The longest stage of the three-week Tour de France (open in new tab), 218 km from Chauvigny to Salins, took place on Thursday and ended with Marc Hirsch's (Team Sunweb) first professional win. He began his 28-km solo ride from Suc-au-May, the final of four intermediate mountains.

Midway through the stage, the peloton passed through St. Leonard de Nobla, the home town of former French national champion and Tour de France favorite Raymond Pridor. He died last November at the age of 83, but is remembered for his eight podium finishes at the Tour.

One rider who did not get to enjoy the scenery today was Ilnur Zakarin of the CCC team. The Russian, who crashed in the neutral kilometer before stage 11 on Wednesday, threw in the towel today due to injuries sustained in that crash.

Bora-Hansgrohe's Max Schachmann is still recovering from a terrible collision with a car on Il Lombardia a month ago. However, he did finish in the top 10 at Saran on Thursday.

The peloton passed many farms and fields on its way from central France to Salins, home of the Jacques Chirac Presidential Museum. Each day, as the Tour made its way around France, it was a subtle reminder that this summer's journey had moved on to the signs of autumn, namely dry sunflowers. Take a look at Le Tour's photos of the day.

Click here for a news short on stage 12 of the Tour de France.

Raymond Poulidor won the French road race championship in 1961, and between 1962 and 1976, he made the podium at the Tour de France a whopping eight times. Poulidor, known as "Pooh-Pooh" by his fans, never wore the marois-jeanes of his country's most famous races.

He died last November in his home village of Saint-Léonard-de-Nobula at the age of 83. The route of stage 12 used the road through his village, with fans along the way holding signs and current and former professional cyclists honoring him for his great achievements today.

Jérôme Cousin (Total Direct Energie) wrote on his Twitter page, "Raymond (Poulidor) was a man associated with all the riders of Perrot in all the races in France. Today we pay tribute to him."

Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme also wrote on Twitter, "Raymond was here every year since 1962. His smile and humor will be greatly missed. He will be celebrated everywhere.

Max Schachmann came into the Tour de France in good form, finishing in the top 10 on Bora-Hansgrohe's Il Lombardia. Despite being injured less than a month ago, Schachmann continued to work hard in the Tour de France, and on Thursday he scored the winning attack in the category 3 Côte de la Croix du Pays.

Schachmann said that Peter Sagan, a contender for the points prize, gave him permission to attack for the result.

"I didn't have a very concrete plan, it was just how the race would unfold in the first kilometer, and I expected a big group of about 20-25 guys [to make the breakaway]. This is the last chance for the classics in this Tour de France. Suddenly there were four riders gone and the group had already stalled, so I tried to control the race for Peter," the 26-year-old German said.

However, a series of short, sharp climbs in the final 50km made the stage more difficult than expected, and it was clear that there would be no sprint finish for Sagan.

"The race got pretty hard in the last kilometer," Sagan said. Sunweb launched an attack on the second and final climb and I followed suit." Peter said after 25km, 'Don't wait for me, try your luck.'"

Schachmann was briefly in the lead of the race with Marc Soler (Movistar) and Marc Hirschi of Sunweb. Soler set up the first dig, but it was Hirschi who got away and held on for the solo victory. Schachmann was swept up by the chase group and sprinted to sixth place.

On Thursday, Ilnur Zakarin (CCC Team) had more bad luck. After a contact with a breakaway group on the descent of the Col de Mante on stage 9, he missed his chance for a stage win in the Pyrenees, and then crashed in the neutral kilometer before stage 11.

Zakarin threw in the towel on Thursday's stage 12.

CCC team doctor Daniele Zaccaria said before the start of stage 12, "Ilnur Zakarin was involved in a crash in the neutral zone of stage 11. Ilnur Zakarin was involved in a crash in the neutral zone of stage 11. An X-ray at the finish in Poitiers confirmed a non-displaced fracture of the left sixth rib. At this stage, Ilnour will continue to race and we will adopt a conservative treatment that will not interfere with his racing. We will continue to monitor Ilnur's condition and make further decisions accordingly."

Zakarin rode almost half the day before getting into the team car for the longest stage of the 2020 Tour de France.

The Tour de France is famous for the peloton riding past fields of yellow sunflowers in the height of summer, but not this year.

The global coronavirus pandemic has changed the Tour de France this year, and the 107th edition has been changed from being held in July to September. Visually, the most significant change is that riders, staff, and fans now cover their faces at the start and finish, and spectators are now scattered about, but a runner-up would be the sunflower display. Or should I say the wilting remnants of summer flowers?

A recent "Picture of the Day" from the Tour de France illustrates how this landscape depicts the fall season.