The eleventh stage of the Tour de France 2004 led over 164 km from Saint-Flour to Figeac . There were five mountains on the stage: three of the 4th category and one mountain each of the 3rd and 2nd category. There were also two intermediate sprints .
The race started with an attack from Calzati, Moerenhout and Voigt. However, the three were unable to break away decisively and so the leading group was caught again by the field.
Wegmann, Verbrugghe, Mercado, Serrano and Krivstov attacked as the Côte des Ternes rose . But they didn't have a chance either. During the climb, the field split into two groups, but they quickly came together again, also based on the fact that the second group contained the yellow and green jerseys .
Before that, however, García Acosta and Jakob Piil from the first group attacked. But because of the follow-up work by US Postal , they could not get away decisively and were therefore put back. After another unstable race, Moncoutié, Martinez and Flecha were able to pull away decisively and had a maximum advantage of eight minutes.
In the last few kilometers, Moncoutié was able to break away from his fellow competitors and won the stage with ease. Juan Antonio Flecha came in second ahead of Egoi Martínez . In the sprint of the main field, Erik Zabel was second, fifth overall. It was impressive that Moncoutié had already announced its intention to win the stage in advance. He managed another French victory after the triumph of Richard Virusque the day before.
