LA ROSIERE, FRANCE—British rider Geraint Thomas won the first summit finish of the Tour de France and claimed the yellow jersey on Wednesday with Team Sky asserting its dominance.
Four-time champion Chris Froome moved up to second overall, one minute and 25 seconds behind his teammate.
Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas takes over the Tour de France lead by winning the 11th stage Wednesday. Teammate Chris Froome, the defending champion, is second. (MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Thomas attacked on the last of four climbs over the short but gruelling 11th stage, powered past longtime breakaway leader Mikel Nieve in the final kilometre, and finished 20 seconds ahead of Tom Dumoulin.
Froome crossed third, just behind Dumoulin, who moved up to third overall, 1:44 behind.
Froome is attempting to match the record of five Tour victories shared by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
Greg Van Avermaet, who had worn the yellow jersey since his BMC squad won the team time trial in the third stage, lost contact midway through Wednesday’s stage and finished far behind.
While there were numerous attacks throughout the 108.5-kilometre (67-mile) stage, Sky calmly rode at its own pace and slowly caught most of the breakaway riders before Thomas kicked into action with six kilometres remaining.
“We were expecting attacks,” Thomas said. “When they go, it is never nice to see them all riding away but we had confidence in each other and we rode really well.”
Thomas, who is from Wales, required slightly less than 3 1/2 hours to complete the route from 1992 Winter Olympics host city Albertville to La Rosiere Espace San Bernardo ski station.
It was his second career stage win at the Tour, having claimed the individual time trial that opened last year’s race. He wore the yellow jersey for four days last year — before dropping to second behind Froome — then crashed out on a descent in Stage 9.
“To wear the yellow jersey is always a massive honour,” Thomas said. “To do it two years in a row is really nice.”
Thomas has been one of Froome’s most loyal lieutenants for years and Sky labelled him a co-leader with Froome for this year’s Tour. So it will be interesting to see how the team handles the duo now.
After going up the beyond-category ascents to Montee de Bisanne and Col du Pre, plus the second-category Cormet de Roselend, the stage concluded with the unprecedented and lengthy 17.6-kilometre climb to La Rosiere — a ski resort linked to La Thuile in the Italian region of Valle d’Aosta.
With views of Mont Blanc atop Montee de Bisanne, there was also a technical and tricky descent from Cormet de Roselend.
The first overall contender to attack was Alejandro Valverde up the Col du Pre. Dumoulin then escaped from the peloton with a downhill attack and joined up with Valverde on the final climb. While Valverde quickly dropped back, Dumoulin kept up his pace and showed he might be the only rider capable of competing with Sky.
The top five in the overall is rounded out by 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali in fourth, 2:14 behind Thomas, and Primoz Roglic in fifth, 2:23 back.
More climbing fireworks are expected in Stage 12 on Thursday. The last of three legs in the Alps follows a 175.5-kilometre route beginning in the ski resort of Les Arcs and culminating in the famous 21 bends to Alpe d’Huez.
