Peter Sagan was again beaten in a Tour de France stage in which he was the big favourite when Tony Gallopin escaped in the finale to win stage 11. Despite being pleased with his lead in the points competition, the Slovakian is frustrated not to have taken that elusive stage victory after a number of near-misses.

The finale of stage 11 of the Tour de France was almost a repeat of the one that saw Peter Sagan come away empty-handed almost a week earlier in Nancy. Back then Sagan had been on the attack in the finale which had left him with no energy for the sprint.

Today Sagan was again isolated after the final climb and so decided to join the attacks on the final descent. He joined forces with Michael Rogers, Michal Kwiatkowski and Tony Gallopin but as it had been the case five days earlier, his companions refused to cooperate with the superior sprinter.

As a consequence, the escapees started to attack each other and in the end Gallopin got clear to take a solo win. Sagan, Rogers and Kwiatkowski were all caught and again Sagan had no energy left for the sprint and had to settle for 9th.

"It's a pretty strange situation because also today we worked hard to take the victory but in the finale, even if I was in front and in the right position, the win didn't come," he said "I would like to thank my teammates for the great work they did. I wanted to win also to make a present to my girlfriend Katarina, but I gave her only the flowers I received for the green jersey. About this, I'm happy for the advantage I have and the goal now is to defend it until Paris.
 
"I don't think I had different options to play in the finale today. As usually happens, no one works for a sprint if there's a small group and I'm part of it. Nothing to complain about, it's cycling, but of course for me it's always much difficult to win. I was in a good position but I can't catch all the riders that attack. I think I could close the gap also with Gallopin, but then Rogers or Kwiatkowski could attack again. Now I hope to don't suffer from the cold I felt today and to have another chance tomorrow.

"I'm confident. I'll try my best. I'm sick of coming second. But it's difficult every day. Everybody knows me."