On a quiet day for the GC, perhaps in anticipation for the mountains tomorrow, Stage 11 of Tour de France 2019 was all about the sprinters. Lotto-Soudal’s Caleb Ewan finally gets his Tour stage win (completing the grand tour set) with a photofinish against Jumbo-Visma’s Dylan Groenewegen, with Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Elia Viviani taking third. There was no change at the top of the GC standings – Julian Alaphilippe wears the maillot jaune for another stage.

Rider of the race

Today, that rider was Caleb Ewan, taking his first Tour de France stage by a hair’s breadth. Considering that he won two stages in this year’s Giro d’Italia, this might be the year when Ewan puts it all together and solidifies his place in the new(ish) batch of elite sprinters. One storming mountain stage win on Saturday – one storming sprint stage win today – looks like Lotto-Soudal are having a storming Tour!

These guys make it look easy, but Alex Dowsett gives us a rundown of what really happens on the sharp end of the sprint stage.

Crashing out

Niki Terpstra (Direct Energie) unfortunately had to abandon the Tour after a hard crash with 30km to go, which also brought down Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Michael Woods (EF Education First) and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo). While the others suffered only road rash, Terpstra suffered a double-fracture of his shoulder blade, ending his Tour adventure for this year.

What’s up for tomorrow, LouLou?

“There will be attacks from my adversaries, but I’m going to fight to the end”

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Stage 11 – Top 5

1 Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) 3:51:26

2 Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) same time

3 Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) s/t

4 Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) s/t

5 Jens Debusschere (Katuwsha-Alpecin) s/t

General Classification – Top 10

1 Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) 47:18:41

2 Geraint Thomas (INEOS) +1:12 

3 Egan Bernal (INEOS) +1:16

4 Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) +1:27

5 Emanuel Buchmann (BORA-hansgrohe) +1:45

6 Enric Mas (Deceuninck-Quick Step) +1:46

7 Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) +1:47

8 Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +2:04

9 Dan Martin (UAE Emirates) +2:09

10 Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +2:33

All the Jerseys

Maillot Jaune:  Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step)

Maillot Vert: Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe)

Maillot Blanc: Egan Bernal (INEOS)

King of the Mountains: Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal)

For the full race review, go to cyclingnews

Header image: GETTY/Justin Setterfield

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