Stage 11 – Polish Rider Conquers Tourmalet Stage

Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) rode away from an early breakaway group, beat the peloton over the col du Tourmalet by 5 minutes, and held on to win Stage 11 in the Pyrénées today.  Daniel Martin made a valiant effort to catch Majka and won the Most Combative prize.  Peter Sagan out-pointed André Greipel at the intermediate sprint to retake the Green Jersey, with a current lead of 7 points.

Team Sky shepherded Chris Froome to the line 5:21 behind Majka with almost no change in the GC standings, as the top contenders managed to stay in Froome’s select group.  With late attacks, Bauke Mollema (Trek) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) nibbled a few seconds off their deficits to Froome. 

On the other hand, Astana’s big effort to drop Froome and Team Sky on the Tourmalet backfired on Vincenzo Nibali.  Astana pushed the pace very hard on the lower slopes, but Sky calmly matched the pace.  By the summit, it was Astana that had cracked, and Nibali ended up losing another minute, and dropping out of the top 10.  Mollema, with his 10-second attack at the finish, leap-frogged Nibali into 10^th place. 

With his mountain-top finish in Stage 10 (double climbing points), Froome also claimed the Polka-Dot (King of the Mountains) Jersey.  Majka’s victory today did not qualify for double points, so he's in 3rd place in this category, trailing Froome by 25 points.  Meanwhile, Richie Porte has picked up enough points helping Froome to be in 2nd, and will wear the KOM jersey tomorrow because Froome will still wear the Yellow.

Team Sky’s defensive tactics are perfect for tomorrow’s last stage in the Pyrénées   Sky will gladly allow any unranked riders to push another successful breakaway.  Sooner or later, any ranked GC contenders who hope to threaten Froome will need to attack.  Only five mountain stages remain.  If they just hang with Sky and try to gain a few seconds at the end of each stage (as Mollema and Valverde did today), they will never gain enough to overtake Froome.  But if they launch an aggressive long-range move (as Astana did today), and Sky continues to match their aggression, they risk blowing up and losing time, as Nibali did.  With 10 stages still to go, the Yellow Jersey competition is already looking desperate for the chasers.  In an interview after Stage 11, Van Garderen, in 2^nd place at a deficit of 2:52, sounded very much like he has conceded 1^st place to Froome and is content to just protect his 2^nd place position.  Unless someone else causes Froome to crack, I do not expect Van Garderen to launch any attacks.  A couple more days like today, and only the placements of the also-rans will be at stake.  

Bagnères-de-Bigorre, near the site of TDF 2015 Stage 11's intermediate sprint.  Also the starting point for these climbers' ascent of the Col du Tourmalet in May 2011: Matt Jensen, Aaron Kennard, Nan Kennard and Ashley Jensen.

Early slopes of the Tourmalet.  This is where Astana tried to push the pace, in hopes of dropping Sky and Chris Froome.  (TDF 2015)  The tactic backfired when Astana cracked instead of Sky.  Riders in photo: Ashley Jensen, Matt Jensen and Nan Kennard (May 2011).

Matt Jensen celebrates conquering the Col du Tourmalet (May 2011).  Matt is the founder of North Salt Lake's annual Three Kings Bike Challenge, a worthy test for any would-be climber.

The view at the top of the Col du Tourmalet.  Nan & Aaron Kennard, Matt & Ashley Jensen (May 2011).  (All photos courtesy of Aaron Kennard.)