Tour de France (st. 11)
Herrada, Amador recovering well from injuries as whole Movistar Team covers Nairo Quintana in last flat stage before big mountains on TDF week two. Kittel (QST) claims his fifth stage win
Another windy, fast stage for the competitors in the 2017 Tour de France saw them covering the 203.5km journey from Eymet to Pau at nearly 45kph average, the inevitable bunch sprint bringing Marcel Kittel (QST) his fifth success in this year's race.
The Movistar Team completed another notable piece of work on the flat for Nairo Quintana -Erviti, Bennati, Sütterlin all fulfilling an expert task- and went through a fine day with their two injured members: Jesús Herrada remained at the front until close to the finish and Andrey Amador joined the Blues' line at the front of the bunch, crossing the line inside the main group.
Quintana remains 8th in the overall standings, 2'13" behind Chris Froome (SKY), before a four-day series of lumpy stages in the Pyrenees and the Massif Central promises to shake the GC up. Thursday will bring a very long trek, 214.5km in total, with six rated climbs that include a tough chain of mountains in the second part of the race: Ares (Cat-2), Menté (Cat-1), Balès (HC), Peyresourde (Cat-1) and Peyragudes (Cat-2).