2010 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20#Stage 11
The 11th stage of the Tour de France 2010 on July 15, led over 184.5 km from Sisteron to Bourg -lès- Valence. On this flat stage, there were two intermediate sprints as well as with the Col de Cabre after 56.5 kilometers a mountain stage of the third category. After the abandonment of Robert Hunter and Charles Wegelius 179 of the 198 registered participants were at the start.
Race course
After about three kilometers of driving through the neutral zone, the driver arrived at 12:55 clock the real start. Stéphane Augé initiated the first attack, the Anthony Geslin and José Alberto Benítez followed. This group was able to pull the same and soon reached a lead of well over three minutes. In field after the sprinters' teams took the lead again.
Benítez drove first on the only climb of the day. As the field approached this, some drivers prepared the sprint ago, at the last still to be awarded mountain point, Jérôme Pineau the secured. Due to the tightening pace the field came to the mountain classification something closer to the outlier approach. Even after that the box held the runaway under control and did not give them more than three minutes ahead. The first sprint won Geslin. Then the projection of the top group declined, even though the field was driving at a moderate speed because of the high temperatures. The second sprint won Augé. Then the projection continued to contract slowly, but hesitated the field to catch the leaders again. The three escapees began to attack each other, whereupon Geslin be made again seek from the field. 22 km from the finish also gave Augé and Benítez on their attack and were falling back into the field.
The Team RadioShack now led the field and did not allow an attack by Anthony Roux and Jérémy Roy. Then, Team Saxo Bank tried to use the wind for a split of the field and increased the pace dramatically. Sylvain Chavanel and Yaroslav Popovych tried to settle eight kilometers from the finish, but this was unsuccessful. The team Team HTC - Columbia and some drivers from other teams took over after the pace of work to prepare for the final sprint. Mark Cavendish was able to win his third stage victory in this Tour de France in the sprint. The second stage Alessandro Petacchi won back the green jersey because its previous carrier Thor Hushovd only seventh.
In the final sprint Cavendish Mark Renshaw Anfahrer of Julian Dean was pushed to the fence. Renshaw kicked him three times with his head. He then set off a wave against his team-mate Tyler Farrar and urged him to the fence. After the race, Renshaw was excluded because of head bumping and leaving the driving line of the tour. The previous offense of Dean was not penalized. The decision provoked outrage at the Columbia team, but they do not put a protest.
Sprint
- Second intermediate sprint in Mirabel -et -Blacons ( 130 km ) ( 245 m)
- Target in Bourg- lès- Valence ( 184.5 km ) (136 m)
Climbs
- Col de Cabre, Category 3 ( 56.5 km ) ( 1180 m, 5.0 km at 5.9%)
Tasks and exclusions
- 055 - Robert Hunter (Garmin -Transitions) not competing in the National Stage
- 109 - Charles Wegelius (Omega Pharma-Lotto ): Not competing in the National Stage
- 117 - Mark Renshaw (Team HTC - Columbia): Because of head bumping against Julian Dean and Tyler Farrar Abdrängens of the race excluded