page_title: 2012 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20
section_title: Stage 11
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20 / Stage 11
caption_attribution_description: English: Profile of the 11th stage of the Tour de France 2012
context_page_description: Stage 11 of the 2012 Tour de France was contested on 12 July and the race concluded with Stage 20 on 22 July. The second half of the race was situated entirely within France; starting with a mountain stage from Albertville to La Toussuire-Les Sybelles – incorporating two hors catégorie climbs during the stage – before the customary race-concluding stage finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
  Following his victory in the ninth stage individual time trial, Team Sky rider Bradley Wiggins held the lead into the second half of the race. He maintained his race lead throughout the second half of the race, holding a lead of 2 minutes and 5 seconds – transpiring from stage 9 – until the race's final individual time trial, held on the penultimate day of the race. Wiggins won the stage by 1 minute and 16 seconds ahead of his team-mate Chris Froome, and Wiggins ultimately held his lead into Paris the following day to win the race overall by 3 minutes and 21 seconds, to become the first rider from Great Britain to win a Grand Tour race.
context_section_description: 12 July 2012 — Albertville to La Toussuire-Les Sybelles, 148 km (92.0 mi)
  The stage was spent entirely in the Alps with two hors catégorie climbs – the Col de la Madeleine after 40 km (24.9 mi) and the Col de la Croix de Fer after 93 km (57.8 mi); both of which had summits at 2,000 m (6,562 ft) or higher – before the finish at La Toussuire-Les Sybelles. The Col de la Croix de Fer was the highest point reached in the Alps in the 2012 Tour, so the leader across the summit would win the Souvenir Henri Desgrange. The finish was a first-category climb of 18 km (11.2 mi) at an average gradient of 6.1%. Much like the previous day, a large breakaway was formed after several different groups advanced clear of the main field as they approached the first climb of the day, at the Col de la Madeleine.
  In total, there were 28 riders in the group at one point; at the top of the climb, the pace picked up and the group splintered into several mini-groups as Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Peter Velits scored the maximum points on offer for the climb, followed closely by Astana rider Fredrik Kessiakoff. Velits and Kessiakoff pulled out a 45-second advantage on the descent, but eight riders eventually bridged the gap and rejoined the duo before the Col de la Croix de Fer. Team Europcar had two riders in the group, with Christophe Kern setting the pace for team-mate Pierre Rolland, and the tempo was again splitting the group up. Back in the peloton, young rider classification leader Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) attacked on the climb, as the benchmark for a later move by his team-mate Cadel Evans. They acquired a 30-second lead at one point before Team Sky brought Bradley Wiggins back up to them. Kessiakoff just bettered Rolland for the mountains points atop the Col de la Croix de Fer, with the peloton around two minutes behind.
  The group containing Wiggins and other overall contenders dropped a minute further back on the early parts of the Col du Mollard, where the breakaway consisted of Velits, Rolland, Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank's Chris Anker Sørensen and Robert Kišerlovski of Astana, with Movistar Team's Vasil Kiryienka later joining up. Rolland crashed on the descent from the climb, having taken first place points over the summit, while Sørensen was in difficulty to stay with the lead. Liquigas–Cannondale rider Vincenzo Nibali tried to breach the peloton on two occasions on the final climb,  catching up with Lotto–Belisol's Jurgen Van den Broeck who had escaped with eighth stage winner, FDJ–BigMat's Thibaut Pinot. Evans cracked on the climb, losing time to Wiggins, team-mate Chris Froome and other contenders. Froome put Wiggins into difficulty at one point, but backed the pace down via his team radio. Up front, Rolland was the last remaining rider of the breakaway, and soloed to his second Tour stage win, and his team's second stage win in a row. Pinot led the yellow jersey group across the line almost a minute down, while Evans lost almost 90 seconds on Wiggins, Froome and Nibali, who filled the top three places overall at the conclusion of the stage.
caption: Stage eleven profile
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