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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
John Brewin

Tour de France: Geraint Thomas wins stage 11 and takes yellow jersey – as it happened

Geraint Thomas celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the eleventh stage.
Geraint Thomas celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the eleventh stage. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

Here’s what to expect from Thursday. Goodbye for now.

Update: Cavendish finished one hour and five minutes down on Thomas, and like Kittel and Renshaw, his Tour is over for this year, and perhaps for good.

Updated

That concludes an incredible day’s racing, and especially on that final climb to La Rosière, which will surely host another stage soon after a fine inauguration. Back tomorrow for the small matter of Alpe D’Huez. What next for the Sky Train?

Marcel Kittel has joined Mark Cavendish in being outside the time limit and thus out of Le Tour. Cav yet to finish while Mark Renshaw, his right-hand man is also out. Arnaud Demare made it by three minutes. That stage was brutal from the start and no friend to the sprinters. Its short length concertina-ed the pack.

Updated

Chris Froome, in second behind Thomas but now odds-on for his fifth yellow jersey, speaks.

Amazing position for us, I don’t think we quite expected that. I think we thought Alpe D’Huez would be the decisive stage. It may well still be. It was a spur of the moment thing. It made sense. It was the right thing for G to go. I let the wheel go; it was for the others to chase. (On Dan Martin) I was surprised I was the only one on his wheel. The main threat is Tom Dumoulin. He rode a very impressive stage. I suppose it depends on how tomorrow rides.

Updated

Bad, bad news for Cav. He’s still out there, though it is said he intends to finish the stage.

The combativity prize was won by Alejandro Valverde, whose ride up the middle climbs blew the stage open, but Quintana and Landa, his team-mates, could not respond on the final summit, even when Team Sky had burned all their matches. How that didn’t go to Tom Dumoulin would be a fair question. It was solo, suicide stuff from him and he has put himself into third with that ride.

For the King of the Mountain points, Barguil’s blow-up on the final climb means Alaphilippe stays in the lead, despite his own collapse. The betting is Barguil comes back for more.

Latest estimates place Mark Cavendish at 45 minutes back and this footage suggests the race is over for him. So alone, oh dear.

Here's our report.

A piece from Jeremy Whittle will follow later.

Thomas speaks.

It’s unreal. I didn’t expect it at all. We were low on numbers. It was more instinct. We had a gap and Froomey could follow; I was able to sit on Dumoulin. He’s a good mate, Frostie (Nieve) but I had to go for the win as I am nice like that. I knew there was a good chance. To wear the yellow jersey is a massive honour and to it three years in a row is pretty nice…I rode really well.

Geraint Thomas celebrates on the podium, wearing yellow.
Geraint Thomas celebrates on the podium, wearing yellow. Photograph: Stephane Mahe/Reuters

Updated

Here’s those GC standings. 1-2 for Sky.

These tweets tell the amazing story of those closing metres.

And this. Quite the celebration from Thomas.

Updated

Poor Nieve, having been given the shock of his life by Thomas, was beaten by the chasers. Tom Dumoulin got ahead of Froome at the finish line to take the second place and bonus seconds.

Thomas won the stage by 20 seconds, according to the early calculations.

Updated

That fooled the TV cameras, Thomas rode with shades of Stephen Roche and Pedro Delgado in 1987, but this time he won the actual stage.

Geraint Thomas takes the stage and is in yellow!

Thomas makes it past Nieve, who probably thought he had the stage. What a ride! He takes the stage and the yellow jersey.

Geraint Thomas celebrates as he crosses the finish line.
Geraint Thomas celebrates as he crosses the finish line. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Froome looks positively superhuman as Martin is swatted away but Thomas shoots off the front of Dumoulin. This is awesome from Sky.

Updated

Thomas glued to Dumoulin’s wheel, while Froome and Martin are nine seconds behind. The rest trailing in the wake.

