Marc Hirschi finally got his stage win.

Stage 12 featured what have now become the 22-year-old's trademarks: A fierce acceleration at the top of a late ascent, a white-knuckle descent and a brave time trial to the finish. After coming up short twice at this year's Tour -- if only he started his sprint a little sooner on Stage 2, if only he had a little more strength at the end of 90 kilometers alone on Stage 9 -- Thursday must have been a sweet relief. After the stage, Hirschi said the he "never believed that I could make it."

Hirschi went solo with 28 kilometers to go, slingshotting past Marc Soler about two kilometers before the summit of the Category 2 Suc au May. Behind him, an elite group of stage hunters -- led by Julian Alaphilippe, and including Soler, Pierre Rolland, Max Schachmann, Soren Kragh Andersen, Quentin Pacher, Jesus Herrada, Nicolas Roche and others -- couldn't gain ground. Hirschi expanded his lead by approximately 10 seconds to the chase group on the 12-kilometer descent.

As the terrain flattened out, Hirschi had 14 kilometers to defend a roughly 50-second lead. Alaphilippe made multiple attacks out of the chase group, but could't inspire anyone to go with him, his breakmates likely aware that they would only be helping him potentially win yet another stage.

Eventually, the chasers ran out of road without having made a dent in the leader. Rolland finished second on the stage at 47 seconds back. Hirschi won in dominant fashion.

In the process, he exorcised the ghosts of both of his close calls. No one would catch his long breakaway this time, not even Alaphilippe, who beat the youngster at the line on Stage 2 in Nice.

The stage win was Hirschi's first-ever victory as a pro cyclist. He'll be racking up A LOT more over the course of what could be a sparkling career.

What else happened?

Stage 12 was the longest of the Tour, and it felt like it at times. The day started with heavy skirmishing to create a breakaway, but the riders who finally got away -- Imanol Erviti, Max Walscheid, Luis Leon Sanchez and Nils Politt, with Kasper Asgreen and Mathieu Burgaudeau joining later -- never took a threatening gap on the peloton.

Bora-Hansgrohe and Deceuninck-Quick Step, riding for stage hopefuls, drove the peloton at a brisk pace, never letting the break get much more than two minutes away. Bora was riding for Peter Sagan, who was relegated yesterday for using a shiver technique to try to win a bike race. They were certainly successful in sending Sam Bennett off the back, but Sagan cracked on the Suc au May. He'd finish a respectable 13th on the stage, but the effort only earned him one more point than Bennett towards the green jersey.

The initial breakaway was caught with around 50 kilometers left in the stage, setting off the sifting process that created the final contender group for the stage. Bora-Hansgrohe sped up the peloton again, with CCC and Trek-Segafredo also pitching in.

Movistar's Soler would go solo to take the Category 3 Côte de la Croix du Pey, but a big group of heavy hitters would bridge. (Among those not yet mentioned: Tiesj Benoot, Alexey Lutsenko, Kenny Elissonde, Lennard Kamna, Jasper Stuyven, Dries Devenyns, Hugo Houle, Sebastien Reichenbach, Bob Jungels and Pello Bilbao. Probably more. If you were also in this break, email me at idreaminpolkadot@gmail.com.)

Alaphilippe would get involved by bridging to the chasers on the Suc au May from a peloton that was approximately two minutes back of Hirschi. In a reversal from Nice, this time it'd be Alaphilippe misjudging his rival's finishing kick.

What fun!

Readers Scott and Jordan pointed out the Florian Schneider/Tour de France connection that I missed yesterday. (Research not my strong suit after four hours of racing, apparently).

Today's stage biodiversity is this adorable little flesh-eating bird.

At 218 kilometers, Thursday's stage was the shortest "longest stage of the Tour" ever, beating out a 222.5-kilometer stage in 2017. The longest stage ever was a 482-kilometer annually recurring course from 1919-1924.

The stage passed through Raymond Poulidor's hometown, and we got treated to some glorious field art.

Here's a Tour moto actually being helpful for once.

Jacques Chirac also got some hagiographic field art.

The standings

STAGE 12

1. Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) -- 5hr 08min 49sec
2. Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) -- +47sec
3. Soren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) -- +52sec
4. Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) -- "
5. Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) -- "
6. Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) -- "
7. Hugo Houle (Astana) -- “
8. Sebastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) -- "
9. Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) -- +56sec
10. Nicolas Roche (Sunweb) -- "

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) — 51hr 26min 43sec
2. Egan Bernal (Ineos) — +21sec
3. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) — +28sec
4. Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale_ -- +30sec
5. Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) — +32sec
6. Rigoberto Uran (Education First) -- "
7. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) -- +44sec
8. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) — +1min 02sec
9. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) – +1min 15sec
10. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren) -- +1min 42sec

GREEN JERSEY

1. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) — 252 points
2. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) — 186
3. Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) -- 162
4. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) -- 155
5. Matteo Trentin (CCC) — 146

POLKA DOT JERSEY

1. Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale) — 36 points
2. Nans Peters (AG2R-La Mondiale) -- 31
3. Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) -- 31
4. Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) -- 24
5. Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) -- 21

Stage 13 preview -- 191.5km from Châtel-Guyon to Puy Mary Cantal

Stage 13 will begin at 12:05 p.m. local, 6:05 a.m. ET. For those watching from the United States, coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. on NBCSN. (Here’s NBC’s complete broadcast schedule).

Don’t get that channel? You’ll need to pay, sadly. I really like the NBC Sports Gold Cycling Pass, which gives you a commercial-free stream as well as some handy race-tracking whatzits. The much cheaper option, however, is Peacock Premium, which costs $4.99 per month and will reportedly get you access to live coverage of every stage, though presumably with ads and without the whatzits.

If you can’t watch live and want access to replays, it appears Gold is your only way to go.

Stage 13's profile looks like Stage 12's, but doped to the gills. It features the most elevation gain of any single stage of this year's Tour, despite the fact that it features no Hors Categorie climbs. It is going to HURT.

Almost from the gun, riders will be either ascending or descending. Category 1 climbs bookend the stage. The finish is particularly devious: More than two kilometers at great than 11.5 percent. It's going to be a banger, and potentially decisive.

So many slopes mean a lot of points of attack. If I had to guess, a strong breakaway will be gone early in the day, and a peloton consisting of the general classification contenders will remain together through the intermediate sprint point, 80 kilometers from the finish. Bets are off after that. The Cat 2 Col de Neronne and Cat 1 Pas de Peyrol are steep and ripe to create time gaps, assuming someone doesn't go earlier.

I shouted out Neilson Powless for the stage win today, but Bora-Hansgrohe and Deceuninck-Quick Step were determined not to let a quality break get out. So let's roll over the pick. USA! USA! USA!

In the GC, the parcours suits Roglic if an elite group stays together late, and Egan Bernal if he's able to shake loose with 20-30 kilometers to go. Romain Bardet can also ascend and descend with the best of them, and he looks spry enough to try something.

The stage should be a spicy mélange of goodness, not unlike poulacre:

Poultry is a specialty of Cheylade made from pork and lamb. It is one of the secret dishes of the restaurateurs of the Puy Mary massif. Mix the lamb liver with 2 to 3 onions and breadcrumbs soaked in milk. Add a leek, parsley, pork belly, two eggs and flour. Roll everything in a parcelx. Cook gently in a casserole dish for at least an hour.