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2018 Tour de France: Stage 11 Results

  • Ron 

As expected, the brutal alpine climbs of Stage 11 of the 2018 Tour de France have upended the General Classification standings. Geraint Thomas of Team Sky took the stage win and the yellow jersey with a well timed attack in the final kilometer.

The stage started in the Winter Olympic town of Albertville, and the riders headed straight uphill out of the grande depart, tackling the hors categorie Montee de Bisanne right from the start.

The first attack went early, with Romain Sicard, Peter Sagan, Dani Navarro, Damiano Caruso and Warren Barguil going clear. Sagan nabbed the intermediate sprint points at km 20 before returning to the peloton.

There’s a huge chase group behind the leaders, but two more riders come across, making it eight riders in the lead 6km before the top: Romain Sicard (Direct Energie), Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step), Damiano Caruso and Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Warren Barguil (Fortuneo), Pawel Poljanski (Bora), Anthony Perez and Dani Navarro (Cofidis).

Alaphilippe takes the first KOM points opportunity.

With 59km remaining, the group at front grew considerably in size with 31 riders holding a six minute advantage over the peloton. Race leader Greg Van Avermaet was well of the back of the peloton by this point, making Serge Pauwels the virtual yellow.

Over the Cormet de Roseland, Alejandro Valverde surged, briefly moving into the virutal lead before it was taken over by Geraint Thomas with the final climb remaining.

Team Sky raised the pace to try and put Geraint Thomas back in contention, but meanwhile, it was Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-SCOTT) that went clear with 9km to go. The peloton, with Greg Van Avermaet still in place, trailed by 1’35”.

Not content to let Nieve go alone, Geraint Thomas attacked with 5.5 km to go. Romain Bardet, Tom Dumoulin, Chris Froome and Dan Martin all countered, leaving Dumoulin and Thomas 30 seconds back from Nieve with 3km to go.

Nieve still led with 2km remaining. Dumoulin and Thomas trailed by 20 seconds with Froome and Martin another 15 seconds back.

Nieve crosses la flamme rouge with a small gap, but Chris Froome pours it on, leaving Martin behind. Geraint Thomas upped the pace as well passing Nieve just before the line to take the win and the yellow jersey.

2018 Tour de France Stage 11 Brief Results:

  1. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) 3h29’36”
  2. Tom Dumolulin (Sunweb) at 20″
  3. Chris Froome (Team Sky) s.t.
  4. Damiano Caruso (BMC) s.t.
  5. Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-SCOTT) at 22″
  6. Daniel Martin (UAE) at 27″
  7. Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) at 57″
  8. Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) at 59″
  9. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) s.t.
  10. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) s.t.

General Classification After Stage 11:

  1. Geraint Thomas (Sky) at 44h06’16”
  2. Chris Froome (Sky) at 1’25”
  3. Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) at 1’44”
  4. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) at 2’14”
  5. Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) at 2’23”
  6. Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) at 2’40”
  7. Mikel Landa (Movistar) at 2’56”
  8. Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) at 2’58”
  9. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) at 3’16”
  10. Daniel Martin (UAE) s.t.

 

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