Stage 11
- Wow, today had some tough climbs. 4 cat. 1 climbs and 1 HC.
- The peloton was again riding fast and lost riders out the back for much of the stage.
- With 6km for the 4th climb of the day, T-Mobile swamped the AG2R riders at the head of the yellow jersey’s group. It thinned out to only 16 riders. (Azevedo, Sastre, Schleck, Rogers, Kloden, Moreau, Boogerd, Rasmussen, Toschnig, Leipheimer, Fothen, Evans, Landis, Zubeldia, Parra, Arroyo and Cunego and Simoni). This group had slowly dropped all the other riders in the peloton. They all joined a group behind.
- The only real attack of this group of 16 came from Leipheimer; this caused Sastre and Evans to lose contact 2.5km from the finish. Menchov burst into the lead with 250 meters to go and won his first Tour de France stage.
Skipping toward the end of the stage...
- Rasmussen set the tempo in the valley between the 4th and 5th climbs
The top 5 in the stage is:
1. Denis Menchov (RUS - RAB)
2. Levi Leipheimer (USA - GST) at st
3. Floyd Landis (USA - PHO) at st
4. Cadel Evans (AUS - DVL) at 17"
5. Carlos Sastre (ESP - CSC) at 17
Standings:
GC leader: Floyd Landis
Points Leader: Robbie McEwen
Climbing Leader: David De La Fuente
Youth Leader: Marcus Fothen
Team Leading: T-Mobile