[themaclad]

Lotto Soudal's Australian rider Caleb Ewan snatched victory on stage 11 of the Tour de France as the sprinters went toe to toe in a thrilling finish.

Seven-time green jersey winner Peter Sagan crossed second but was relegated to last and docked 13 sprint points for muscling past Wout van Aert late on.

Irishman Sam Bennett was promoted into second and leads the points classification by 68 points from Sagan.

Jumbo-Visma's Primoz Roglic remains 21 seconds clear in yellow.

"It was very, very hectic," said Ewan after Wednesday's win.

"I knew to keep calm and wait for the right gap to open - and it did, quite late.

"I did a big throw and then you're basically looking down at the ground, so I wasn't sure I won."

As it happened: Stage 11
Adam Yates' Tour de France stage-by-stage guide
The stage was started by former French rider Francois Lemarchand, in place of race director Christian Prudhomme, who is quarantined after testing positive for coronavirus.

Bennett had already strengthened his grip on the green jersey when he claimed second spot behind breakaway leader Matthieu Ladagnous at the intermediate sprint.

Even so early in the Tour's three-week itinerary, the pressure seemed to tell on Sagan and his team after Landagnous was swallowed up and the finish loomed.

Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate Lukas Postlberger shot off the front with 6km to go in an attempt to disrupt their rivals' plans before the Slovak barged Van Aert to clear his route in the tightly contested finish.

His manoeuvre was subsequently punished by the race judges to leave him with it all to do to overhaul Bennett as the race heads for the mountains.

The peloton was also reduced in number with Astana's Ion Izaguirre suffering a nasty crash in the final 30km and Bora-Hansgrohe's Gregor Muhlberger feeling increasingly unwell at the back of the pack. Both subsequently abandoned.

Thursday's stage features four categorised climbs as the race takes a 218km route from Chauvigny to Sarran in the heart of the France.

Stage 11 result
1. Caleb Ewan (Aus/Lotto Soudal) 4hrs 00mins 01secs

2. Sam Bennett (Ire/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) Same time

3. Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo-Visma)

4. Bryan Coquard (Fra/B&B Hotels-Vital Concept)

5. Clement Venturini (Fra/AG2R La Mondiale)

6. Mads Pedersen (Den/Trek-Segafredo)

7. Luka Mezgec (Slo/Mitchelton-Scott)

8. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra/Israel Start-up Nation)

9. Olivier Naesen (Bel/AG2R La Mondiale)

10. Ryan Gibbons (SA/NTT Pro)

General classification after stage 11
1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) 46hrs 15mins 24secs

2. Egan Bernal (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) +21secs

3. Guillaume Martin (Fra/Cofidis) +28secs

4. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R-La Mondiale) +30secs

5. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea-Samsic) +32secs

6. Rigoberto Uran (Col/EF Pro Cycling) Same time

7. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE-Team Emirates) +44secs

8. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +1mins 02secs

9. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana) +1mins 15secs

10. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain McLaren) +1mins 42secs

[themaclad]

As deserved stage wins go this is well deserved he should have won on Sunday he has today

Switzerland’s Marc Hirschi took stage 12 of the Tour de France for his first-ever stage win.

Hirschi, 22, for Team Sunweb, moved to the front with 28km remaining of the 218km ride from Chauvigny to Sarran.

The Swiss rider, in his first Grand Tour, had led for more than 80km on Sunday’s ninth stage before being caught 1.5km from the end and finishing third.

Slovenia's Primoz Roglic maintained his overall lead.

He finished 24th, two minutes and 30 seconds behind Hirschi, while Egal Bernal, second in the general classification, came 25th in the same time as Roglic, who keeps a 21-second overall advantage.

Hirschi, who also finished on the podium at the second stage, finished 47 seconds clear of France's Pierre Rolland for the B&B Hotels-Vital Concept team.

He said: "It's unbelievable. Two times I was really close so I never believed I could make it. I can't describe it. It's hard to find the words.

"I had the picture in my mind from the last two stages when I was close. Then in the last three kilometres, I believed I could make it. It's my first pro victory and it's in the Tour so it couldn't be better.

"It's like a dream and it feels incredible."

Friday's 13th stage is over 191.5km from Chatel-Guyon to Puy Mary.

[themaclad]

Pivotal day as the Slovenian double act start to take charge

Primoz Roglic extended his lead in the yellow jersey on the Tour de France after Daniel Martinez claimed a superb win on stage 13.

