Race Report: Today was the perfect day for a successful long break and so it transpired. Tinkoff-Saxo must be a little happier as Rafal Majka won stage 11 after crossing the Aspin and the Tourmalet. The ride of the day came from Cannondale-Garmins Dan Martin who soloed to the leaders on the Tourmalet and then chased down Majka, but missed out on the stage win by 1 minute.Stage 11 takes in two of the Tour giants: the Col dAspin and Col du Tourmalet before finishing up the climb to Cauterets after 188 kilometers. The course has much more to it than that as there are two Cat 3 and a Cat 4 climb to come before the Aspin. The finish in Cauterets is actually in the town and is only a Cat 3. Previous years it would finish at the ski resort higher up. The Aspin (Cat 1) and Tourmalet (Cat HC) will show any weakness, but maybe come a bit early for a killer move as the Aspin is 71 kilometers from the finish line and the Tourmalet 41. It would be a brave (or foolish) GC rider to make his attack on either of them.The stage was expected to have a long break and it wasnt long before the attacks came. Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx – Quick-Step), Bob Jungels (Trek) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhuebka) managed to escape in the first 10 kilometers. Cannondale-Garmin and Lampre-Merida had missed the boat and were chasing at 20 seconds....
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