Nieve’s lead is dropping down. Dumoulin is having to lead Thomas out, while Froome’s form is clearly in good nick. This looks to be the day when Sky seize the Tour. Dumoulin will be their only threat.

Three km to go for the leader, Nieve, but the action is with Thomas, who is 29 seconds behind, and sat off Dumoulin. Froome and Martin have burned off Quintana and co, and it looks like a Sky 1-2 is where the GC will lie at the end of the day.

Froome has gone clear of Quintana and Bardet, with Dan Martin helping him go clear. The chasers try to work as a group but Froome and Martin are well clear. There are 24 seconds between Thomas and Froome.

Froome is pulling favourites with him as Thomas escapes. Thomas has made his way all the way to Dumoulin, as the stage reaches a flat stage.

Now Froome commits. Quintana and Bardet follow him up there. He slows off. Thomas is flying up there while they play games.

Here goes Thomas off the front! He has a dig on a climb he knows from winning the Dauphine. Brave stuff. Froome stays with the rest before trying to peg back Bardet.

Alex Hayes emails in: “Following the tour live feed eagerly from work. Can we have some info on how the other Movistar riders are looking? Quintana and Landa in the peloton or hanging out the back?”

They are in the pack. But like Froome and Thomas, they are well covered up.

Kwiatkowski, Sky’s leader up the climb, looks to be out of petrol and swiftly loses his place. Can Egan Bernal step in for him? No, he pegs out before his Polish colleague does/ Is it time for Thomas and Froome to make their play and try and limit losses to Dumoulin? He is time-trialling his way up the final climb, which does flatten for a couple of clicks before a ramp finish beckons.

Updated

Valverde goes out the back of the peloton, job done for him, while Dumoulin, lonesome ahead, forges on. He will collect some GC seconds if he can keep this up.

Have to agree.

Back in the field, Dumoulin has dispensed with the utterly unhelpful Valverde, while Yates’ demise is confirmed at the back of the peloton. Valverde’s slowdown and drop back to the group means Geraint Thomas will be in yellow. Up the road, Mikel Nieve has gone away from the front as soon as the Cofidis pair got in touch with the leading trio. Barguil looks buried but will have polka to comfort himself.

Ten km to go to the top for the leading group, which is 2’ 14” clear and has a slight chance of staying away. Barguil, Nieve and Caruso’s dream of stage win dwindling, perhaps, with two Cofidis riders set to join them in Navarro and Perez. Meanwhile, Dumoulin’s requests for Valverde to do a turn are denied; Quintana and Landa are sat behind him.


Oh dear, poor Cav. It looks to be over for him. He is way behind the grupetto.

Updated

Dumoulin and Valverde in concert now, both having shed their domestiques. Neither of them offering much to the other in terms of pace-making.

Adam Yates looks to have been dropped, having run out of team-mates. That ended up being the problem for twin brother Simon in the Giro, and Le Tour is much, much harder, with stronger teams.

Updated

Adrian Gentry emails in: “What is the largest number of riders that can be eliminated on the time difference from the leader? You mentioned the speed of the stage is bad news for Cav and Co but how many riders can fall victim to a cut off?”

If it’s over 20 percent of the field, then a pass is given. There were 176 riders and 11 have dropped out, I believe, which makes 165. That means 33 in the autobus.

Dumoulin and Valverde, just a hairpin bend apart, join forces. A Dutch-Spanish alliance is surely in the offing. Team Sky have been caught napping. Only three drones to carry Froome and Thomas up the final climb now - Jonathan Castroviejo, Michał Kwiatkowski and Wout Poels.

The final climb of the day, La Rosiére, is here. It’s not the steepest but it is unknown territory for the Tour. The news is that Tom Dumloulin won 30 seconds on the peloton. He is chasing Valverde now, perhaps for some collaboration. Team Sky have been patient, though there is a suggestion that something on the descent allowed Dumoulin to get away.

