Rolland Wins Tour de France Stage 11; Evans Loses Time, Maybe Tour

Pierre Rolland made it two wins in two days for Europcar, soloing to the mountaintop finish up La Toussuire, while behind him the battle for General Classification exploded.

The French Europcar rider joined a large breakaway after 25 kilometers of racing; this breakaway, two dozen strong, fractured on the first Hors Categorie climb. Rolland stayed in the lead group over the next two climbs, then attacked repeatedly on the final Cat 1 climb until he had dropped all his pursuers.

The top GC contenders weren’t interested in the stage win. The top contenders had their own race going on, and unfortunately for 2011 Tour winner Cadel Evans, his legs were not at their best on this day.

Evans tried an attack on the second Hors Categorie climb but couldn’t stay away from Bradley Wiggins and his powerful Sky team. On the final climb of the day, Evans couldn’t stand the pace set by Sky’s Chris Froome, and fell off the back of the yellow jersey group, losing 2:23 on the day.

It is highly unlikely Evans can make up that gap to defend his title. If Bradley Wiggins doesn’t crash or suffer a series of mechanical failures, he will take Evans’ crown in Paris.

Had Evans waited until the penultimate climb with its very technical descent, he might have gained back some time, as his descending skills are probably superior to Wiggins. By attacking halfway through the race, Evans gave Wiggins and his stronger Sky team plenty of time to slowly reel in Evans.

When Evans cracked, Evans’s BMC teammate Tejay Van Garderen gave up his GC position to shepherd his team leader up the mountain. While Evans was having an off day, Van Garderen was in great form. When they attacked together on the second climb of the day, Van Garderen had to ease his pace because Evans couldn’t follow.

Van Garderen still moved up in GC and kept his Best Young Rider jersey, but he could have gotten a lot further up the standings and padded his margin had he not had to wait for his team leader.

Bradley Wiggins kept his yellow jersey, but he too had difficulties. His teammate Chris Froome rode amazingly, repeatedly pulling Wiggins up to his attackers on the final climb. When Froome went on the attack, Wiggins couldn’t hang on, and had to tell his teammate to slow down.

Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas made a pair of strong attacks in on the final Cat 1 climb. Had Wiggins not had Chris Froome with him, the Liquigas rider might well have put serious time into Wiggins. Instead, Wiggins and Nibali crossed the finish line side by side, both too exhausted to fight for an advantage.

Toughest Stage of the Tour

Stage 11 was possibly the hardest of the Tour, with four massive climbs: two Hors Categorie to start the day, followed by a Cat 2 and a Cat 1 mountaintop finish. This is a pure climbers’ stage and the best chance for GC contenders to hurt Bradley Wiggins, a track rider and time-trialer who learned to climb, rather than a natural climber.

The first two and the final climb were very long climbs, not exceptionally steep (between six and seven percent grades with ramps up around ten percent;) added together there ascents were enough break the legs and the wills of many riders.

To make matter more complicated, the descent from the Cat 2 Col du Mollard was extremely technical; good descenders could have gained some time here. If Cadel Evans could have reached the crest ahead of Wiggins, he might have opened up a big enough gap to take a lead in GC—if his legs had not deserted him.

Pierre Rolland crashed on this descent. Luckily he was slowing to round a particularly tight bend and was not seriously injured. The Europcar rider remounted and resumed racing.

The final Cat 1 climb, La Toussuire, was 18 kilometers at 6.1% with ramps of nine percent. Rolland launched his first attacks at the base of this climb, where it was steepest, and continued attacking until he was alone in the lead.

Stage Twelve also offers some serious climbs: the Cat 1 Col du Grand Cucheron (12.5 kilometers at 6.5%) followed immediately by the Cat 1 Col du Granier (9.7 kilometers at 8.6%) then, after 120 km of slight downhill, the Cat 3 Côte d’Ardoix (5.9 kilometers at 3.4%.)

All that is topped off by an uphill finish. Power riders who got dropped on the first two climbs, caught up on the flat and managed to get over Côte d’Ardoix, might be in the mix for an uphill sprint here. A breakaway of riders well out of the lead might be allowed to survive, or Liquigas and BMC might want a stage win for Peter Sagan or Philippe Gilbert.

After the torture of Stage Eleven, even the final Cat 3 of Stage twelve will be painful, and the finish won’t be fun for anyone. Also, this is a long stage (226 km) which will make the final kilometers seem that much harder.