The 11th stage of the Tour de France 2011 on July 13th led over 167.5 kilometers from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur . There was a sprint classification on the stage, as well as a mountain classification in the 3rd and 4th category. 177 of the 198 registered drivers started.
The race pace was initially quite high in light rain, which prevented successful escape attempts. It was only after about 13 kilometers that a group could break away, which was once again initiated by Mickaël Delage . To him included Rubén Pérez , Lars Boom , Andriy Hrivko , Tristan Valentin and Jimmy Engoulvent on. On the first ascent, Boom reached the two mountain points before Hrywko. After the climb, the maximum lead of over four minutes was achieved.
Meanwhile, two HTC drivers stretched out in front of the field, behind them the Europcar team formed . The sprint classification was first crossed by Delage, in the field Mark Cavendish prevailed again against his competitors. Due to the tailwind, the pace of the field was very high again, which also reduced the lead of the breakaway again. In addition to the HTC team , other teams subsequently led the field. The second mountain classification of the day was won again by Delage.
After it had been dry in the meantime, heavy rain set in again before the final. Boom and Hrywko increased the pace of the breakaway group a few kilometers from the finish, but the field was still getting closer. In a final attack, Boom tried to stay ahead, but was caught up like his companions. In the final sprint, Cavendish, whose team put the sprint back on, was able to prevail against André Greipel and Tyler Farrar and thus won the green jersey for the first time in two years.
Mountain ratings
Côte de Tonnac Category 3 after 28.5 km at 346 m 3.6 km at 4.9%
^ Diary of the stage. (No longer available online.) July 13, 2011, archived from the original on July 17, 2011 ; Retrieved July 13, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.letour.fr