Pierre Rolland wins the stage 11 of the Tour de France 2012
Pierre Rolland of Team Europcar turned the tables around during the 148 kilometre race scheduled between Albertville - La Toussuire - Les Sybelles.
He managed to get through the defences of his compatriot Thibaut Pinot and crossed the finish line in a quickest time of 4 hours, 43 minutes and 54 seconds.
"I felt good and had to go. I was just checking the situation on the road and trying to see what was going on,” Rolland cited.
“I had fun out there and I was trying to make the most of it".
"I am relieved it's over. That was the hardest stage. That feeling was growing as the kilometres passed but in the end it all went well".
"With three kilometres left I could hardly climb at all. The fact that we had dropped Cadel also contributed to that feeling [of relief]. He lost more time than I would have thought”.
Thibaut Pinot of Team FDJ-Big Mat finished 55 seconds behind at the second position with Christopher Froome of Team Sky and Jurgen Van Den Broeck of Team Lotto Belisol holding the next three position.
The two major overall classifications contenders, Vincenzo Nibali and Bradley Wiggins yet again finished almost at the same time.
Despite having difference both on and off the track, the duo managed to produce a terrific display of cycling and fascinated the crowd.
Bradley Wiggins is still the king of overall classifications with an adequate lead of 2 minute and 5 seconds on the second place holder Christopher Froome.
Nibali is further five seconds behind at the third spot with Cadel Evans dropping down to the fourth position.
Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Haimar Zubeldia Agirre, Tejay van Garderen and Janez Brajkovic finishing at the fifth, the sixth, the seventh and the eighth positions respectively.
Peter Velits and Fredrik Kessiakoff succeeded during the first and the second mountain of the race while Pierre Rolland dominated the third and the fourth climb of the race.
Rolland also managed to grab the most combative rider award after his courageous performance during the contest.
Thibaut Pinot, Tejay van Garderen, Dominik Nerz, Steven Kruijswijk and Rafael Valls Ferri were the top five young riders on the day.
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