ST11: Tour de France:: Carcassonne – Montpellier (162.5 km)
13/07/2016 / Tour de France
Today stage at Tour de France has been characterized by an incredible wind that made important selection in the peloton and, for sure, obliged all the GC contenders to spend much energies.
One of the most experienced riders of the Tour de France peloton defends the colours of the Astana Pro Team: Paolo Tiralongo, 39 years 17 of which spent as a professional cyclist: "I knew this stage could have been very difficult: I spoke about it with my team mates since many days – explained Tiralongo after the finish – I've ridden many times in this area and I knew the wind is always very strong… As a Team, I think we have ridden pretty well keeping our captain in the front group and avoiding all the falls that involved many riders."
"Since the race route presentation I thought this could have been one of the most dangerous stage for the GC contenders – continued the Italian of the Astana Pro Team – many people were continuing to say that today's stage should have been a 'transfer' stage only: I kept calm my team mates but I continued to warn them about the potential risk of the strong wind, in fact it went as I imagined…"
"Anyway, I think we can be satisfied about today, now we have to focus on tomorrow's uphill finish to Mont Ventoux, even if we will do it just until Chalet Reynard" concluded Tiralongo.
Today stage has been won by the Slovak Peter Sagan who attacked together with his team mate Bodnar, Thomas and the Yellow Jersey, Christopher Froome at 12 km to the finish, ending with 6 seconds of advantage on the first peloton, the one including Fabio Aru and Vincenzo Nibali.
Tomorrow the 12th stage of the Tour de France will start from Montpellier and finish on Mont Ventoux (Chalet Reynard) for 178 km of race. The very difficult uphill finish will probably favour a fight between the best climbers.