Dan Martin has come through a day of high drama and has even gained time on a couple of men expected to rival him overall (Photo: Sirotti)
Having already attacked descending to win last Saturday’s stage at the Tour de France and gain time and the yellow jersey, Chris Froome has once again surprised his rivals.
The Team Sky leader broke clear with 12km remaining of today’s flat stage 11 with team mate Geraint Thomas and green jersey wearer Peter Sagan and his Tinkoff team mate Maciej Bodnar.
And while they would work hard to gain just six seconds on a large group that almost caught them on the line, Froome was also 2nd on the stage behind Sagan and took 6 bonus seconds for his troubles.
It means he put 12 seconds into his rivals for the yellow jersey and landed another psychological blow.
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Coming home just six seconds after the three breakaway men – with Thomas having been jettisoned – was a group of 37 with most of the overall contenders there including Ireland’s Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep).
Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18) was a further back, coming home at the back of a group just under six minutes down and rolling over the finish line in 188th place.
While he is still at the back end of the field, his modest time loss suggests the first hint of recovery since his stage 1 crash.
And that is despite being belatedly diagnosed with a broken finger on Monday following his spill nine days earlier.
Having been 2nd yesterday from a breakaway of stars, Sagan wins from the same scenario today. Froome looks behind to assess the damage (Photo: Sirotti)
However, on a day when the winds put pay to the sprinters’ plans on the 162.5km stage from Carcassonne to Montpellier one or two of Martin’s rivals – for a top 10 overall rather the podium he is now being touted for – lost out.
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Though he remains 3rd overall and saw the gap to the yellow jersey grow by 12 seconds, Martin benefitted slightly from the split.
Froome remains in yellow and now leads Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) by 28 seconds rather than 16 seconds.
Then comes Martin, who is now 31 seconds down on Froome rather than the 19 he trailed the Briton by this morning.
The gap between Yates in 2nd and Martin in 3rd place remains three seconds.
This morning Nairo Quintana (Movistar) was 4th just four seconds behind Martin and despite the fireworks in the winds of stage 11 he did not lose any time to Martin.
But this morning Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) was in 5th place and he now in 12th, some 1:52 on Froome having finished in the large group 1:03 behind the group that lost six seconds to Froome today.
Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) moves from 6th to 5th place having finished in Martin’s group today. And he remains equal on time with Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Sergio Henao (Team Sky); both of whom also finished in the Dan Martin group today.
However, South African climber Louis Meintjes (Lampre – Merida) was 9th this morning and has fallen to 13th having finished in the group 1:03 down on Martin today.
Another big name that would have been seen as a rival to Martin - at least for a place in the top 10 overall - Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac) also lost 1:03 to the Irishman today.
But those latter names are less likely to challenge Martin if he stays in the contest for the podium, as we believe he will given his form for several months now; they are top 10 contenders rather than obvious podium contenders.
Stage 11: Carcassonne to Montpellier (162.5km)
1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team 3:26:23
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
3 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Tinkoff Team
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha 0:00:06
5 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
6 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
7 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
8 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
9 Sondre Holst Enger (Nor) IAM Cycling
10 Oliver Naesen (Bel) IAM Cycling
11 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
12 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
13 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
14 Daniel Mclay (GBr) Fortuneo - Vital Concept
15 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange
35 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step same time
188 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 0:05:59
General Classification
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 52:34:37
2 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 0:00:28
3 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:31
4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:35
5 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:56
6 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:13
9 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
10 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff Team 0:01:28
11 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:35
12 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:01:52
13 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre - Merida 0:02:10
14 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:02:22
15 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:03:03
192 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 2:29:15
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