The first Pyrenean stage did not upset the balance of the Tour de France.

If the main competitors of Tadej Pogacar tried to attack him in the Beixalis pass, the Slovenian did not concede time and kept his yellow tunic on Sunday July 11, before the second day of rest.

At the front, the American of the Jumbo-Visma, Sepp Kuss, lost company in the breakaway of the day on the last climb and kept his lead on the descent to Andorra la Vella.

He is ahead of veteran Alejandro Valverde.

Out of the group of favorites at the top of Port d'Envalira, the "roof" of the 108th Tour perched at 2,408 meters above sea level, Frenchman Guillaume Martin has lost his place on the podium.

He gave up nearly 4 minutes to his direct opponents.

He fell from 2nd to 9th place in the standings.

Sepp Kuss, who races for the Dutch team Jumbo, was 23 seconds ahead of the Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde, 41 years old and second on the stage.

The Dutchman Wout Poels took third place, 1 min 15 sec, ahead of a small group.

Regional stage

Kuss (26), who lives in Andorra, won the Tour de France for the first time, for his second participation.

Last year, while serving the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, he finished 4th at the Loze pass,

In this sunny 191.3-kilometer stage, a breakaway river of 32 riders developed in the first hour of the race.

Pogacar and his UAE teammates let the gap widen to around ten minutes.

This group long led by Bruno Armirail who worked for David Gaudu (7th on the stage in the end) saw its advantage diminish as it approached the Franco-Andorran border, before the last 50 kilometers, where the Movistar teams and especially Ineos had accelerated.

Casually, it had been ten years since an American had won a stage on the # TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/D0E3AKxb5q

- Yassine BEN RAJEB (@ybenrajeb) July 11, 2021

Up front, Colombian Nairo Quintana swung into the lead at the windswept summit of Envalira, the highest point of this edition (2,408m).

He attacked again in the leading group reduced to 18 riders at the foot of the last ascent, Beixalis (6.4 km at 8.5%).

But Kuss was the strongest on this climb before maintaining his advantage in the descent over Valverde.

Kuss, originally from Colorado, is the first American to win the Tour since 2011 (Tyler Farrar).

With AFP

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