TOUR DE FRANCE : Bastille Day Fireworks From Frenchman Jalabert

MENDE, France — Laurent Jalabert supplied his own fireworks on Bastille Day with a French victory in the 12th stage of the Tour de France, while Miguel Indurain remained the overall leader.

Friday marked the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris on July 14, 1789, setting off the French Revolution that toppled King Louis XVI. The event is celebrated throughout the country.

Jalabert took off with almost 125 miles left in the 138-mile leg from St. Etienne to Mende, a relatively flat stage.

He was part of a group that gradually built up an advantage of more than 10 minutes on the field, including Indurain, who appears to be on his way to a fifth consecutive Tour title.

Jalabert broke away from the remnants of the original group with 2.5 miles to go and woneasily.

“It was perhaps suicidal but we succeeded,” Jalabert said. “We made some good fireworks today.”

Italians Massimo Podenzana and Dario Bottaro, no threat in the overall standings, were second and third in the stage, less than a minute behind Jalabert.

Indurain closed the gap enough so Jalabert couldn’t take the overall lead. Indurain finished eighth in the stage, 5:41 behind, in a trio with two other top contenders, Marco Pantani of Italy and Bjarne Riis of Denmark.

Jalabert moved up to third overall behind Indurain and Alex Zulle of Switzerland, who ended up losing 17 seconds to Indurain and is now 2:44 behind. Jalabert is 3:35 behind.

The Tour winds its way south to the Pyrenees, with a rest day on Monday. The race ends July 23 after completing a clockwise loop of 2,254 miles.

Coverage of the Tour de France will be on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” today at 4:30 p.m.