James Dillon reports in from Manchester: “Enjoying the updates and comments on the live feed. I find it strange that everyone moans about Sky controlling a race, Froome seeming expectant to win etc. Surely it’s up to others to go on a wild old school solo attack in that case and try and disrupt things? Surely better to blow up giving it your all and die trying than to sit and conform and not try at all?”

I suppose podium places are considered important. They don’t quite do win or bust in the Grand Tours. Sponsors to think, maybe.

Frank, looking somewhat ginger, is passed by Valverde and Soler, and Valverde is still in virtual yellow after a slight wobble from the Tour clock that had the gap to the peloton down to ten seconds. Meanwhile, Tom Dumoulin has powered ahead of the main group on the descent with a Sunweb team-mate. They have escaped Sky for now.

Updated

There has been a crash in the front group. And it looks a very nasty one. Mathias Frank of AG2R has gone over the barrier. There is the worrying sight of his bike, but him not being in the picture. Thankfully, the news from Race Radio is that he is back up.

The pack descends en masse with Team Sky able to reclaim the front of the peloton. The speed of this stage is looking bad news for Cav and Co in the grupetto.

More from the supermarket sweep. Barguil will be in polka tonight.

Updated

It looks wonderful out there today.

Could Cav, who has had a poor Tour, be about to fall outside the time limit. He was dropped very early on. As so often in this race, safety in numbers are required.

Over the top Barguil and co go, with the Breton raider taking maximum points, while Valverde and Soler are giving chase. Valverde is in virtual yellow, and has around a minute on the peloton.

Updated

Sean Perry emails in: “Following the Tour de France whilst watching it on Eurosport (in Italian, where they only talk up Nibaili) provides great balance, and the much needed humour. Especially enjoying today’s stages as I shall be cycling these climbs in 6 weeks for le Cure 2018. Mind you, not so sure that’s a good thing....”

Good luck with that, Sean. Question is, what are they saying about Nibali?

Updated

Poor Alaphilippe has dropped back to the peloton, having failed to repeat yesterday’s heroics, and will win no more mountain points. Barguil could be back in polka by the end of today, with his Fortuneo–Samsic oppos around him. The gaps between the leaders and peloton is back at 3’ 36” and dropping with 40km to go. It’s beginning to look like the GC favourites will be duking it out at the final finish.

Alaphilippe drops back to the peloton.
Alaphilippe drops back to the peloton. Photograph: Tim de Waele/Getty Images

Updated

What’s this? Nibali reveals himself at last, as his Bahrain-Merida team-mates try to put the hammer down on Sky. Wout Poels looks to be struggling. There isn’t the collaboration mentioned earlier but there does seem to be a series of concerted efforts to crack them, but Froome has six team-mates around him.

Robert Curtis emails in. “First time watching the Tour. I have to say, as I watch, I am also following your live updates and dying. You’re absolutely the best thing to read in sports right now. Thank you. (Shucks) I wonder, what is the likelihood of someone like Adam Yates, who has been right there with Froome this whole tour, pulling out ahead? You rarely talk about him but he’s been right there with the favored golden boy and honestly, I’m tired of hearing about Froome like he’s already got this in the bag.”

Fair comment, and Yates is riding well, but a small vignette just there reveals his problem; he had to drop to the back of the peloton to grab a battle as he is out of Mitchelton-Scott team-mates.

Froome, who has done little so far in this Tour, has numbers around him, bag men to do his bidding.

To the third climb of the day we go, the Cormet de Roselende, a regular on Le Tour, and a short, sharp Cat 2 climb. This is where Sky, judging by Geraint Thomas this morning, felt the big move would come but Valverde and Movistar have beaten them to the punch.

On the TV over here during Le Tour, they play an advert with this from Kraftwerk as the music. If you ever get to see them live (as I have a few times, go if you can), this is pretty much the video that accompanies this song. Not quite as famous as 1983’s electro classic original but a great tune. And, yes, they are actually playing live, unless the computer malfunctions are pre-programmed.

Tour de France 2003

Those mountain points in full.

The game is very much afoot.