Roglic and fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogacar dropped all of their rivals on a gruelling final climb to Puy Mary.

Defending champion Egan Bernal slipped to third overall, with Roglic now leading Pogacar by 44 seconds.

EF Pro Cycling's Martinez punched clear of Lennard Kamna in the final metres to take his first Tour stage victory.

Fellow Colombian Bernal, who had trailed Roglic by 21 seconds after stage 12, struggled on the brutal summit finish and is now 59 seconds back on Roglic and 15 seconds down on Pogacar.

Frenchmen Guillaume Martin and Romain Bardet, who started the stage third and fourth overall respectively, also cracked and are out of the top 10.

"I see this as a Slovenian day, not a Colombian day," said Roglic.

"I'm super happy with how it went but here's still a lot of road ahead of us and next week there'll different scenarios with different riders."

Adam Yates' stage-by-stage guide
When the day began, the top 10 on general classification was the closest it had been at this stage of any Tour since 1947, but the race ripped apart on the two final climbs.

Ineos Grenadiers set a high pace on the penultimate climb of the Col de Neronne, dropping Britain's Adam Yates as well as Martin and Bardet, who crashed earlier in the stage.

Pavel Sivakov had sat up from the breakaway to work for Bernal, who initially also had Richard Carapaz in support, suggesting the defending champion could look to attack.

But Roglic's Jumbo-Visma again displayed they are the strongest team in the race, with Sepp Kuss and Tom Dumoulin taking up the pace-setting and isolating Bernal.

When Pogacar sought to animate the race once again by attacking, only Roglic could go with his friend and compatriot, with Bernal distanced.

Richie Porte, Mikel Landa and Miguel Angel Lopez did well to limit their losses and all move up on GC, but a visibly suffering Bernal came in 38 seconds down on Roglic, who had only led the Colombian on bonus seconds before this stage.

Yates, who is now seventh overall, recovered well to finish alongside Nairo Quitana and two seconds back on Bernal and Rigoberto Uran.

Martinez, who won this year's Criterium du Dauphine after Roglic pulled out while leading, proved to be the strongest rider from a 17-man breakaway that finally established after a frenetic start to the stage.

His team-mates Hugh Carthy and Neilson Powless both attacked first but were each brought back before Max Schachmann dropped Powless to begin the final climb alone.

When Martinez countered, Schachmann's Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate Kamna jumped on his wheel and let the Colombian do all the work to reel in the German.

Kamna twice tried to kick clear of Martinez in the final 2km with sections of 15% gradient after Schachmann was dropped, but Martinez responded each time before making his own decisive move late on.

Saturday's 14th stage is a 194km route from Clermont-Ferrand to Lyon.

Top 10 on stage 13
1. Daniel Martinez (Col/EF Pro Cycling) 5hrs 01min 47secs

2. Lennard Kamna (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe) +4secs

3. Max Schachmann (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe) +51secs

4. Valentin Madouas (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +1min 33secs

5. Pierre Rolland (Fra/B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) +1min 42secs

6. Nicolas Edet (Fra/Cofidis) +1min 53secs

7. Simon Geschke (Ger/CCC Team) +2mins 35secs

8. Marc Soler (Spa/Movistar) +2mins 43secs

9. Hugh Carthy (GB/EF Pro Cycling) +3min 18secs

10. David de la Cruz (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +3mins 52secs

General classification after stage 13
1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) 56hrs 34mins 35secs

2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +44secs

3. Egan Bernal (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) +59secs

4. Rigoberto Uran (Col/EF Pro Cycling) +1min 10secs

5. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea-Samsic) +1min 12secs

6. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana) +1min 31secs

7. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +1min 42secs

8. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain McLaren) +1min 55secs

9. Richie Porte (Aus/Trek-Segafredo) +2mins 06secs

10. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +2mins 54secs

[ritchiebaby]

In other news, it looks like Sam Bennett will win the Green Jersey by some distance from Peter Sagan, barring accidents/illness. There is only one stage left where the sprint is more than one-third into the stage. Sagan would fancy his chances if the sprint took place after a couple of stiff climbs. In fact, Sagan will do well to hang onto second place with Coquard (a long-time Marco favourite), Ewan, Trentin and Van Aert snapping at his heels.

