Three riders in the lead
180 riders started stage 11 in Eymet. Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates) was the first man out of the bunch right after the flag off. He was soon rejoined by Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert). The leading trio got a maximum advantage of 4.44 at km 44. Sprinters' team Quick-Step Floors, Lotto-Soudal and Katusha set the pace of the peloton and regulated their speed in order to remain about two and half minutes adrift.
Astana weakened by crashes
It was a long procession on the straight roads of the Landes heading to Pau before tackling the Pyrenees. A crash happened in the feed zone at Labastide-d'Armagnac near the “Chapel of the Cyclists”. It took its toll to the Astana team of GC runner up Fabio Aru as super domestique Dario Cataldo was forced to pull out of the Tour de France with a broken wrist. Critérium du Dauphiné winner Jakob Fuglsang was also involved with an injured wrist while third placed overall Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) went down but with no consequence.
Years 7 bring luck to Germans in Pau
With 30km to go, the deficit of the peloton was down to 30 seconds and Bodnar decided to go solo as there were 28km remaining. Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) crashed 22km before the end. His former team-mate from the Tinkoff team forged on as long as he could. The Pole resisted to the return of the peloton until he was swallowed by the sprinters in the last 300 metres. After this cruel ending for the Bora-Hansgrohe rider, Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) timed it at perfection to claim his fifth stage victory in the 104th Tour de France. This was the 60th stage finish in Pau and the third German victory here. They all happened in years 7: Dietrich Thurau in 1977, Erik Zabel in 1997 and now Kittel.