Andrew Benton has some thoughts on inter-mural collaboration. “Teams ganging up would mean they turn them into cartels. Sure, Sky seems to have a monopoly on victory, but that looks not permitted, and certainly can’t be the done thing in this day and age. On the other hand, only a few teams need a kamikaze rider to take out one Sky rider on a dodgy descent and they’d be finished. Accidentally on purpose, of course.”

50km to go and Soler and Valverde are now together, with the younger man - 24 as compared to 38 - doing the pacing. At the top of the mountain, Barguil takes 20 points and begins his descent to the next one.

Paul Prowse emails in. “Further to your preamble comments… Perhaps we could coin Pulis-wheel as a more apt description of Sky’s approach, christ it’s dull…”

Maybe it might come apart today, but despite Luke Rowe’s departure from the main group, they are still in control. Sky have gone for it now, with plenty of cards to play. which spells big trouble for the rest.

The breakaway is 5’ 11” clear but Valverde is forging on, with Marc Soler, his team-mate and winner of Paris-Nice, up ahead to work with. Could this be a day Valverde rides himself into yellow? He has taken 30 seconds on the peloton, and if Sky’s plan was to put Thomas as the dauphin in yellow to keep warm for Froome, then Movistar might have the same idea with Valverde and Quintana. The big news up ahead is that Alaphilippe has cracked, and is losing time and mountain point to Barguil. After yesterday, that’s no surprise.

Alejandro Valverde goes off the front of the peloton. Is this an attempt to try and de-elasticate the peloton by breaking the rhythm so that Quintana can seize on weaknesses? Not at the moment, since nobody goes with the Movistar veteran, who blows past Peter Sagan, whose green iersey is now open. Quite an effort from Sagan, who could have been forgiven for sitting up.

CYSagan at the back of the pack.
CYSagan at the back of the pack. Photograph: Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Rigoberto Uran, who lost time yesterday, is again struggling. Hugely disappointing tour from him. Movistar still trying to set up Quintana but down to two domestiques, one of whom is Mikel Landa.

Gary Naylor again: “Re French roads, even without a border, on a motorcycle you’re never in any doubt that you’ve entered Italy. Your teeth start rattling.”

The yellow jersey is set to change hands

And, yes, Rowe has gone out the back of the peloton, as Movistar take up the pace and perhaps see a chance to take the race to Froome and Thomas. Mikel Landa is at the forefront for the Spanish team. Perhaps Quintana and Valverde want to test Froome’s form. The yellow jersey, Greg Van Avermaet, is in bad trouble and will surely lose his leadership by the end of the day. There will be a shake-up, but how much of one?

Updated

Back in the pack, Sky have actually let loose the leash, which suggests team captain Luke Rowe might be out of gas, but the peloton is slowing up. This all adds up to race of two groups. The leading group are forging on, with Team Fortuneo - Samsic, who have support for Barguil, looking after their main man. Tejay van Garderen is now struggling in that group.

Shane McMenamin asks: “What stops strong riders in the mountains like Alaphilippe or Barguil being GC contenders?”

A simple answer would be consistency, time trialling and the team around them. Barguil actually admitted he was going to lose time so he could win a stage or two, which seems a little disappointing since as a fellow Breton, he was once hailed as a new Hinault. He prefers his Playstation to the monastic life of a GC contender, it seems.

As for Alaphilippe, he would appear to have huge potential, and won Flèche Wallonne this year, again suggesting he is a one-day man. Maybe this is the ride he announces himself as a future GC contender.

Both began the day a long way down - Barguil at 11’ 50” and Alaphilippe at 12’ 05” - so the main teams will let them get away.

The breakaway group eventually came back together, with a gap of 5’ 52”.

Sammy Jackson DMs in: “Hi John, what position is Damiano Caruso in?”
Good news, he is in the lead group.

Here comes the Col du Pré with 60km or so to go, and back in the pack, the Sky train is already blowing a few people to the back, mostly those who were in the early break.

