The only thing better than watching race on a climb is catching a lift up the climb when you had expected to walk the 11km! I checked out the finish, but this series of switchbacks, by far the steepest section of Côte de Cauterets. The category 3 climb was the sixth and final climb, less than 3km before the finish line, on the 188km stage that featured Col du Tourmalet.
Poland's Rafal Majka, KOM in the 2014 Tour, on the switchbacks.
Soloing to victory.
A valiant effort by Dan Martin, who won the day's combativity prize, to bridge to Majka.
Having ended Andre Grepiel's 2 year reign as German road race champion last month, first year pro Emanuel Buchmann finished an impressive 4th on the stage.
Serge Pauwels was 5th.
Thomas Voeckler and Julian Simon.
Bauke Mollema.
The GC favorites were all together just behind Mollema.
Chris Froome and Alejandro Valverde.
Matthias Frank.
Just 20 seconds back, Andrew Talansky and Warren Barguil.
Vincenzo Nibali was part of a trio that finished over 6 minutes behind Majka.
Jose Herrada.
Richie Porte in polka dots borrowed from the real KOM, Froome.
Eduardo Sepúlveda.
Romain Bardet suffered from heat stroke as the mercury mocked the peloton.
By the time Steven Kruijswijk appeared, it had been over 15 minutes since Majka claimed the stage.
Adam Yates and Rigoberto Uran.
The bunch.
Stef Clement and Sylvain Chavanel.
A group rounded a switchback.
Nathan Haas led a group into the finish after suffering from a stomach bug for the first week of the Tour.
Arnaud Delaplace.
Ryder Hesjedal.
Reto Hollenstein.
Thibaut Pinot.
Daniel Teklehaimanot was back in MTN stripes today after wearing polka dots for 4 stages.
Romain Sicard.
Peter Sagan.
Daniel Oss.
Albert Timmer checked to see who was following.
Contador on the descent to the Tinkoff bus.
Nibali and Jonathan Castroviejo descend.
Michael Matthews, wearing considerably fewer and smaller bandages than before the rest day, rode the final kilometers alone, several minutes ahead of all the other sprinters.
Julien Vermote, Filippo Pozzato, and Zdenek Stybar.
Pieter Weening and Marco Haller.
Michal Kwiatkowski and Jos Van Emden.
Tyler Farrar.
Ramunas Navardauskas, Julian Arredondo, and Luke Durbridge.
Bryan Coquard.
A pair of Cannondale Garmin heads peak out between fan on the switchback above.
Jan Bakelants overtakes a non pro on his way down.
A crash on the cobbles left a gaping wound in Alex Dowsett's arm which has plagued him for the past week. Suffering but determined, he was one of the last 3 riders to finish today's stage.
Giampaolo Caruso heads to the Katusha bus.
Jarlinson Pantano paused on his way down to talk with fellow Colombians.
In the end, there were no real surprises today. Majka is a proven climber and his stage win will come as something as a relief to the Tinkoff riders: Contador is clearly fatigued after winning the Giro, Peter Sagan is locked in a back and forth battle for the green jersey with Greipel, and longtime loyal domestique was diagnosed with testsicular cancer on Monday. Meanwhile, Froome remains firmly atop the GC standings. For stage 12, only the strongest of climbers will stand a chance. The stage clocks in at 195km with a cat 2, two cat 1s, and finishes with the HC climb, Plateau de Beille. Some people have been saying the yellow jersey has already been decided. Even if that is the case, look for a great battle on the last day in the Pyrenees for this prestigious and killer stage.