With two passes and several severe coasts, the Cauterets stage from Pau was the first real mountain stage. Polish Rafal Majka has offered the victory after an attack placed in the Tourmalet and a beautiful resistance of the finish. the French Julien Simon (Cofidis) and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) were part of the breakaway but could not follow Majka when it increased in pace.
“Unlike most runners, I love the heat and extreme conditions when it is very hot . I was born climber. It was a hard stage but that suited me well placed with the Tourmalet. I did not wait until the last difficulty from the attack because it was not hard enough. That’s why I took the Tourmalet. The following? This may be the polka dot jersey. But it will be difficult because it seems hung on shoulders of Chris Froome. And then I’m mostly here to help my leader, Alberto Contador. “
The Polish Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) has replaced its leader, Spaniard Alberto Contador at the top of the poster of the Tour de France he won the 11th stage Wednesday in Cauterets in the Hautes-Pyrénées. As in 2014 after the premature abandonment fall on Contador, team Majka changed his plans after the delay (about three minutes) accumulated by the Spanish in the first Pyrenean day. The best climber of the Tour in 2014 removed his third stage win in the Tour after his success in Risoul and Saint-Lary-Soulan last year.
Dan Martin Irish ensured second place, with a minute late, four days after having already ranked second in Mûr-de-Bretagne. The third place went to German newcomer Emanuel Buchmann, champion of his country in June. Thomas Voeckler and Julien Simon recover the places of honor (respectively 5th and 6th step).
Majka, who is aged 25, has built its success in the Tourmalet, the most collar often climbed in the Tour’s history. Halfway down, the Pole has distanced his companions (Pauwels, Buchmann, Voeckler, Simon, Morabito, D. Martin) launched a breakaway at more than 100 kilometers from the finish, before Aspin, the first pass of the day . At the summit, the group of favorites reduced to around twenty riders were 5 min 40 sec behind the Poles. With Froome in mind, reinforced by the presence of two teammates (Thomas Gate) for the 41 last kilometers. The gap still grew up near six and a half minutes at the foot of the coast of Cauterets.
No major changes in the overall standings
During the ascent of the Tourmalet, the yellow jersey group, gathering the main favorites of the Tour was created. And again, the French Thibaut Pinot, Jean-Christophe Péraud and Romain Bardet were unable to follow this group. However, Pierre Rolland, Tony Gallopin and Warren Barguil cordoned step in this yellow jersey group.
In the last climb to Cauterets, the heavyweights of the 2015 Tour are fitted to the train. Nobody dared, or could not, Froome attacked and Team Sky. At the high end, the situation remains identical to that of departure from Pau Wednesday morning.
Only the Holandais Bauke Mollema, eleventh this morning, attacked to get a Top 10. The rider of team Trek pulls it off since his attack blew Nibali. Shark of Messina that is other than a tenth of rank … He finds herself thrown of the top ten places in the ranking. A year has quickly forgotten for the winner of the 2014
The stage classification
The general classification
This step including the ascent of the Tourmalet, caused several retirements. Rui Costa (Lampre), Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff), victim of a fall, Dominik Nerz (Bora), Johan Vansummeren and Ben Gastauer (AG2R) have dismounted during the 11th stage of the Tour de France.
No comments:
Post a Comment