Updated

Jacob emails in: “For anyone who has not cycled on french roads, i would like to point out that; almost without exception, they are beautiful butter smooth things of great joy for the cyclist.”

Even the mountains?

Alaphlippe, Barguil and Thomas De Gendt opened up a big lead on the rest of the leaders when surging down the mountain.

Alex emails in. “John, it may look slow, but Sky are steaming up the mountains at such as pace, no other team can shake it up. They might get over the first climb ahead, but are shattered for the climbs ahead. That’s why Sky win so much.”

He’s right, of course.

Here’s a French supermarket giving the results from the Bisanne climb.

The peloton reaches the top of the Bisanne, as the leaders speed away on the descent. Sky fully in control with Chris Froome mob-handed. Perhaps our next climb, the Col du Pré, will see some GC fireworks.

Here’s footage of our first summit climb of the day.

Stephanie DMs on Twitter (they are open): “Hi, did Lawson Craddock start stage 11?

He did, and he is in the main peloton. Heroic stuff for someone with a broken scapula.

Now 5’ 23” clear of the peloton, the leaders race on to take the mountain points. Alaphilippe extends his points lead, and Barguil, last year’s mountains winner, takes second, and that could be a battle to look out for during the rest of the Tour. Rein Taarmae, in second in the classification before today, could not go with them.

More from Gary Naylor: “Stage after stage, the GC teams allow Sky to control the race in the delusion that they will crack. Can’t 2 or 3 get together and form an ad hoc alliance for a few days and put Sky into the red early on? Cycling used to be full of such deals and was better for it.”

Yes, memories of Robert Millar and Stephen Roche sticking together in the 1987 Giro (plus others), and in the 1986 Vuelta, Spanish teams ganging up on Millar to deny him the Vuelta. Good skulduggery in those days.

Metatone replies to Our Gaz: “Also find it bizarre that Movistar have 3 “big guns” but never wheel them out...”

Another good point.

In that main group of GC contenders, both Movistar, of Nairo Quintana, and Vincenzo Nibali’s Bahrain team are letting Sky take the strain.

The leading trio just ahead of a group of pursuers are Barguil, Alaphilippe and Tejay van Garderen. They failed to escape, and will now let the rest catch them up. Safety in numbers at this stage of the race; there are 85km or so to go.

This is a brutal climb to begin the day with. The breakaway is 4’ 15” or so clear of a peloton that is dwindling in numbers. Sprinters are being spat to the back, including Marcel Kittel.

The actual Gary Naylor has tweeted in. “These short stages are analogous to Twenty20 cricket - spectacular, but the canvas is too small. Stages like Pantani’s win at Les Deux Alpes in 1998 need the ebb and flow of valley roads and not just the punch and attack of mountain terrain to be truly epic.”

Oof! Alaphilippe nearly came a cropper when the neutral car almost cut him up on the narrow track that passes for a road in this part of the Alps. The Frenchman was not at all impressed and shook his head in the dismissive manner so often seen on the streets of London.

Mark Cavendish already dropped off the peloton and surely headed for the grupetto. Demare is back there too.

Neil Grunshaw sends in another of his excellent animated gifs, staying on the subject of Alaphilippe. His Twitter page is well worth a follow.

Updated

Luke Rowe is leading Team Sky’s tempo up this climb with the yellow jersey. The sprinters who headed up the hill for the intermediate are dropping off. Sagan has gone, and Warren Barguil, one of the great enigmas of cycling, is leading the group at the top of the course. Alaphilippe clearly wants to keep the King of the Mountains jersey, and is pursuing the pack.

Here’s where those hard yards begin with that climb to Bisanne, just the 12.4km to deal with. It’s a hellish start to the climbs, and just the second time it has appeared in the Tour during 2016’s ride to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc, as won by Romain Bardet. France’s great hope, who has not been in good nick so far, can only dream of being in such form at the moment. He is 4’ 11” off the lead, and about 1’ 40” behind Geraint Thomas.

