Tour de France: Sagan wins stunner of a stage in Montpellier

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On a day marked down for a bunch-sprint finish, the Tour de France delivered another stunner Wednesday during stage 11 to Montpellier as Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Chris Froome (Team Sky) snuck away in the final kilometres and finished six seconds ahead of the field.

Froome tried to win the stage from Sagan, but the world champion easily outsprinted the yellow jersey to take his second stage win of the 2016 race. Froome finished second, taking a six-second time bonus to go along with the six-second gap he put on his rivals.

Sagan's Tinkoff teammate Maciej Bodnar also made the four-rider split, along with Froome's teammate Geraint Thomas. Bodnar held on for third, while Thomas faded back into the field.

At the finish line, Sagan expressed surprise about how the stage played out.

"Froomey and Geraint Thomas came with us," Sagan said of the move he initiated in the closing kilometres. "I said, 'We are too strong. They're never going to catch us.' We just pulled very hard and it happened. It's unbelievable."

"Today everybody was like, 'It's crazy wind, it's crazy wind.' And just crazy wind was last 15 or 12km, I don't know how much. It was not planning. It was like, it's dangerous so you have to stay in the front. The bunch is going to split for sure. But you go in breakaway with green jersey and yellow jersey and two guys like Bodnar and Thomas, you cannot plan that. It just happened."

Thomas said he was equally surprised at he and Froome's good fortune.

"Sagan was just motoring," he said. "When they went Froomey responded straightaway and behind him there was a gap, so I got up to him. We were at the front all day just waiting for something to go, and then Sagan and Bodnar just went and that was it."

Froome added another surprising tactic to his resume following his attack on the downhill during stage 8 that saw him ride into the yellow jersey. The rider who is often accused of being too calculating and robotic has shown that he's got a few weapons in his quiver that he hadn't yet revealed.

He now leads Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) in the overall by 28 seconds, with Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) in third at 31 seconds. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) is fourth overall, now 35 seconds behind Froome.

More on this story:

• Tour de France: Sagan wins a stunner in Montpellier
• Tour de France: Stage 11 finish line quotes

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How it unfolded

On paper, the 164km stage from Carcassonne to Montpellier looked like a day for the sprinters and an easy day for the general classification contenders. Two category 4 climbs came in the first third of the race, with a single sprint point at 50km to go. Despite the relatively flat parcour in the south of France, however, the blowing winds across the plains ensured none of the riders could take a day off.

Early attacks combined with crosswinds and tailwinds immediately out of Carcassonne to start splitting up the race. The route's twisting country roads meant the direction of the wind was changing all the time.

Arthur Vichot (FDJ) and Leigh Howard (IAM Cycling) escaped the bunch to form a two-riders breakaway, while Lawson Craddock (BMC Racing) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) tried to bridge, but their long chase was ultimately unsuccessful.

The duo up front pushed their gap up to past four minutes with about 100km remaining, but the teams of the sprinters, which hadn't had an opportunity to contest the day's victory since stage 6, were eager to bring things together and didn't give the breakaway much leash.

From there the gap began to plummet, dropping to 2:40 just 10km later. Tinkoff continued to push the pace in the peloton, causing the first major split of the day as a group of about 30 riders, with most the general classification contenders included, formed on the front with five or six groups staggered behind.

While the make up of the chasing group continued to shuffle in the crosswinds, Howard and Vichot soldiered on alone, but their efforts off the front came to an end with 61km remaining as the main bunch reeled them back in.

Among the GC contenders, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) appeared to suffer the most in the winds, losing contact with the leaders and finding himself chasing from the second group for most of the final third of the stage.

The pace eased with 30km remaining as the peloton spread across the road, perhaps waiting for the sprinters' teams to take control of the race, and allowing some of the dropped riders to reconnect with the main bunch.

In the final 15km, Tinkoff, hoping to set up Sagan I the sprint, shared the work on the front with BMC, IAM Cycling and Trek-Segafredo. Constant changes in wind direction kept the GC teams near the front as well as they were on guard from keeping their leaders from being gapped off in the final run into Montpellier.

With 12km, Sagan hit the front and put in a hard dig. His effort caused more splits in the rear of the peloton as he pulled away from the field with teammate Bodnar, Froome and Thomas.

The lead quartet had 17 seconds on the field with 8km to go, and the chase was on in earnest as the green jersey and yellow jersey sped away.

The increased pressure was too much for Mark Cavendish after a long day in the wind, and the double stage winner popped out of the main field with an apparent mechanical.

Sagan continued to pour on the power up front, with the Sky duo and Bodnar happily sharing the load. The gap went over 20 seconds with 4.5km to go, and it was clear the sprinters' teams had been caught off guard and let this one slip away. 

SAGAN ce Hérault ! / @petosagan wins again! #TDF2016 pic.twitter.com/KdrxNsCkm6

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