I don't envy the peloton tackling one of the hardest stages in the 2015 Tour on such a sweltering day. When sign on opened, most of the riders and photographers understandably hid in the shade as long as they could.
Everyone got to work before long.
Andrew Talanaky, his shot at GC is virtually over lying more than 16 minutes back, but the American knows he and his teammates have a good shot at taking a stage before Paris.
Bob Jungels.
Luis Angel Mate and Dani Navarro, two Spaniards on the French team Cofidis.
Michael Schär.
Second on stage 8 and again yesterday, the media spoke with Irish climber Dan Martin.
Dylan Van Baarle.
Arnaud Gérard.
Manuel Quinziato.
Jarlinson Pantano fuels up for the 195km ahead.
Greg Van Avermaet appreciates the support he received from fans at sign on.
The woman behind me had traveled from Spain to see the Pyrenees stages and was hoping to get an autograph from her favorite rider, Joaquim Rodriguez. She was over the moon when he stopped, posed for a photo with her, signed an autograph, and had a quick chat. She'll be on cloud nine the whole drive back to Madrid.
Marco Haller and Perrick Fedrigo.
The rider I was most looking forward to seeing today was Zak Dempster. The Australian was the last rider in yesterday and finished outside the time limit. Typically he would have been out of the race, but the race jury showed rare compassion and let him stay. I applause them for their decision. You can be sure he'll do anything he can to make it to Paris.
Michale Matthews signs autographs.
Alejandro Valverde, Rodriguez, and Rigoberto Uran hung out in the shade of the podium until it was time to go.
Dutch rider Ramon Sinkeldam and Van Baarle hydrate before the start.
Michal Kwiatkowski and Zdenek Stybar.
The peloton enjoyed their last moments of rest before rolling out towards Plateau de Beille.
As I write this, a small break is up the road as the peloton, 6:00 back, approaches the summit of Col de Portet d'Aspet. It's too soon to know how the day will unfold, but whoever wins stage 12 will certainly have earned it.
Tomorrow the race bids farewell to the Pyrenees with a transition stage. There will be 3 summits and 1 sprint over 198.5km from Muret to Rodez. It's hard to say what will happen: the lumpy course means a break could stay away but the sprinters will want to keep it compact as the stage presents one of their best opportunities before the Alps.
Today's 26 autographs came from:
4. Andriy Grivko
5. Dmitry Gruzdev
11. Jean-Christophe Peraud
25. Alexandre Géniez
26. Matthieu Ladagnous
28. Jeremy Roy
41. Alberto Contador
55. Imanol Erviti
56. Jose Herrada
58. Adriano Malori
82. Warren Barguil
89. Albert Timmer
97. Alberto Losada
98. Tiago Machado
126. Perrig Quemeneur
142. Julian Arredondo
145. Laurent Didier
146. Markel Irizar
176. Florian Senéchal
177. Julien Simon
185. Jérôme Coppel
193. Sam Bennett
199. Paul Voss
203. Anthony Delaplace
205. Brice Feillu
206. Armindo Fonseca
