British cyclist Geraint Thomas has won the eleventh stage of the 105th Tour de France. The 32-year-old from Team Sky won after 180.5 kilometers between Albertville and La Rosiere in the Alps at 1855 meters altitude and took over at the first mountain finish the yellow jersey.
Day two were co-favorite Tom Dumoulin from the Netherlands and defending champion Chris Froome, both of whom reached the finish 20 seconds behind Thomas. In the overall ranking, Thomas leads as new leader and successor of expected far behind Greg Van Avermaet from Belgium now before Froome and Dumoulin.
It was a spectacular victory for Thomas: he overtook Mikel Nieve on the last meters of the stage. The Spaniard already looked for the sure winner - then his powers went out and he finished fifth.