All day, Team Giant-Shimano worked hard to give John Degenkolb his chance to sprint. However, in the finale things unravelled when the team was first held up by a crash and then the German was boxed in due to a dangerous move by Trentin that merited a relegation.

John Degenkolb was boxed out of the finishing sprint of the twelfth stage of the Tour de France after a dominant display of control by the team during the stage. Degenkolb and the team were looking good until they got swamped in the final few kilometres and he then struggled to find position. He pulled through only to be boxed up against the barriers leaving him unable to unleash his sprint.

Degenkolb's chances were looking good after the team controlled the stage throughout the day and still had four riders at the front of the bunch heading towards the final 10km, but the situation became hectic in the final kilometres and in the end he lost out.

The stage started with a break of five riders pulling clear and from early on the team set out their intentions for the stage. Cheng Ji was one of the first riders to start the pace making on the front of the peloton and he was later joined by others.

The break up the road split when two riders crashed and from here on their chances looked slim. Marcel Kittel was one of the riders on hand as a domestique on the stage, and over the stage all the riders gave their all riding for a sprint finish.

The team overcame late attacks to keep the race together for a sprint, but then in the final three kilometres things got hectic. The sprint formation got swamped with around four kilometres to race and then Degenkolb, Tom Dumoulin and Koen De Kort got caught up next to a crash with three kilometres to go.

They fought their way back to the front but Degenkolb had to fight for position. Coming in to the final few hundred metres Degenkolb was in a good position but a rider closed him up against the barriers preventing him from being able to sprint and this cost him his chances of a stage victory.

After the stage Degenkolb said: “I’m very disappointed today as we worked really hard and knew that today was a big opportunity for us. From the start of the stage we were focused on a sprint at the end and the guys worked really hard to make this happen.

“Big compliments to the guys as it wasn’t easy out there, it is a pity that it didn’t work out in the end. I have just heard about the disqualification of Trentin, and think it is fair as it shows that he did not do a fair sprint.”

Marcel Kittel, who lost contact on the last climb of the day, added: “It was a really hard day and it would have been great for John to get the win as he has earned it with his hard work for me and the team up to now. It was nice that I could help him today as he has fought hard to be here today after his crash on stage five – he deserved it today.”

Team captain out on the road, Roy Curvers also said: “It was an exciting stage today, pretty tough too. We controlled the whole day as we were focused on a sprint for John. I think that after the great work he did for Marcel and then recovering from his crash he merited a result today, more than ever.

“Everyone gave their best to achieve a sprint no matter what. We were then a bit unlucky in the final – firstly we got caught up behind the Greipel crash with 3km to go and we probably lost about 10 or 15 positions here. After this Koen was the only one left with John and from there everything has to go well as we’ve seen before. This didn’t happen with the move from Trentin so in the end John missed out.”

Team Giant-Shimano coach Aike Visbeek said from the team bus: “The team were superb today and rode great all day. Everyone played their part and were 100% focused on the finish for John. We didn’t get much help during the stage and this cost us in the sprint formation at the end.

“John was there in position but the guys had to fight for it but then he couldn’t do his sprint at the end which was a real shame. Tomorrow is a much different day and we will go into the stage without much expectation.”