Overall: 1. Chris Froome (GBR/Sky) 52hrs 34min 37sec; 2. Adam Yates (GBR/ORI) at 0:28; 3. Daniel Martin (IRL/ETI) 0:31; 4. Nairo Quintana (COL/MOV) 0:35; 5. Bauke Mollema (NED/TRE) 0:56; 6. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 0:56; 7. Sergio Henao (COL/SKY) 0:56; 8. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 1:13; 9. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 1:13; 10. Roman Kreuziger (CZE/TIN) 1:28.
Stage 11: 1. Peter Sagan (SVK/TIN) 3hrs 26min 23sec; 2. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) at 0:00; 3. Maciej Bodnar (POL/TIN) 0:00; 4. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/KAT) 0:06; 5. Christophe Laporte (FRA/COF) 0:06.
Points: 1. Peter Sagan (SVK/TIN) 309 pts; 2. Mark Cavendish (GBR/DDT) 219; 3. Marcel Kittel (GER/ETI) 202.
Mountains: 1. Thibaut Pinot (France / FDJ) 80; 2. Rafal Majka (Poland / Tinkoff) 77; 3. Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands / Giant) 58.
Youth: 1. Adam Yates (Britain / Orica) 52:35:05"; 2. Louis Meintjes (South Africa / Lampre) +1:42"; 3. Warren Barguil (France / Giant) +2:35".
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MONTPELLIER, France // Peter Sagan won the windy 11th stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday after getting in a late four-man breakaway that also included overall leader Chris Froome.
With 12 kilometres remaining in the 162.5km leg from the medieval city of Carcassonne to Montpellier near the Mediterranean coast, Froome and his Sky teammate Geraint Thomas joined the Tinkoff duo of Peter Sagan and Maciej Bodnar in the lead.
Sagan easily won the sprint finish ahead of Froome, while Bodnar crossed third.
Gaining a six-second bonus for his second-place finish, Froome gained 12 seconds on all of his direct rivals who finished in the main peloton six seconds behind.
Aiming for his third Tour title in four years, the bigger gaps also made Froome more comfortable in the yellow jersey ahead of today’s mountaintop finish at Mont Ventoux on Bastille Day.
Froome moved 28 seconds ahead of fellow British rider Adam Yates.
Dan Martin of Ireland is third overall, 31 seconds behind, and two-time runner-up Nairo Quintana of Colombia is fourth, 35 seconds back.
“It was something crazy what happened,” Sagan said.
“Froomey and Geraint came with us and I said ‘We are too strong they are never going to catch us’.
“So we pulled hard and it happened.
“There was a crazy wind and it was not planning to go in break with green and yellow and Geraint and Bodnar.
“You cannot plan that it just happens.”
On paper, the mostly flat stage had appeared to set up well for sprinters.
But with crosswinds of 40 kph sweeping across the road, it developed into a more tactical finish.
It was Sagan’s second victory in this Tour and his sixth career win in cycling’s biggest race.
An early breakaway by French champion Arthur Vichot and Leigh Howard of Australia established a lead of nearly four minutes – before being caught midway through the stage.
At times, the wind split the peloton into several small groups, known as echelons, that swept across the road in fan-like formations.
Even midway through the stage, Froome rode hard at the front of the peloton, perhaps sensing that some of his rivals were having trouble keeping up.
There were several crashes early in the stage, starting with George Bennett of New Zealand and Thibaut Pinot, who has the king of the mountains jersey. After landing in a ditch on the side of the road, both riders were able to get back on their bikes.
At least a dozen other riders also hit the pavement without serious consequence – with wind the likely cause.
Pinot was among the riders dropped by the peloton when the wind was at its fiercest, although he caught up again a bit later.
The next two days are two of the toughest on the Tour.
Today’s stage on the iconic Mont Ventoux has been brought forward by 6km due to high winds, organisers announced after yesterday’s race.
“Given the weather conditions predicted by Meteo France at the Mont Ventoux summit and the fact winds topping 100kmh have been recorded there, Tour organisers have decided to change the finish to the 12th stage in order to guarantee safety,” a statement from Tour organisers read.
The finish has been brought 6km down the mountain to the Reynard Chalet, removing a large part of the toughest climb, usually 21km long, on this year’s race.
Current race leader and reigning champion Froome was one of the first to learn the news.
“It’s the right thing to do for safety. Everyone wants to see a great show but the most important thing for the riders is safety,” said the 31-year-old Briton.
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