Next stage: Stage 12 is the toughest of the three Pyrenees stages with a climb to Plateau de Beille at the end of a 121-mile run from Lannemezan.
Advertisement
Majka, the Polish rider who won two stages of the 2014 Tour as well as the King of the Mountains title, soloed to victory in the 188-kilometre route from Pau, with Irishman Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) second, one minute behind.
Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang was second at 1min 10sec with young Frenchman Romain Bardet third another 40sec back.
Having suffered terribly over the previous two days in the Pyrenees, Italian Nibali had been a shadow of the figure that stormed to victory a year ago, but he was back to his normal self in coming 16th in the same time as Froome. The only way to make it today was to break away.
“I know what that is like for a guy like Chris to be in the middle of the Tour, to deal with the constant questions, which of course he is, and to be fair and to be honest, a lot of that is my fault”, Armstrong told Sky Sports.
“Obviously, right here at the moment, my focus is on the race, but certainly I’m open-minded to potentially doing some physiological testing at some point after the Tour”, he said.
Armstrong was riding a 198km stage of the race a day ahead of the competing riders for a leukemia charity, but cycling officials have branded the exercise “disrespectful”. “I understand there is sensitivity around that, but I’m here helping a group of people in a great cause, I’m going to do that forever”, insisted the creator of the Livestrong cancer foundation.
“They dominated and showed they’re very strong, Froome as much as his teammates”. The mood at the team bus was almost euphoric, a hat-trick of wins in this most mixed of Tours, and Cavendish was in euphoric form in his press conference. Complete standings after 11 stages can be viewed here, while the leaders in general classification are listed below. “After I got his wheel, I sat down”.
“We must leave that to the experts, we’ve given all our data to United Kingdom anti-doping but as we do with blood – the biological passport – why not have a power passport and give it all to the experts and then everything’s clear”, he said.
“It’s just me that’s let them down”.
“There is only a certain amount of opportunities before we get to Paris”, Froome said.
Advertisement
Valverde tried a second time, but Thomas reeled him in before Quintana dug in again. Maybe, he says, it’s time to bring in an independent specialist to test his body and help prove that he’s riding clean. Can he be on the podium like me with Bradley Wiggins in 2012?
