Peter Sagan won a nervous Stage 11 of the 2016 Tour de France. What could have been an innocuous stage was disrupted by heavy winds. The peloton was strung out for most of the day, splitting and reconfiguring. The most important split came with under 12 kilometers to go, as Sagan popped out of the peloton and dragged the yellow jersey with him.
Chris Froome once again attacked when nobody expected him too. He could have protected his lead and preserved his legs with Mont Ventoux looming. Instead, he took part in a four-man breakaway of Sagan, Froome, Geraint Thomas and Maciej Bodnar. At speeds of more than 70 kilometers per hour, the breakaway steadily increased its gap until the last three kilometers. Froome finished second to take 12 seconds from his rivals thanks to a six-second time bonus.
Tinkoff, working for Peter Sagan, put the hammer down midway through the stage and split the peloton in the crosswind. It quickly closed what had been a long breakaway by Arthur Vichot and Leigh Howard that had a lead of more two minutes at one point.
After a contested intermediate won by Marcel Kittel, a split peloton came back together. Team Sky took its turns at the front, but the pace was driven, successfully, by Tinkoff for Sagan.
Nervous racing and a tight peloton led to a number of crashes, though thankfully there appeared to be no lasting damage. Early in the stage, Thibaut Pinot fell but was able to finish with the main peloton after spending much of the day trying to catch up from behind the split. With 55 kilometers to go, Rafal Majka took a speed bump too fast and face-planted onto the road, but he also appeared to be OK.
Froome has been accused of being a robotic rider. He is disproving those accusations this Tour, now having made two major, seemingly instinctive moves to grasp and solidify possession of the yellow jersey on stages he wouldn't normally select for his attacks. The first was the descent from the Col de Peyresourde that took advantage of a Nairo Quintana water break.
Froome doesn't have an insurmountable lead by time, but his psychological advantage appears sizable. His rivals will be much more wary of his whereabouts on Mont Ventoux on Thursday after being punked twice by the defending Tour de France champion.
Stage 11 top 10:
1. Peter Sagan - 3h 26'23"
2. Chris Froome
3. Maciej Bodnar
4. Alexander Kristoff + 6"
5. Christophe Laporte + 6"
6. Jasper Stuyven + 6"
7. Edvald Boasson Hagen + 6"
8. Andre Greipel + 6"
9. Sondre Enger + 6"
10. Oliver Naesen + 6"
General classification top 10 after Stage 11
1. Chris Froome
2. Adam Yates + 28"
3. Dan Martin + 31"
4. Nairo Quintana + 35"
5. Bauke Mollema + 56"
6. Romain Bardet + 56"
7. Sergio Henao + 56"
8. Alejandro Valverde + 1'13"
9. Tejay van Garderen + 1'13"
10. Roman Kreuziger + 1'28"