Tony Gallopin (Lotto Belisol) continued his fantastic Tour de France when he added a win in stage 11 to the yellow jersey he wore in the Vosges two days ago. The Frenchman used a chaotic finally to get clear on his own twice and finally held off the peloton that was led home by a resurgent John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) survived the drama and defended his overall lead.

 

Two days ago Tony Gallopin’s run of success seemed to have ended when he lost the yellow jersey after a brutal day in the Vosges. Having used the rest day to recover from his exploits, however, the Frenchman bounced back with an excellent showing in today’s lumpy stage 11 and took a fantastic solo victory.

 

Gallopin exploited the chaos in the hilly finale when a strong front group had forced Peter Sagan’s Cannondale team on the defensive. When Alessandro De Marchi blew up as Sagan’s final domestique, the pace went down and Gallopin made a smart move.

 

Soloing off the front, he wuickly got a 10-second gap while Sagan started to get nervous. The Slovakian accelerated hard on the descent to the finish and was joined by Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) to form a strong quartet.

 

Unsurprisingly, no one wanted to ride with Sagan and so there was no great cooperation in the group. As the peloton – led by BMC’s Daniel Oss – started to get closer, Gallopin made use of the hesitation to launch his next attack less than 3km from the line.

 

While Kwiatkowski and Rogers looked at Sagan, Gallopin opened up a big gap. Unsurprisingly, the chasers were caught by the peloton but with limited domestique resources left, the sprinters found themselves in a difficult position.

 

Michal Golas did his best to bring Gallopin back and the Lotto rider started to fade. As Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) launched a long sprint, his gap was melting away and the sprinter rapidly approached the lone Frenchman.

 

However, they ran out of metres in their quest to catch Gallopin who had time to celebrate his great solo victory. Less than a second later, a resurgent John Degenkolb easily beat Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) in the sprint for second while a disappointed Sagan could only manage 9th.

 

For Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), the stage was a brutal one. Suffering the effects of two crashes, the American got dropped at the midpoint of the stage and was on the verge of abandoning with 50km to go. However, his sports director Robert Hunter persuaded him to stay in the race and he rode the rest of the race on his own, far behind everyone else.

 

Vincenzo Nibali stayed attentive near the front in the hectic finale and made all the key splits that occurred along the way before finishing safely in the bunch. Hence, he defended his 2.23 lead over Richie Porte (Sky) as he goes into stage 12. It’s another lumpy affair that ends with two long, gradual climbs inside the final 70km before the riders descend down to a finish in Saint-Etienne.

 

A lumpy stage

After yesterday’s rest day, the Tour de France continued with a lumpy stage 11 that brought the riders over 187.5km from Besancon to Oyonnax. After a flat start, the profile gradually got lumpier but the hardest part was saved for the finale as the riders went up four climbs inside the final 60km. The final summit was located just 19.5km from the line and from there it was a mostly downhill run to the finish.

 

The weather in France has completely changed and so the riders finally got the chance to ride under bright sunshine and in hot temperatures. In fact, it was no less than 29.5 degrees at the start in Besancon, making it a complete contrast to what the riders had tackled over the last few days. There was one non-starter as Fabian Cancellara (Trek) had returned to Switzerland to prepare for the World Championships.

 

A fast start

Many riders expected this stage to be a good one for a breakaway and so the race was off to a brutal start. The first rider to launch an attack was one from Garmin-Sharp but his move was quickly neutralized.

 

After 2km of racing, Jerome Pineau (IAM), Gregory Rast (Trek) and Jeremy Roy (FDJ) attacked and they were joined by Dries Devenyns (Giant-Shimano). The quartet managed to build a 10-second advantage but at the 7km mark, their attempt was neutralized.

 

Sagan makes a move

Adam Hansen (Lotto) was the next to try but he too was reined in at the 12km mark. Instead, Sylvain Chavanel (IAM) gave it a try but he had no luck either.

 

After 13km of racing, Peter Sagan (Cannondale) tried a brave solo move and for some time, he dangled 5 seconds ahead of the peloton. At the 17km mark, however, things were back together.

 

The break takes off

While the organizers announced that feeding was allowed earlier than planned due to the hot conditons, the attacking continued. After 26km of racing, Martin Elmiger (IAM) made a move and Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis) and Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne) quickly set off in pursuit.

 

At the 31km mark, Elimger was 10 seconds ahead of his chasers and 30 seconds ahead of the peloton which slowed down. While John Degenkolb (Giant) got medical treatment and André Greipel (Lotto) fought back from a puncture, the escape groups merged and started to build a gap.

 

Cannondale and Orica lead the chase

At the 36km mark, they were 1.30 ahead and then the gap ballooned. After 46km of racing, it was 6.45 but now Orica-GreenEDGE and Cannondale started to chase.

 

Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEDGE), Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Jean-Marc Marino (Cannondale) did the early work and started to gradually reduce the deficit. With 124km to go, the gap was already down to 4.25 and 20km further down the road, it was only 4.25.

 

Greipel wins the sprint

The escapees sprinted for the points in the intermediate sprint, with Lemoine holding off Elmiger and Delaplace. In the pelowon, Europcar took control to set up Bryan Coquard but it was Roy Curvers (Giant-Shimano) who launched a surprise attack.

