2014 Tour de France Stage 11 Live Coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of Stage 11 of the 2014 Tour de France! Our live profile and commentary are below, followed by a preview of the technical aspects of the route.
Course Preview
The peloton will see 140km of road roll under their wheels before three categorised climbs arrive in very quick succession. Just one or two probably wouldn’t unseat the pure sprinters but three in a row?
The Tour’s organisers hope this combination will be enough to stress the green jersey contenders and see who’s got the legs to stay in contact with the peloton. A final climb, the third category Co?te d’Echallon, falls 20km from the line in Oyonnax, a first time Tour host city. By the time they reach the outskirts, the peloton will be in full cry, probably after mopping up a group of opportunists who had been in pursuit of a few KOM points and perhaps a tenure- ship of the polka dot jersey before the real climbs begin.
It’s a similar stage to last year’s stage 7 from Montpellier to Albi, where Cannondale rode up hill and down dale to rid Sagan of his pure sprint rivals and deliver him to his one and only stage victory of the race. Is it possible that they could repeat that winning formula? It’s difficult to see anyone getting past the Slovak if his team is as strong as it was in 2013. But almost two weeks into the race, it would also be a far taller order to collectively burn up that much energy this time around.
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