Biniam Girmay sprinted to victory over the final straight on Thursday to complete Stage 12 of the Tour de France in Villeneuve-sur-Lot.

Girmay of Eritrea outlasted Wout van Aert of Belgium and Arnaud Demare of France to finish in 4 hours, 17 minutes, 15 seconds and capture his third stage of the Tour.

Pascal Ackermann of Germany ended up in third after Demare was demoted to 67th place for pushing van Aert to the barriers during the 204-km stage that brought riders from Aurillac to Villeneuve-sur-Lot in southwestern France.

Four-time Grand Tour champion Primoz Roglic of Slovenia was involved in his second crash in as many days, with Thursday's slip-up coming near the finish line. Roglic finished 2:27 after Girmay.

Overall, there were no changes atop the leaderboard. Two-time Tour champion Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia retained the yellow jersey, 1:06 ahead of Belgium's Remco Evenepoel and 1:14 ahead of two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark.

The Tour de France resumes Friday with Stage 13. (Reuters)