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La Rosière (AP) – With a loud cry on the finish line, Geraint Thomas celebrated his coup d'etat. On the other hand, Marcel Kittel only wanted to leave after a day of forgetfulness and leave the Tour de France .
"Where is my hotel ?!", The sprinter roared to his goalies at the finish of the 11th stage, after missing the time limit and having to leave. A year ago, Kittel was still the hero as a five-stage winner – now he's the big loser.
The Thomas Welshman could be celebrated at the arrival of the first ascent as Tageschampion and new general leader, the yellow bouquet that he threw British cool in the fans. Thanks to a show of strength, Thomas and superteam Sky for defending champion Chris Froome shocked the Tour de France competition. Seemingly effortless, the team parried off all attacks before arriving at the top of the La Rosière ski resort and, with two runners in the overall standings, climbed Thursday at Alpe. d & # 39; Huez.
Kittel, who has a third place start as a meager tour-performance, will miss the start. The Thüringer missed Wednesday on the short and solid stage as a suspended driver, the waiting period of more than ten minutes and must be dismantled for the third time after 2012 and 2017 prematurely. In addition to the 30 years, he also caught the former King Mark Cavendish sprinter – the former British world champion even came to Kittel on arrival.
When the two climbed the mountain, Thomas had long since finished the awards ceremony. "Winning the mountain is something special, I did not expect it," he said. "Wearing the yellow jersey is always a great honor." Already last year, he was tour leader for four days before having to give up after a fall.
The German drivers had nothing to do with the leader rankings, but unlike Kittel, the sprinter André Greipel and the Roubaix winner, John Degenkolb, arrived at the finish line in the allotted time.
After the impressions of the first arrival in the Grand Loop mountain, the final victory between the two British and the Dutch Tom Dumoulin is decided. "Froomey is the leader," said Thomas in internal competition with the winner of the Tour four times. "Our strength is the cohesion in the team, there is no selfishness, now I am looking forward to my yellow jersey, so we will see."
Sunweb's captain, Dumoulin, secured second place in the sprint ahead of Froome and finished third, 1:44 minutes behind Thomas, in the overall standings. Froome was 1:25 minutes from Thomas, who attacked the group of favorites just before the finish and was waiting for the Belgian Greg Van Avermaet yellow.
"If Sky sets the right priorities, they will win again," said Dumoulins team manager Ivan Spekenbrink. "We could follow until today." But more was not successful on the section on 108.5 kilometers. Dumoulin – in the second spring of the Giro d'Italia behind Froome – could at least still follow the captains Sky. Other podium contenders like Romain Bardet, Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana lost time on the first mountain tour.
Unlike Tuesday, when challengers abandoned attacks, there were no more excuses. On the second heavy mountain of the day, the Movistar team of captains trio Alejandro Valverde, Quintana and Mikel Landa took the initiative and set the tone. Leader Van Avermaet quickly retreated – his days as a yellow carrier were counted as planned. The second total of last year, Rigoberto Uran, of Colombia, could not follow.
Immediately after the acceleration, the Spanish veteran Valverde dared to go it alone, leaving behind the peloton. Meanwhile, he took a two-minute lead and could dream of the first yellow jersey after a ten-year break. But the 38-year-old was overtaken at the start of the final climb.
Dumoulin had already tried during the last descent and had pioneered a path up to La Rosière before the last climb. For a long time, it seemed that he could hold his in the top group – but then Thomas turned on the turbo.
Itinerary Tour de France 2018
Etappenwertung and appreciation
starting field
List of early failures
Tour de France welcome page with news
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