Finishing in 3 hours 22min 12sec, Politt was 31 seconds ahead of Spain's Imanol Erviti of Movistar and Australian Harry Sweeney of Lotto Soudal who broke with the German from those 13 riders to complete the podium.

The 12th stage covered a route from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes over 159.4 kilometres.

He struck out alone with 12km to go to win the stage, having initially gone clear with three other riders 40km from the finish.

Swiss rider Stefan Küng was the third of those riders and was just within two minutes of Politt in fourth, finishing ahead of a gaggle of riders who were 2min 6sec behind the winner.

That group was led by Slovenian Luka Mezgec of Team BikeExchange, who outsprinted the small remaining pack for fifth.

Although crosswinds caused some issues in the peloton early on, the main general classification contenders stuck together.

Slovenian Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates remains in the lead with a gap of 5:18 to Colombia's Rigoberto Urán of EF Education-Nippo in second.

Pogačar remains in a strong position to win his second consecutive Tour de France general classification title, with nine stages still to go.

Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma remains in third overall, while Ecuador's Richard Carapaz of Ineos-Grenadiers and former closest challenger Australia's Ben O'Connor of AG2R Citroen Team are in fourth and fifth.

Tomorrow, riders cover 219.9km on a flat stage from Nîmes to Carcassonne.