In the King Of The Mountains event, Bernard Cosnefroy is being closely shadowed by Peters and Hirschi - a lot of climbing still to be done in the TdF.

[themaclad]

Soren Kragh Andersen took a surprise win on stage 14 of the Tour de France to cap a sublime tactical ride by Team Sunweb.

The Dane attacked with three kilometres to go in a frantic finale and stayed away to claim his first stage win.

Primoz Roglic maintained his 44-second lead in the yellow jersey.

Peter Sagan finished fourth in Lyon to cut Sam Bennett's green jersey lead to 43 points after Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team dropped the Irishman earlier on.

Luka Mezgec finished second, with Simone Conssoni third, as the peloton arrived 15 seconds behind Kragh Andersen.

"I feel very emotional. I've dreamed about this but it's hard to say you're good enough until you do it. I'm amazed," said Kragh Andersen.

"I had really good legs the whole day but you never know how good the other guys are. It took me a long time in the Tour to get confidence in myself but I knew if I was suffering then they were suffering."

'A lot of flat before the climbs begin' - Adam Yates' stage 15 guide
With two short but sharp climbs in the finale of the 194km stage from Clermont-Ferrand, Sunweb played their cards perfectly to beat the favourites for the win.

Tiesj Benoot attacked over the top of the first climb, forcing Sagan's team-mate Lennard Kamna to chase before Kamna got a lead of his own but was also reeled back in.

Julian Alaphilippe tried to get clear in search of his second win of the race but was marked by Sunweb's Marc Hirschi, who then attacked himself.

Stage 12 winner Hirschi's kick forced Sagan to do the chasing and, as soon as the group came back together, Kragh Andersen went and could not be caught, with his team-mates working to prevent counter-attacks.

Sunweb initially sent two riders up the road to join the early breakaway of Stefan Kung and Edward Theuns, but realised a four-man group would not stay the distance and adjusted their plans superbly.

Bora-Hansgrohe also rode a fine race, with Sagan using the first climb of the day to get away and take back four points on Irishman Bennett at the intermediate sprint before his team managed to drop Bennett on the second climb.

Bennett gamely tried to bridge the gap but sat up with 115km to go and rolled in almost 20 minutes down.

Record seven-time green jersey winner Sagan ultimately only gained 23 points on Bennett and will have to continue to take opportunities on hilly terrain, with Bennett consistently faster in the sprint.

It was a relatively quiet day for the general classification, except for a late attack by Ineos Grenadiers' defending champion Egan Bernal - who lost 38 seconds to Roglic on stage 13 - that was quickly shut down.

Sunday's 174.5km stage is crucial for the overall contenders as it features three major climbs, including a summit finish to Grand Colombier.

France's Romain Bardet did not start stage 14 after abandoning the race on Friday night because of concussion and said on Saturday that an MRI scan had revealed a small haemorrhage.

The AG2R La Mondiale rider crashed heavily on stage 13 and appeared to fall as he tried to stand up before resuming and struggling on the last two climbs as he slipped from fourth to 11th overall.

Stage 14 result
1. Soren Kragh Andersen (Den/Team Sunweb) 4hrs 28mins 10secs

2. Luka Mezgec (Slo/Mitchelton-Scott) +15secs

3. Simone Consonni (Ita/Cofidis) Same time

4. Peter Sagan (Svk/Bora-Hansgrohe)

5. Casper Pedersen (Den/Team Sunweb)

6. Jasper Stuyven (Bel/Trek-Segafredo)

7. Matteo Trentin (Ita/CCC Team)

8. Oliver Naesen (Bel/AG2R La Mondiale)

9. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita/Bahrain McLaren)

10. Marc Hirschi (Swi/Team Sunweb)

General classification after stage 14
1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) 61hrs 03mins 00secs

2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +44secs

3. Egan Bernal (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) +59secs

4. Rigoberto Uran (Col/EF Pro Cycling) +1min 10secs

5. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea-Samsic) +1min 12secs

6. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana) +1min 31secs

7. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +1min 42secs

8. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain McLaren) +1min 55secs

9. Richie Porte (Aus/Trek-Segafredo) +2mins 06secs

10. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +2mins 54secs

[ritchiebaby]

Back in time to see the last 10 kms and witness classic team riding from Jumbo-Visma. Great win for Pogacar, but he could only take 4 bonus seconds off Roglic. He must be wondering if he should have attacked earlier to open up a decent time gap. It's good to see Richie Porte still in the mix - a good day for him.

