Results 11th stage Tour de France 2014
1. Tony Gallopin (fra)
2. John Degenkolb (Ger) s.t.
3. Matteo Trentin (ita) s.t.
4. Daniele Bennati (ita) s.t.
5. Simon Gerrans (aus) s.t.
6. José Joaquin Rojas (spa) s.t.
7. Greg van Avermaet (bel) s.t.
8. Samuel Dumouin (fra) s.t.
9. Peter Sagan (Svk) s.t.
10. Kévin Reza (fra) s.t.
GC after stage 11th stage
1. Vincenzo Nibali (ita)
2. Richie Porte (aus) + 2.23
3. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 2.47
4. Romain Bardet (fra) + 3.01
5. Tony Gallopin (fra) + 3.12
6. Thibaut Pinot (fra) +3.47
7. Tejay van Garderen (USA) + 3.56
8. Jean-Christophe Péraud (fra) + 3.57
9. Bauke Mollema (Nld) + 4.08
10. Jurgen Van den Broeck (bel) + 4.18
Race report
With 2 kilometres done Jérémy Roy, Gregory Rast and Jérôme Pineau decide to give it a go. Dries Devenyns joins them, but too many riders in the pack are eyeing up a result today and after 7 kilometres of racing break 1 is history.
Next ones to try are Adam Hansen, Sylvain Chavanel and Peter Sagan. They each force a small gap before they are caught. The pace is incredibly high.
At 28 kilometres from the start Martin Elmiger opens fire. The Swiss champion is accompanied by Cyril Lemoine and Anthony Delaplace and the three of them go clear and when the first (yet not categorised) hills loom their gain is over 6 minutes. Then Cannondale (in favor of Sagan) and GreenEDGE (for Gerrans) go to the front and the gap starts to melt.
At the ascent of Côte de Rogna, with 50 kilometres left, the reeling in seems to have started en the gap goes down to around 1 minute. Garmin is upfront and at the back sprinters like Greipel and Kittel are dropped. Jan Bakelants attacks and both Slagter and Roche join him. Slagter is dropped and upfront Elmiger soloes on without his companions.
Still on his own at Côte de Choux, Roche and Bakelants join Elmiger at Côte de Désertin. A moment later Hernandez and Gautier makes it five upfront. But the pack is only half a minute behind them.
At the closing climb Côte d’Échallon Roche decides to go solo and his three companions are swallowed by the bunch. Roche crests the hill with a 0’24” gain and in the descent his party is over.
An uncategorised hill is Tony Gallopin’s moment to attack. De Marchi tries to bridge the gap for his leader Sagan, but doesn’t succeed. In the descent Gallopin stays his ground, still he is accompanied by Sagan, Kwiatkowski and Rogers with 4 kilometres left.
In the streets of Oyonnax Gallopin attacks for the secodn time. Het gets another gap, not more than 60 metres, but it’s enough to cross the finish line solo. The gain is nearly nothing and John Degenkolb comes in second at no more than 10 metres. Brilliant performance by former GC leader Gallopin.
Rui Costa is dropped at the closing climb. The woorld champion loses valuable time and disappears from the top-10.
But the most miserable rider today is Andrew Talansky. The winner of Dauphiné Liberé suffers immensely after his crash in stage 7 and finishes at 32’05”.
Tour de France 2014 stage 11: Images and more
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