 

Europcar brought it back together but then André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) launched a long sprint. He easily held off Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Coquard while Sagan didn’t mix it up in the sprint.

 

Talansky drops off

Marino, Viviani and Meier went back to work but the escapees were now riding a bit harder. They reopened their gap to 4.30 and as Marino blew up, Cannondale had to use up Fabio Sabatini.

 

With 83km to go, Talansky was the first rider to get dropped by the peloton while the gap now started to come down. With 56km to go, it was only 2.55 and Talansky was already more than 2 minutes behind the peloton.

 

Garmin take control

Garmin-Sharp took control, with Jack Bauer, Johan Vansummeren and Ramunas Navardauskas setting a brutal pace in the run-in to the climb. The gap was down to 2.10 when the escapees hit the first climb.

 

As Ben King took over the pace-setting, the peloton exploded to pieces and soon after Sebastian Langeveld took over for Garmin. Meanwhile, Delplace fell off the pace in the front group.

 

Bakelants attacks

With 51km to go, Talansky stepped off his bike but Hunter managed to persuade him to continue his fight. The American got back on his bike with tears in his eyes and started a long, hard solo ride to the finish.

 

Alex Howes was the final Garmin rider to take a turn and brough back Delaplace. As soon as the American blew up, the pace went down as Lieuwe Westra moved to the front for Astan and this opened the door for Jan Bakelants (OPQS) to attack.

 

Slagter makes his move

The Belgian was joined by Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) and moments later Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) set off in pursuit. Rein Taaramae (Cofidis), David De La Cruz (NetApp) and Brice Feillu (Bretagne) all tried to join him but failed in their attempt.

 

While Westra set the pace in the peloton, Lemoine was dropped by Elmiger. He fell back to Slagter and Bakelants who had been caught by Roche.

 

Cannondale start to chase

Peter Stetina (BMC) was the next riders to try and while Elmiger crested the summit with a 1-minute lead, Perrig Quemeneur and Pierre Rolland (Europcar) both took off. The latter fell back to the peloton while the former continued on his own.

 

Cannondale again started to chase with De Marchi and were joined by Svein Tuft (Orica). Meanwhile, Lemoine and Slagter had been caught by the chasers and fell back to the peloton.

 

Elmiger waits for his chasers

On the second climb, Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Jesus Herrada (Movistar) attacked and after having used Quemeneur for a little while, they started to get closer to the leader. De Marchi was now the only rider working in the peloton which was 40 seconds behind.

 

Quemeneur and Stetina were caught while Elmiger decided to wait for Bakelants and Roche. With 36km to go, Herrada and Gautier also made the junction to form a front quartet.

 

Gautier attacks

Kristijan Koren was now chasing for Cannondale and as he blew up, Maciej Bodnar, De Marchi and Marco Marcato joined forces with Simon Yates (Orica). The quartet kept the gap stable on the third climb where Elmiger again took maximum points and on the descent they brought it down to 10 seconds.

 

On the final climb, Elmiger got dropped while Gautier launched an attack. Roche joined him but Herrada and Bakelants gradually closed the gap. The work in the peloton was now left to Yates and De Marchi.

 

Roche takes off

Roche attacked on his own and the Irishman quickly got a big gap. Meanwhile, Luke Durbridge had now taken over for Orica and at the top he had maintained a 10-second gap, combing forces with De Marchi.

 

Tony Martin hit the front for OPQS and on the descent, he created a small group with Trentin, Kwiatkowski, Nibali, Valverde, Van Avermaet, Ten Dam and De Marchi. Oss bridged the gap and they caught Roche with 16km to go.

 

Gallopin makes his move

Roche fell off the pace while Sagan managed to bring the group back on a small climb with 14km to go. At this point, Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) started to suffer and he fell off the pace.

 

De Marchi again set the pace for Cannondale but when he took a small breather, Gallopin made his move. De Marchi went back to work and started to bring back the Frenchman while the group split in two on the descent.

 

Sagan, Rogers and Kwiatkowski bridge across

As De Marchi blew up, Michael Rogers took over but as Daniele Bennati had been caught out in the second group, he stopped immediately. Instead, Tanel Kangert set the pace for Astana but this caused the pace to go down and the two groups merged again.

 

On the descent, Sagan and Ion Izagirre got a gap but Kwiatkowski brought them back. Rogers went back to work and he rode so hard that he, Kwiatkowski and Sagan got a gap.

 

The peloton splits

Behind, the peloton split again and Izagirre went straight to the front as Richie Porte had missed the split. Meanwhile, the Sagan trio caught Gallopin.

 

The second group was made up of Izagirre, Fuglsang, Valverde, Nibali, Bardet, Peraud and Van Avermaet but they got caught with 3km to go. Daniel Oss now started to chase for BMC.

There was no cohesion in the front group and Kwiatkowski was the first rider to launch a move. When he failed, Gallopin made his attempt and as the chasers failed to cooperate, he got a big gap.

 

Gallopin fades

The chase trio was caught and a final attack by Rogers didn’t work as Golas was now riding hard for OPQS. He started to get closer to Gallopin who had now passed the flamme rouge.

 

However, Gallopin held off the peloton and even though Van Avermaet tried to do a long sprint, he had enough of a gap. The Frenchman took his first Tour stage victory while Degenkolb had to settle for second.