A
late race attack by Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol) brought him a stage win to go
along with the yellow jersey he wore 2 days earlier. Gallopin had attacked on
the last climb of the day, which was uncategorized and survived all the way to
the finish. He was even able to fend off a chase group that had caught him,
which had included Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma),
and Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo). Vincenzo Nibali retained his yellow jersey
for another day as there was not a change at the top of the general
classification
The
ride of the day has to go to American Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp). He was on
the back of the peloton from the start and got dropped by the peloton with 83km
still to ride to the finish. He soon found himself all alone on the road with
only his director in the team car urging him on. Talansky would go on to finish
the stage over half an hour down on the winner, but he had made the time cute.
He was still in the Tour de France. Only time will tell what tomorrow will
bring him.
Getting in the Break
The
11th stage of the Tour from Besancon to Oyonnax covered 187.5km. Coming
out of the rest day, many riders believed the peloton would be quite relaxed
and allow a breakaway to gain significant time. This would give the riders a
chance to survive all the way to the finish. Many attacks were made and many
were brought back as everyone tried to get into the lead group. It took until
the 28th km into the race before the breakaway of the day was
established. Surprisingly, it was a small group containing only 3 riders, Cyril
Lemoine (Cofidis), Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne Seche-Environnement), and Martin
Elmiger (IAM). All three riders were way down on the general classification so Team
Astana was happy to let them go.
The
three leaders gained a maximum advantage of 6’45” 46km into the race. Due to
the many attacks that began the day, the riders covered 47.5 km in the first
hour of racing alone. Soon Team Cannondale, who fancied Peter Sagan’s chances
with a hilly finale, quickly came to the front to start to bring down the time
gap. At the 100 km to go mark the lead was down to 4’04” and Cannondale was now
getting help from Orica-GreenEdge in chasing down the breakaway. Orica was
clearly fancying Simon Gerrans chances for the stage win. Gerrans must have
been feeling good, having be bothered severely during this year’s Tour by his
high-speed crash on stage one with Mark Cavendish.
Left Behind
At
around the 85km to go mark Andrew Talansky was seen falling off the back of the
peloton. He had been on the back all day, clearly suffering from the many
injuries he had incurred from crashing the previous days before. Many thought
that he was just drifting back to talk to his team car, but quickly it was
realized that was not the case. The man everyone calls “Pit Bull” was having a
bad day. Soon Talansky found himself all alone at the back, the peloton minutes
up the road. Talansky had a team car for company, but abandonment looked
inevitable.
Suddenly, with around 50 km to go
and over six minutes behind a peloton lead by his own team Garmin-Sharp,
Talansky pulled over to the side of the road and got off his bike. Instead of getting
into his team car, he sat down on a guardrail in tears. His team director
Robbie Hunter knelt down and spoke with him for many minutes. Then the
unspeakable happened, Talansky got on his bike and continued on. The spirit of
the Tour de France burned bright inside him.
Hard Racing
Soon
the tough, short finishing climbs were upon the riders. The peloton was closing
fast, only 1’29” back as the riders hit the Cote de Rogna (7.6km, 4.6%). Delaplace
was the first to fall off the pace up front and rejoin the peloton. Lemoine was
the next to go, leaving Elmiger alone out front. At the top of the climb
Elmiger was still solo, but many chase groups had formed in pursuit of the
leader. Up the next climb of the day, the Cote de Choux (1.7km, 6.5%), Nicholas
Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma) had ridden to within 20”
of the leader. The peloton though was not that far away at 1’02”. On the
descent of the Cote de Choux, Roche and Bakelants made the junction with
Elmiger, but more were on the way as Jesus Herrada (Movistar) and Cyril Gautier
(EuropCar) would bridge up to the leaders on the third climb of the day the
Cote de Desertin (3.1km, 5.2%).
Over
the top of the Cote de Desertin there was just 34.5km left to race for the five
leaders, but the peloton was closing fast at a slim 33” behind. The riders flew
down the 10km narrow descent to the final climb of the day the Cote d’Echallon
(3km, 6.6%). As the breakaway hit the bottom of the climb Roche attacked his
companions with just 20km remaining. Roche was clinging to a 30” advantage on
the climb as the Cannondale lead peloton began picking up the remnants of the
breakaway. As Roche charged up the mountain back in the peloton two riders went
down clearly the result of a touch of wheels. The fallen riders were Michele
Scarponi and a Lampre-Merida rider. Both were fine, but they would not rejoin
the peloton.
Atop
the Cote d’Echallon, Roche still clung to 20”, but he still had one more climb
left to go. It was uncategorized, but according to some of the riders who train
in the area the climb was actually quite difficult. Roche was brought back on
the descent of the Cote d’Echallon as the peloton was now lead by Tony Martin
(Omega Pharma). Due to the narrow roads the peloton split on the descent with
Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) the only GC contender caught out. Costa would
ultimately lose 1’36” on the day.
All In for a Stage
Win
The
riders stormed the final climb of the day with just a mere 14km to race. Tony
Gallopin immediately jumped out of the group and got a gap. The team of Peter
Sagan, Cannondale, took over the chase behind in the peloton. The final 10km of
the race were mostly downhill on tight narrow roads. This finish favored a
single rider or small group. On the descent Gallopin held onto just 15” as a
three-man chase group formed off the front of the bunch. It included Michal
Kwiatkowski, Michael Rogers, and Peter Sagan. As the road flattened out with
4km remaining there were now four riders at the front. The chase behind in the
peloton was quite disorganized and it soon became clear the winner would come
from the four up front.
Sagan
was clearly the best sprinter in the group and the others realized this and
soon they began to refuse to work with him. During this hesitation Gallopin
sprung from the group with 2.5km remaining. Kwiatkowski and Rogers looked to
Sagan to chase, but he would have none of it. Inside the final km it became
apparent Gallopin was going to win the stage. Michael Rogers tried a late
pursuit of Gallopin, but he left it too late. Gallopin raised his arms in
victory as the peloton sprinted around him for second place.
As
Tony Gallopin readied himself for the podium Andrew Talansky still had over
20km still to go to the finish. It was touch and go on whether Talansky would
make the time cut, but he ultimately did. In the final km Talansky broke into a
smile as his director told him he would make the time cut. Talansky looked over
and gave a nod to the camera. The spirit of the Tour de France lives on in all
of the cyclists that take part, but today it burned brighter in Talansky.
Stage 11 Results:
Stage Winner: Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol)
Yellow Jersey: Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)
Green Jersey: Peter Sagan (Cannondale)
White Jersey: Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondial)
Polka Dot Jersey: Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha)
No comments :
Post a Comment