The 11th stage of the Tour de France 2015 took place on July 15, 2015. It led from Pau over 188 kilometers to Cauterets . There were a total of six mountain classifications, one of the fourth category, three of the third category, one of the first category and with the Col du Tourmalet one of the Hors Catégorie after 147 kilometers. The cyclist who reached this summit first received the Jacques Goddet souvenir worth 5000 euros . There was also an intermediate sprint after 56.5 kilometers in Pouzac . The eleventh stage counted as a high mountain stage. There were 183 drivers at the start.
A group of four with Lieuwe Westra , Michał Kwiatkowski , Bob Jungels and Edvald Boasson Hagen managed to break away, but never gained more than a minute in advance. The main field did a very aggressive follow-up work, so that the race pace was very high in the first hour and the four outliers were caught up again shortly before the first mountain classification on the Côte de Loucrup . This slope was also climbed very quickly, which meant that some of the ranking drivers were already left behind on this comparatively low slope. Matteo Trentin won the following intermediate sprint ahead of Peter Sagan , while André Greipel was only ninth. So Sagan had more points in the sprint than Greipel.
Between the second mountain classification on the Côte de Bagnères-de-Bigorre and the third on the Côte de Mauvezin, the French Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet attempted an escape, but it was unsuccessful. Both drivers were well placed last year, but had already lost a lot of time on this tour. On the ascent to the third mountain classification of the day, a new lead group slowly formed. It included Rafał Majka , Thomas Voeckler , Serge Pauwels , Emanuel Buchmann and Steve Morabito . The five drivers were able to break away successfully and were more than three minutes ahead. Later Julien Simon , Arnaud Démare and Daniel Martin joined the management group. But Démare fell back a little later, so that seven drivers were still ahead by over seven minutes. Martin was the first to cross the Col d'Aspin before Voeckler and Pauwels.
At the beginning of the last ascent the following time intervals existed:
Rafał Majka was in the front,
Serge Pauwels was 1:07 minutes behind Majka,
Emanuel Buchmann and Daniel Martin 2:00 minutes behind Majka,
Thomas Voeckler and Julien Simon were between Buchmann / Martin and the favorite group and the
Favorite group was 6:03 minutes behind Majka.
Daniel Martin, who was in third position, first left Buchmann behind and then drove past Pauwels, but could no longer reach Majka. Majka won the last mountain classification of the day and the stage, with Martin finishing second. Buchmann was third at the finish ahead of Pauwels. In the group of favorites, Bauke Mollema and Alejandro Valverde attacked shortly before the finish, thus making up a little time on the leader of the overall standings, Froome.
Scoring
Intermediate sprint in Pouzac after 56.5 km at 514 m
Daniele Bennati (TCS): Task during the stage (fall)
Rui Costa (LAM): abandoned during the stage (consequences of the fall of the 3rd stage)
Ben Gastauer (ALM): Task during the stage (otitis media)
Rein Taaramäe (AST): task during the stage (illness)