Cycling: The eleventh stage of the Tour de France became a show of force by Team Sky. Geraint Thomas attacked on the final climb, left all his competitors standing and even sprinted past the breakaway Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) on the home stretch. Geraint Thomas not only celebrates the stage victory, but also the assumption of the yellow jersey. Behind them, Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) secured second place ahead of Chris Froome (Sky) with an early attack. The big loser of the day is Team Movistar, who risked a lot but also lost a lot.
Mountain jersey: duel between Julian Alaphilippe & Warren Barguil
Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) has followed his yesterday's stage win done a lot today. The 26-year-old was again part of the leading group on the 108,5-kilometer stage from Albertville to La Rosière. Together with a few other strong drivers, he formed the Tête de la Course before the Montée de Bisanne. Driving in a mountain jersey, he secured the maximum number of points Warren Barguil (Fortuneo Samsic) and thomas degendt (Lotto Soudal). Before that, well over 30 professionals had left the field in order to have a head start on the first climb. So was allowed Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) get another 20 points in the sprint classification. As we climbed the Col du Pré, not only did the huge lead group disintegrate, but something was also to happen in the peloton. Sky withdrew from the lead work and asked Movistar for the follow-up work - and the Spanish team knew how to answer.
Movistar provokes Sky: Alejandro Valverde attacks early
Movistar took over the pace work at the foot of the Col du Pré. However, this was only a short-term compromise with Sky. Because more than 55 kilometers from the finish, suddenly shot Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) past all. The Spaniard forced Sky to work on the pace again. While he himself extended his lead, well-known drivers fell out of the peloton due to the increased speed. After Rigoberto Urán (EF Education), greg van avermaet (BMC) and Build Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) could too Rafal Mayka (Bora-hansgrohe) no longer follow. Meanwhile let Marc Soler (Movistar) fall back from the top flight to support his captain Alejandro Valverde - the classic Realais station. At the summit he already had a lead of over a minute on the peloton. The mountain classification was secured - as later at the Cormet de Roselend - Warren Barguil. His Fortuneo-Samsic team previously distanced themselves Julian Alaphilippe the biggest competitors. In the peloton, Sky got support from Bahrain-Merida.
Sensation! Valverde and Movistar break with the sky regime. Sea of graag! 👏🏻#TDF2018 pic.twitter.com/FFdQxBXoXW
— Ingmar Bos (@IngmarBoss) July 18, 2018
Geraint Thomas attacks...
In the descent of the Cormet de Roselend it was not Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) who tried to attack, but Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb). In tow he was teammate Soren Kragh Andersen up to Alejandro Valverde drove up. But Dumoulin got no help from Valverde. The Spaniard was floored and was caught up and passed by Sky shortly afterwards. The high pace in the peloton also had to Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) pay tribute. When the last two Sky helpers, Egan Bernal and Michal Kwiatkowski, lost their lead, they attacked Geraint Thomas.
... and Chris Froome follows
The entire favorites group immediately exploded. Then drove Chris Froome together with Daniel Martin of it, before he also left the Irish. Thomas immediately went on the offensive again and again didn't give Dumoulin a chance. Thomas sprinted the last 500 meters towards the finish and even started Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) who turned out to be the strongest escape and already looked like the certain winner. In the fight for second place, Froome left the brave fighting Tom Dumoulin rank two. As a result, Team Sky has taken a comfortable position in the overall standings. Numerous ranking riders were distanced, while they can now come up with two riders who seem to be easily superior to the competition. We can be curious how Movistar and Co. will answer tomorrow up to Alpe d'Huez.
Geraint Thomas (Sky) fait coup double ! Le Gallois s'impose à La Rosière et s'empare du maillot jaune #TDF2018 pic.twitter.com/BxmkKN0Mxa
— Eurosport.fr (@Eurosport_FR) July 18, 2018