrigo (9pts).

44km - Agritubel's Juan Miguel Mercado has fallen! He looks okay though, and is back up on his bike.

43km - Third over the top of the Montee de la Jeante, was Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery Channel) followed by David De la Fuente(Saunier Duval), Thomas Dekker (Rabobank) and Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld).

35km - The Lampre team have picked uip the pace in the peloton and the gap to the lead two has come down to 3'34

32km - The peloton arrives into the Souqe valley 4'15" behind the leaders.

26km - Lampre have really put the hammer down with big Marzio Bruseghin on the front. The gap has come back down to 3'00" on the descent.

22km - We're down to the two-minute mark now.

17km - It's a fairly straight run-in today, which makes it ideal for someone like Tom Boonen or Thor Hushovd. In my selection this morning I went for Erik Zabel, though I had though that the likes of Boonen might have been dropped on this climb. In any case, Fedrigo and Txurruka still need to be caught before we start talking about sprints.

15km - Bradley Wiggins and Rik Verbrugghe have been dropped as the peloton reins in the lead two.

12km - FdJ hit the front, followed by a Lampre trio as the gap falls to below 1 minute with 11km remaining.

9km - Lampre are forcing the pace again at the front. Patxi Vila is doing the work.

7km - The field have the leaders in their sights now! 40 seconds the gap as Matthieu Ladagnous gives way to Bruseghin again.

6km - Three Quicksteps move to the fore now, among them Cardic Vasseur and Bram Tankink!

5km - The lead two really are hanging in there well given that there are four or five teams really pushing it in the pack. 30 seconds the gap.

3.5km - Txurreka is giving it all he's got! Fedrigo's struggling to stay in his wheel!

2.5km - The breakaway looks doomed. 10 seconds with 2.5km left.

2km - Quickstep are at the front of the peloton working for Tom Boonen as they pass the 2km mark.

0.7km - The breakaway is swallowed!!

0.7km - Three Quicksteps at the front with Tom Boonen just in behind them!

0.2km - Gert Steegmans peels away and Boonen launches the sprint!!! Robbie Hunter is coming round the left hand side, Erik Zabel on the right!!!

0km - Tom Boonen has it!!! I thought he'd gone too early, but in a quick sprint on a straight finish there is nobody quicker. He holds off Erik Zabel (2nd) and Robbie Hunter (3rd).

0km - Fabian Cancellara is only just crossing the line now, 6:33 back. He was conserving himself for tomorrow.

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