[themaclad]

Tadej Pogacar won stage 15 of the Tour de France to slightly cut Primoz Roglic's lead as defending champion Egan Bernal dropped out of contention.

Pogacar beat yellow jersey Roglic in a sprint to the line and now trails his fellow Slovenian by 40 seconds.

Bernal cracked badly on the final climb to Grand Colombier and lost over seven minutes to slip from third to 13th overall.

Britain's Adam Yates moved up to fifth in the general classification.

Roglic was expertly delivered to the finish after another supreme display by his Jumbo-Visma team but Pogacar again showed he will attempt to reduce the deficit at every opportunity.

The 21-year-old UAE Team Emirates rider kicked clear late on to take his second stage win of the Tour and 10 bonus seconds, with Roglic second and Richie Porte in third.

"Jumbo-Visma set a really high pace all day and it made it a really difficult stage so I was just waiting for the sprint at the end and I'm so happy to win again," said Pogacar.

"The plan is to win the Tour de France. Primoz Roglic seems unstoppable but today Bernal cracked and maybe one day myself or Primoz will crack - there are still a lot of opportunities ahead."

Adam Yates' stage-by-stage guide
Pogacar, who lost over a minute after being caught out by the crosswinds on stage seven, will have to attack from further out in the final week to overhaul Roglic, which will be tough given the strength of Jumbo-Visma.

Belgian all-rounder Wout van Aert, who has won two bunch sprints in this year's Tour, drove the group of favourites for the first 8km of the 17.4km final climb and set such a high pace he dropped Grand Tour winners Bernal and Nairo Quintana.

Former Giro d'Italia champion Tom Dumoulin then reeled in an attack by Yates at 6km to go and led the main group all the way into the final kilometre before Roglic attacked.

Porte, Pogacar and Miguel Angel Lopez were the only riders able to react before Pogacar prevailed in a repeat of the Slovenian one-two on stage nine.

But despite being beaten again, this was another strong showing by Roglic, who will be confident his team can control the rest of the race.

Yates also rode well to finish eighth and is now just 29 seconds off the podium entering the final week.

Jumbo's strength was in marked contrast to Ineos Grenadiers, who have won seven of the past eight Tours as Team Sky and Team Ineos.

All of Bernal's support riders except Michal Kwiatkowski and Jonathan Castroviejo were dropped early on before the Colombian, who came into the race still recovering from a back injury, also began to slip back and rapidly lose time.

The 23-year-old is now eight minutes 25 seconds down on Roglic and Ineos have no back-up option, with deputy leader Richard Carapaz over 30 minutes down.

While four-time Tour winner Chris Froome looks to still be working his way back to top form, Ineos' decision not to select 2018 champion Geraint Thomas will come under scrutiny again.

The Welshman, who is now targeting this year's Giro in October, is currently third overall heading into the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday.

In a frantic start to stage 15, Ireland's Sam Bennett managed to prevent green jersey rival Peter Sagan going up the road before beating him at the intermediate sprint to extend his lead in that competition to 45 points.

After a rest day on Monday, the race resumes with a rolling 164km route from La Tour-du-Pin to Villard-de-Lans on Tuesday.

Stage 15 result
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) 4hrs 34mins 13secs

2. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) Same time

3. Richie Porte (Aus/Trek-Segafredo) +5secs

4. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana) +8secs

5. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +15secs

6. Sepp Kuss (US/Jumbo-Visma) Same time

7. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain McLaren)

8. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott)

9. Rigoberto Uran (Col/EF Pro Cycling) +18secs

10. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +24secs

General classification after stage 15
1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) 65hrs 37mins 07secs

2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +40secs

3. Rigoberto Uran (Col/EF Pro Cycling) +1mins 34secs

4. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana) +1mins 45secs

5. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +2mins 03secs

6. Richie Porte (Aus/Trek-Segafredo) +2mins 13secs

7. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain McLaren) +2mins 16secs

8. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +3mins 15secs

9. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea-Samsic) +5mins 08secs

10. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Jumbo-Visma) +5mins 12secs





Interesting picture this will it be this way in Paris next Friday Jumbo Visma wonderful effort got rid of virtual all GC contender apart from 1, rest day tomorrow before it all comes to a grand climax let's hope mountains don't crumble into the sea as they did last year

[themaclad]

Bit of a lumpy day Alaphillipe seemed to have about 10 bike issues not a happy chappy.

