Marcus Burghardt

Alexey Lutsenko

Despite early crashes on narrow roads amid a crowded field, the 192 riders who started Stage 11, the middle stage of the Tour de France, managed to come home at the end of the day, leaving the tour in les Cuspides.

The crazy winds lashing the peloton blew Alexey Lutsenko of Astana Pro Team and Marcus Burghardt of BMC Racing Team into the middle of the general classification placement, Lutsenko at 96th pace and Burghardt at 97th. Both are new to the fulcrum.

The stage was won by Peter Sagan in an impressive run off the front end of the GC group. More impressively, Tour leader Chris Froome of Sky got onto Sagan’s wheel and stayed with him to gain another 6 seconds over the rest of the field. Sam Bennett remains the Lanterne Rouge.