David Moncoutie becomes the 15th Frenchman to win a Tour de France stage on Bastille Day by securing a comfortable win on stage 12.

Moncoutie finishes the 187 kilometre stage 57 seconds clear of the rest of the field in a time of four hours, 20 minutes and six seconds.

Compatriot Sandy Casar is second after coming home just ahead of Spaniard Angel Vicioso in third.

Lance Armstrong retains his yellow jersey despite ending way off the pace.

1516 BST: As he weaves his way through the closing stages, Moncoutie is greeted by a noisy crowd in Digne-les-Bains and there is a massive cheer as he crosses the line. The chasing pack play a game of cat-and-mouse as they near the finish line but Casar wins the sprint, closely followed by Vicioso.

1510 BST: The seven riders in the chasing group try to make things happen but they lack the cohesion necessary to launch a real challenge. Merckx looks the strongest but he throws his hands up in the air in frustration as they seem to have given up the ghost. The gap is still 28 seconds.

1509 BST: 1444 BST: Confirmation of the points won for the Col de L'Orme climb:

1. Moncoutie 3 points
2. Garate 2
3. Merckx 1

1502 BST: Moncoutie maintains his control of the stage and as he nears the end of the 2.7km climb, he is 34 seconds ahead.

1457 BST: Surrounded by cars and motorcycles, Moncoutie is looking comfortable and even manages to claw back some time. With 15kms left, the chasers are running out of time as they start the category-four Col de L'Orme climb.

1452 BST: The chasing pack have nothing to lose and start to make inroads into Moncoutie's lead. It is now down to 28 seconds.

1446 BST: Moncoutie is not known for his descending ability and the seven riders who are chasing him up the pace. Moncoutie however, is still 50 seconds in front with 22kms to go. Meanwhile further back, the peloton are taking it easy in the sunshine and are nearly eight minutes behind the leader.

1444 BST: Confirmation of the points won for the Col du Corobin climb:

1. Moncoutie 10 points
2. Garate 9
3. Merckx 8
4. Arrieta 7
5. Casar 6
6. Halgand 5

1441 BST: It looks like it is going to be a memorable day for France as Moncoutie extends his lead to 37 seconds.

1429 BST: The painful climb is now over and a lonely Moncoutie begins his descent. He is now 28 seconds ahead of a group of six chasers headed by Merckx. There is now just 34 kms to go.

1425 BST: As the riders approach the summit of the climb, the leading 13 are now looking very disjointed. Moncoutie, who won stage 11 of the Tour de France last year, retains his lead and now has 20 seconds to play with.

1422 BST: To the surprise of the leading pack, Moncoutie attacks again but this time no-one responds and he carves out a 10-second lead. The Discovery Channel team heads the peloton, which is now over five minutes off the pace.

1415 BST: The riders are starting the second category-two climb of the stage, Col du Corobin. It is 12.4km long and has an average gradient of 4.5 per cent. Moncoutie of the Cofidis team tries to get the pace going but he is chased down.

1411 BST: Any hopes that the peloton, led by the Lotto team, have of reaching the leaders look to be over as the 13 escapees press the gas and with 140kms gone, the advantage is creeping towards the five minute mark again.

1357 BST: There is a lack of urgency in the leading pack and the peloton are able to reduce the gap in breezy conditions to just over three and a half minutes.

1339 BST: Confirmation of the points won for the Col du Labouret climb:

1. Garate (SDV) 3 points
2. Merckx (DVL) 2
3. Arrieta (IBA) 1

1347 BST: Hushovd and Australian O'Grady are among the 13 men out in front and they remain four minutes 15 seconds clear with 60km to go.

1336 BST: The Lotto team is on the front of the peloton and heading the chase of the leading group of 13.

1331 BST: Casar's lead is short-lived as the 12 other riders of the leading pack hunt him down.

1328 BST: Angelo Furlan of the Domina Vacanze pulls out of the race at the 105km mark.

1323 BST: Phonak's Robbie Hunter is the third rider to withdraw from the race while Casar makes a charge with 80km to go. McEwen puts a sprint on and rejoins the peloton.

1315 BST: The peloton are starting to claw back some time and the leading pack, who were five minutes ahead, is now only four and a half minutes in front.

1311 BST: The peloton finally reach the feed station, four minutes and 45 seconds behind the leaders. It could be even more soon as the riders slow to a crawl as they re-fuel. In a bizarre sight, donkeys draped in various colours run alongside the riders.

1307 BST: Despite the fact that yellow-jersey owner Lance Armstrong is now unlikely to win this stage, his overall lead is not under threat as Casar is the leading rider in the breakaway. The Frenchman started the day in 31st place.

1303 BST: The peloton are now almost four minutes behind the leaders while Robbie McEwen is dropped and is way off the pace.

