Tour de France: Rafal Majka wins stage 11; Froome extends overall lead

Rafal Majka after winning stage 11

At the end of the 11^th stage of the Tour de France, Pole Rafal Majka was seen punching the air as he claimed his first stage victory of the 2015 Tour. In the 188km stretch from Pau to Cauterets-Vallee de Saint-Savin, race leader Chris Froome increased his lead at the top of the overall classification.

Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali lost a massive 50 seconds in the overall standings as the Astana Pro Team rider finished at 23^rd spot in the 11^th stage 6 minutes and 11 seconds behind Majka. The stage winner’s Tinkoff-Saxo teammate, Alberto Contador, managed to sneak in the top 10 spot on the day just ahead of Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas in 11^th spot.

Martin Daniel from Team Cannondale-Garmin finished the stage exactly a minute behind Majka while Emanuel Buchmann rounded off the top 3. Daniel finished with a time of 5 hours 3 minutes and 1 second in the team time trial.

BMC Racing Team’s Tejay Van Garderen lags Froome by nearly 3 minutes while two Movistar Team riders – Quintana Rojas and Alejandro Valverde Belmonte – are sheepishly looking behind their shoulders as Froome’s teammate Geraint Thomas, in 5^th spot, is chomping at their lead.

Tomorrow is the last day in the Pyrenees – a 195km stretch from Lannemezan to Plateau de Beille. The stage would include two climb, two category one climbs and ends with an extremely difficult 15.8 km climb up to Plateau de Beille.

Stage winners:

1. Rafal Majka – 05h 02’ 01”
2. Daniel Martin – +01’ 00”
3. Emanuel Buchmann – +01’ 23”
4. Serge Pauwels – +02’ 08”
5. Thomas Voeckler – +03’ 34”

Overall standings:

1. Christopher Froome – 41h 03’ 31”
2. Tejay Van Garderen – +02’ 52”
3. Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas – +03’ 09”
4. Alejandro Valverde Belmonte – +03’ 59”
5. Geraint Thomas – +04’ 03’