Australia’s Richie Porte, wearing the best climber’s dotted jersey, and Britain’s Geraint Thomas led the pack as they climbed toward Tourmalet pass during Stage 11of the Tour de France.
Australia’s Richie Porte, wearing the best climber’s dotted jersey, and Britain’s Geraint Thomas led the pack as they climbed toward Tourmalet pass during Stage 11of the Tour de France.Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press

Stage: A 117-mile from Pau to Cauterets, the second of three days in the Pyrenees mountains.

Winner: Rafal Majka. On the bumpiest day of riding in the Pyrenees, the 25-year-old won with a daring solo effort, riding away on the day’s toughest climb and clinging on to his lead to the finish, for his third stage win in two Tours.

Yellow jersey: Chris Froome. The 2013 champion, with a big helping hand from his team, stayed out of trouble and didn’t lose time to key rivals.

How did the “Fab Four” perform?: Nairo Quintana of Colombia, Alberto Contador of Spain and Froome all finished in the same time. But 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali slipped further behind and is now 7:47 adrift of Froome.

Quote of the day: “I’ve gone and cried on TV and I’m likely to never go on a date again.” Zakkari Dempster of the Bora-Argon 18 team after he rode in too slowly on the stage to be allowed to continue.

Stat of the day: 170. The number of beats per minute that Froome says his heart does when he’s riding to the limit.

Next stage: Stage 12 is the toughest of the three Pyrenees stages with a climb to Plateau de Beille at the end of a 121 mile run from Lannemezan.

Associated Press