1300 BST: Confirmation of the points won for the Col Saint-Jean climb:

1. Garate (SDV) 10 points
2. Casar (FDJ) 9
3. O'Grady (COF) 8
4. Halgand (C.A.) 7
5. Merckx (DVL) 6
6. Arrieta (IBA) 5

1255 BST: With the leaders increasing their advantage over the rest to over three minutes, it looks like winner of this stage will come from this group. Stephan Schreck, Giovanni Lombardi, Jose Luis Arrieta, Merckx, Massimo Giunti, Juan Manuel Garate, Angel Vicioso, Patrice Halgand, Hushovd, Franco Pelizotti, David Moncoutie, O'Grady and Sandy Casar are those in the group.

1250 BST: The riders are close to the summit of Col St-Jean, the 88km mark, and the 13 leaders have increased their lead during the 12.3km climb to three minutes.

1239 BST: Baltran decides to call it a day because of the injuries he suffered in his earlier crash. Hushovd and O'Grady catch the 11 leaders and the now 13-strong leading pack is two minutes and 25 seconds ahead of the peloton.

1236 BST: The riders now start the second climb of the day, the category-two Col St-Jean, with the 11 leaders 30 seconds ahead of Hushovd and O'Grady.

1229 BST: Belgium's Axel Merckx is in a group of 11 riders that have taken the lead as the group descends on 65kms. Hushovd and Stuart O'Grady are in pursuit while the peloton, which includes Lance Armstrong, are almost two minutes off the lead.

1223 BST: Boogerd, Fedrigo, Garzelli, Martinez and McGee make a break but are caught after the summit of the climb by Matthias Kessler, Bobby Julich and Andrey Kashechkin. Slowly though the peloton catch them and break ends.

1217 BST: Confirmation of the points won for the Cote des Demoiselles Coiffee climb:

1. Michael Boogerd (RAB) 4 points
2. Pierrick Fedrigo (BTL) 3
3. Stefano Garzelli (LIQ) 2
4. Egoi Martinez (EUS)

1213 BST: Manuel Beltran is the only casualty of the first crash of the stage. He comes off near the 57km mark. He does get back on his bike but is adrift of the peloton.

1211 BST: Fritsch has now dropped out of the race to leave 165 riders competing. Just before the start of the first climb of the stage, a category-three at the Cote des Demoiselles Coiffees, the leaders are caught.

1207 BST: The average pace for the opening hour is 50.5km per hour and the lightening start has obviously had an effect on Nicolas Fritsch of the Saunier Duval team. He is dropped by the peloton, which is now 15 seconds behind the leaders.

1203 BST: The leaders, who were at one stage 45 seconds ahead of the peloton, are just 32 seconds in front at the 51km mark. Of the nine riders in the leading pack, four are French - and only 14 home athletes have won a stage of the Tour on Bastille Day.

1153 BST: Confirmation of the points won for the second intermediate sprint:

1. Chavanel (COF) 6 points
2. Contador 4
3. Lefevre (BTL) 2

1148 BST: The duo have little time to get lonely as they are joined by another seven riders. Sandy Casar, Thomas Voeckler, Laurent Lefevre, Patrick Sinkewitz, Sylvain Chavanel, Christophe Brandt and Giuseppe Guerini make up the rest of the breakaway and are 20 seconds ahead of the peloton at 46kms.

1143 BST: With 38kms gone, Spain's Juan Antonia Flecha and Liberty Seguros-Worth rider Alberto Contador launch an attack and take a narrow lead.

1131 BST: Unfortunately for McGee, the peloton catch up with him and as the riders go through 25kms, there is no outright leader.

1123 BST: It has emerged that in the wake of Dario Frigo's arrest for an alleged drugs offence, French customs stopped and checked vehicles from the Phonak, Liberty Seguros, Bouygues Telecom, AG2R and Davitamon Lotto teams driving in the caravan which had set off for the 12th stage.

1118 BST: Confirmation of the points won for the first intermediate sprint:

1. McGee (FDJ) 6 points
2. Robbie McEwen (DVL) 4
3. Thor Hushovd (C.A) 2

1115 BST: Francaise des Jeux star Brad McGee takes the lead at 8km and extends his advantage to 30 seconds by 14.5km. The peloton decide to hit back and cut his lead to 20 seconds.

1107 BST: With six kilometres gone, there has been no successful breaks as yet. The opening has been very quick.

1057 BST: After the riders travel through the 3.4 kilometre neutral, the stage begins and Stephane Auge of Cofidis and Rabobank's Erik Dekker are just of the riders who try and make early breaks.

1045 BST: The 166 riders left in the Tour de France are just moments away from pulling out of Briancon.

Injury ends Boonen's tour

But there are seven less faces in their midst. Among the casualties are former yellow jersey wearer Jens Voight, who finished outside the time limit on stage 11, and sprints leader Tom Boonen, who has pulled out because of injury.