German Lennard Kamna produced a superb solo break to power to victory on stage 16 of the Tour de France as Primoz Roglic maintained the overall lead.

The Bora-Hansgrohe rider, 24, pulled away on the penultimate climb of the 164km stage from La Tour-du-Pin to Villard-de-Lans to claim his first career Grand Tour win.

Roglic finished 17 minutes later in a group of the main contenders.

He leads fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogacar by 40 seconds.

Kamna, whose victory also marked his team's first success at the Tour, finished one minute and 27 seconds ahead of Ecuador's Richard Carapaz in second, while Swiss Sebastien Reichenbach took third place.

"I'm feeling great," said Kamna. "It's an absolutely awesome day for me now.

"It was a fight from the beginning on and I knew I had to make it to the finish alone. When I saw Carapaz upping the speed I thought, 'now is the moment to go' - and I just went all in to the end.

"It's a big, big, big relief for the team and for me. I can almost not imagine it. The step I made this year is huge and I'm so pleased to win."

Stage 16 result
1. Lennard Kamna (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe) 4hrs 12mins 52secs

2. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/Ineos Grenadiers) +1mins 27secs

3. Sebastien Reichenbach (Swi/Groupama-FDJ) +1mins 56secs

4. Pavel Sivakov (Rus/Ineos Grenadiers) +2mins 34secs

5. Simon Geschke (Ger/CCC) +2mins 35secs

6. Warren Barguil (Fra/Arkea Samsic) +2mins 37secs

7. Tiesj Benoot (Bel/Sunweb) +2mins 41secs

8. Nicolas Roche (Ire/Sun) +2mins 47secs

9. Qunetin Pacher (Fra/B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) +2mins 51 secs

10. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick-Step +2mins 54 secs

General classification after stage 16
1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) 70hrs 6mins 47secs

2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +40secs

3. Rigoberto Uran (Col/EF Pro Cycling) +1mins 34secs

4. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana) +1mins 45secs

5. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +2mins 03secs

6. Richie Porte (Aus/Trek-Segafredo) +2mins 13secs

7. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain McLaren) +2mins 16secs

8. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +3mins 15secs

9. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Jumbo-Visma) +5mins 19secs

10. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea-Samsic) +5mins 43secs

[ritchiebaby]

It looks like there will be two races in one for the rest of the week - one for the GC win and one for the stage win. The sprinters will have a tough old time tomorrow and the next day with the main target being picking up early sprint points and then hanging on to beat the cut-off time and staying in the race.

The climbers have everything to race for with the top 7 being covered by 5 points, with more riders behind capable of scoring big points over the next two stages. They are the big Alpine climbs (one with a stretch featuring a 24% gradient) with little recovery time, so expect a few abandonments.

[ritchiebaby]

In themaclad's absence tonight, here is my take on today's stage. My prediction of two races in one looked like coming true when Carapaz stretched out a strong lead, but as soon as he was caught with 3kms to go by the GC heavyweights, it turned into a real slog between the main contenders.

Lopez won with a magnificent performance which raised him into 3rd place overall, but Roglic extended his lead to 57 seconds by battling away from Pogacar in the final stretch. Porte, Yates, Uran and Landa are all within 3m30s of Roglic.

Movistar lead the team race without being too prominent. They are led by the 40 year-old Alejandro Valverde who has now sneaked up to 10th overall. Jumbo Visma are around 30 minutes behind in 2nd place, ahead of EF Pro Cycling who are a further 33 minutes behind.

The Youth prize is between Pogacar and Mas with only 3 minutes between them. The 3rd placed rider is over 80 minutes behind Mas.

The leading climber is Pogacar (how many jerseys does he want?) on 66 points. Roglic has 63 points and Lopez is on 51. There are five riders in the 30s and still plenty of points to be won.

The top sprinter is still Bennett with a 47 point lead over Sagan and a 60 point lead over Trentin.

In total 25 riders have fallen by the wayside, the latest being Bernal not starting today and Nieve dropping out during the stage.

Tomorrow's stage is even longer with 5 climbs, but for me the many downhill stretches and the downhill finish are tailor-made for Alaphillipe if he can get over the final climb in contention, with Yates and Porte aiming to be there or thereabouts too. Of course it all depends on the top men's powers of recovery after today's exertions.