Milan-San Remo champion Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) sprinted to his first ever victory at the Tour de France on stage 12 in Saint-Etienne.

On an undulating course, the Norwegian was one of several sprinters left in a reduced bunch and beat Peter Sagan (Cannondale) to the stage honours.

Vincenzo Nibali, meanwhile, stayed safely in the bunch – staying the right side of a late split in the bunch – to keep the yellow jersey but stage 11 winner Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol) dropped out of the overall top ten.

Dutch champion Sebastien Langeveld attacked after seven kilometres to form the day’s break as Garmin-Sharp started life at the Tour without team leader Andrew Talansky – the injured American not taking the start line.

Four riders went with Langeveld – Florian Vachon (Bretagne-Seche Environnement), David de la Cruz (Team NetApp-Endura), Gregory Rast (Trek Factory Racing) and Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEDGE) – as the break immediately built up a decent lead.

Giant-Shimano, with Cheng Ji to the fore as ever, led the chase but had already confirmed they would not take it up all day if they did not get support.

It gave the break a chance to build up a lead in excess of five minutes, with de la Cruz picking up the early mountains points, but their hopes of staying out were dealt a huge blow with 88km to go.

De la Cruz appeared to suffer a puncture as he took a corner, his front wheel sliding out as a result and bringing him down hard – catching the rear wheel of Langeveld in the process.

Though Langeveld got straight back up, de la Cruz stayed down clutching his collar bone in obvious pain and was forced to abandon – the 21st rider to leave this year’s race.

It saw their lead cut significantly as they passed through the feed zone, holding around the 3’40” mark as Langeveld rejoined the lead group.

Team Europcar joined Giant-Shimano on the front of the bunch however, to ramp up the pace, with Astana protecting Vincenzo Nibali just behind them.

The break fell apart on the Col des Brosses, Rast and Vachon losing contact with their two former companions on the fast-paced ascent.

The lead continued to tumble, with Cyril Gautier and Perrig Quemeneur spotting the opportunity and bridging together.

Clarke left Langeveld and ploughed alone, soon being joined by the two Team Europcar riders but their time in the break appeared doomed as the pace in the peloton was ramped right up.

Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) and Mark Renshaw (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) were among the riders dropped by the furious pace but Giant-Shimano ploughed on at the front, with John Degenkolb in mind.

As the gap to the leaders – with Quemeneur also swallowed up by the bunch – dropped Gautier pleaded one more time with Clarke to set the pace but was met by a shake of the head from the Australian.

Attention instead turned to the bunch, where Cannondale led the way and FDJ.fr, Omega Pharma-Quickstep, Katusha and Giant-Shimano also came forward.

Andre Greipel’s hopes of a stage win were abruptly ended when the Lotto-Belisol man was brought down in a crash, shouting angrily at Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling), who also fell, as they rolled in together behind the bunch.

Back at the front, Alessandro de Marchi led Peter Sagan on the front, but it was Luca Paolini (Katusha) and Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) who hit the front as the bunch passed under the flamme rouge.

Degenkolb looked to be in a great position as the sprint was led out, but Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) forced him wide and cost him his momentum – the Italian later being relegated for changing lines.

Trentin,regardless, did not have the legs for the sprint which Kristoff took up from fourth wheel, bursting around the outside of Trentin, Sagan and French champion Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr) to take his first ever Tour de France stage win.

For Sagan, meanwhile, it was yet another second place as he was left to console himself with the knowledge he had once again stretched his green jersey lead.

Tour de France 2014: stage 12 – result

1) Alexander Kristoff (NOR) – Katusha – 4.32.11hrs
2) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Cannondale – ST
3) Arnaud Demare (FRA) – FDJ.fr
4) Michael Albasini (SUI) – Orica-GreenEDGE
5) Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU) – Garmin-Sharp
6) Daniele Bennati (ITA) – Tinkoff-Saxo
7) Bryan Coquard (FRA) – Team Europcar
8) Daniel Oss (ITA) – BMC Racing
9) Samuel Dumoulin (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale
10) Jose Joaquin Rojas (ESP) – Movistar

General classification

1) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) – Astana – 51.31.34hrs
2) Richie Porte (AUS) – Team Sky +2.23
3) Alejandro Valverde (ESP) – Movistar +2.47
4) Romain Bardet (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale +3.01
5) Thibaut Pinot (FRA) – FDJ.fr +3.47
6) Tejay van Garderen (USA) – BMC Racing +3.56
7) Jean-Christophe Peraud (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale +3.57
8) Bauke Mollema (NED) – Belkin Pro Cycling +4.08
9) Jurgen van den Broeck (BEL) – Lotto-Belisol +4.18
10) Jakob Fuglsang (DEN) – Astana +4.31