Real head of steam from the Sagan group, who are pushing up to 2 minutes clear, and Sagan takes in the intermediate sprint. The man in green does not sit up, even if his job is done for the day, and is now helping out his compadres in the breakaway.

We are already under 100km to go, though none of those km are easy km.

The first group have 20 seconds on a chasing group including Alaphilippe and Philippe Gilbert, with the peloton around 40 second behind. A few wildcat attacks off the front of the top group.

About 20 riders clear at the moment, including Sagan, with a tailwind behind them. Team Sky meanwhile already making the pace in the peloton.

Tweet comes in....

Here’s an interview with the same girl 25 years on.

Severine du Peloux.

Updated

Sagan is right to the forefront and Alaphilippe is with him. Damiano Caruso of BMC takes it out from the start.

The riders hit the départ réel and many of the sprinters are at the front. There is an intermediate sprint at 11km in. A mechanical in the pack slightly delays kilometre zero and the flag drop before Christian Prudhomme waves them away. They go from the gun.

We begin at Albertville, the site of the 1992 Winter Olympics, where Tonya Harding performed to this dainty number and finished sixth, behind Nancy Kerrigan in bronze. Tonya worked on a plan for next time around.

Tonya Harding in 1994.

By far the best racing of yesterday came in La Course, with a truly thrilling finish. Here’s the excellent Jeremy Whittle on the context it can be placed in.

The stage is only 108.5 km (67 miles), the second shortest non-time trial stage of the Tour. Geraint Thomas, speaking on TV just there, suggested the attacks will begin on the first climb, though the expectation is that the penultimate climb, a category two to the Cormet de Roselend, is where the fireworks begin. The first two climbs are hors catégorie with the final climb a category one.

The riders head through the streets Albertville.
The riders head through the streets Albertville. Photograph: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Updated

The Critérium du Dauphiné, the warm-up race for the big one, visited today’s summit finish, the first of the Tour. La Rosière has never hosted Le Tour before and it looks...gruelling.

Updated

Preamble

In terms of an intro to the mountains, yesterday’s stage managed to both thrilling and a little disappointing. Up the front, Julian Alaphilippe rode a spectacular stage, and could have rolled a cigarette and quaffed champagne on the final few kilometres, such was the gap to the rest. And Greg Van Avermaet showed guts and initiative in going with the breakaway to extend his lead. Not bad for a one-day classic puncheur rider.

Behind all that jazz, Team Sky locked down the GC contenders with a display of defensive might that Didier Deschamps and Jose Mourinho would probably appreciate. Van Avermaet’s adventures stopped Geraint Thomas’ challenge for yellow in its tracks and it will take a fairly spectacular if not impossible crack from the Belgian leader for “G” to claim his prize. It may not be long until Thomas has to accept the role of dutiful servant to Chris Froome, from whom we are to see anything much than a series of minor crashes, dodgy mechanics and wobbles. Then again, we saw each of those in the Giro and look what happened there. And we also know very little about Nairo Quintana, Vincenzo Nibali and Adam Yates’ form, too, with luckless Richie Porte already abandoned.

Is this a day to splinter the pack? It may well be that powder is kept dry for Alpe D’Huez which follows on Thursday, but the finish up La Rosière could sort les homme from les enfants, though another breakaway is likely.

GC standings here after stage 10

1. Greg van Avermaet (Bel/BMC Racing) 40hrs 34mins 28secs

2. Geraint Thomas (GB/Team Sky) +2mins 22secs

3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +3mins 10secs

4. Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Astana) +3mins 12secs

5. Bob Jungels (Lux/Quick-Step Floors) +3mins 20secs

6. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) +3mins 21secs

7. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) same time

8. Mikel Landa (Spa/Movistar)

9. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Bahrain-Merida) +3mins 27secs

10. Primoz Roglic (Slo/LottoNL-Jumbo) +3mins 36secs

And here’s our stage 11 graphical guide.

Stage 11

Updated

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