July 10/13 12:18 pm - Tour de France - Stage 11

Posted by Editoress on 07/10/13
 

Martin powers to 1st at Mont-Saint-Michel at 54.271km/h!

The time trial world champion has few peers in this discipline. Tony Martin pushed a 58x11 gear on the flat, fast course from Avranches to the stunning stage finish at Le Mont-Saint-Michel and although he was issued a significant challenge for the stage victory by the rider wearing the yellow jersey, the German scored his second stage success in the Tour de France.

On a day when the wind got stronger as the day progressed, no one was certain who would win until the final metres of the stage. No rider was able to surpass Martin's times at any check... not until the arrival of Chris Froome. The rider who finished second in both long time trials on his way to second overall in 2012 beat Martin's time by one second at the 9.5km mark; and Froome was 2.42sec ahead at 22km... which prompted a vacant stare from the German in the hot seat at the finish. He couldn't believe that, despite dominating the others in the peloton, Froome looked as though he might steal what seemed like a certain victory. In the final part of the course, however, the yellow jersey faded ever-so-slightly to finish 11" behind Martin.

In the race for overall honours, we are reminded that there is one dominant force in the 100th Tour: Froome's nearest GC challenger in the time trial was Bauke Mollema who kept his third place on the overall rankings but, with his 11th place, slipped further behind Froome on time: from 1'44" to 3'37". Alejandro Valverde is second but only 12" ahead of his Dutch rival.

The progress report
The 11th stage of the 2013 Tour de France was a 33km time trial from Avranches to Le Mont-Saint-Michel that was contested under bright blue skies and warm conditions. After 10 days of racing in the 100th edition, there are 182 riders left in the race and the first to begin his race against the clock was Dmitriy Murayev (AST) at 10.28am. Riders departed in the reverse order of their position in the general classification, leaving Avranches at two-minute intervals until 3.42pm, the start time for Andrew Talansky – ranked 25th on GC – after that there was three minutes between each rider.

Martin covers the 33km course in 54.271km/h!
The eight-time Canadian time trial champion, Svein Tuft (OGE) was the second starter and he covered the course at an average speed of 52.01km/h to set the early standard. It wasn't until the arrival of Lars Boom (BEL) that anyone challenged Tuft but at 9.5km, Boom was a fraction of a second ahead but he faded in the finale finishing 1'08" behind. Thomas De Gendt beat Tuft's time at 22km and again at the finish but he started just two minutes ahead of the favourite for the stage, Tony Martin (OPQ). The arrival of the TT world champion meant that De Gendt's time was only the fastest for a matter of minutes before being eclipsed by Martin. The German was fastest at every checkpoint: 9.5km in 10'21" (55.072km/h), 22km in 24'42" (53.441km/h) and 33km in 36'29" (54.271km/h).

The wind got stronger as the stage progressed, prompting Cadel Evans (BMC) to ponder if it will “favour late starters for once?" From his five Tour starts, Martin had finished second in two time trials (the prologue and penultimate stage of 2010, behind Cancellara both times) and won one (the penultimate stage in 2011, in Grenoble). Van Garderen started fast, posting the second best time at the 9.5km mark but by 22km, he was 1'40" behind and only 14th best; at the finish he was 34th best (at 3'19"). Michael Kwiatkowski was 1'31" behind Martin while his main rival in the youth classification, Nairo Quintana (MOV) was at 3'28". The Polish rider reclaimed the lead in the category open to riders born after 1 January 1988.

Only Froome close to Martin's time
While no other rider could get within a minute of Martin's time, Froome eclipsed it at the 9.5km mark (by one second) and at 22km (by 2.42sec). Other former TT winners at the Tour weren't even close to victory today: Contador – who won in Annecy in 2009 – was behind by 2'15"; Evans – who won in Albi in 2007 – was behind by 2'30"... but today wasn't about past performances it was a contest between to riders with different ambitions: one wanted to win the stage, the other wants to win the Tour de France. And the TT world champion got his reward at Mont-Saint-Michel: Tony Martin claimed his second stage victory at the Tour de France, this time ahead of the rider in the yellow jersey who finished 11" behind. Everyone else was over a minute behind the Omega Pharma-Quickstep rider.

Peter Sagan came within two places of adding another point to his tally in the green jersey classification but finished 17th, just out of reach of the points awarded for a time trial. The white jersey changed but the yellow remained with the runner-up in the first individual time trial of the 100th Tour de France. Chris Froome now leads Alejandro Valverde by 3'25" and the Sky team leader will wear the yellow jersey in stage 12.

ASO press release

Results from the eleventh stage in France