For this year's Tour de France we've teamed up with The Velocast to share with you their nominated Conquistador of the Day. During their daily stage review podcast, Scott and John will announce the rider who they feel deserves a special mention for their efforts that day.

John Galloway of The Velocast has gone for Peter Sagan of BORA - hansgrohe for his Conquistador of the Day on Stage 11. A  notable mention also goes to Wanty-Gobert's Aimé De Gendt: 

© BORA - hansgrohe / Bettiniphoto

"Its a fairly tricky one because so little happened that I was struggling for a moment of inspiration. I'm going to pick Peter Sagan, even though he was a distant fourth on the day if you look at his sprint results in this race - that is the perfect, the perfect, green jersey contender. He is so consistent. And even on the days when you would not have expected him to excel, he's still up there, fourth, fifth, third, win a stage.

Photo credit: ASO / Alex BROADWAY

So what we are seeing is actually a Sagan doing the job perfectly for the green jersey. He doesn't have the kind of competition you want. I would love to see for example Michael Matthews, who had come here with sprint training, be able to take the fight to him. But I think Matthews is getting a bit demoralised with his own results. He's talking about the fact that he effectively is leading out other people now. But you can not take anything away from Peter Sagan. He is just Mr Consistency - and that is how you win the green jersey these days. He reminds me even more than usual of Sean Kelly. Kelly was a fantastic climber, able to perform on all sorts of terrain, and Sagan is doing that this year.

I'm not going to pick the obvious guys. I think Kluge did a really good job. We could have nominated Mike Teunissen because of his big dig. I actually even seriously thought about Lillian Calmejane for the effort of getting into the break on his home day. But what really struck me is I spent just five to ten minutes after the stage looking back at the results. We celebrate Julian Alaphilippe in yellow. We can think about how he's going to hang on longer than many people expect. So if we are celebrating the yellow jersey, let's take a moment and think what else for a different kind of rider who makes a supreme effort and Peter Sagan is doing the job in green. So a slightly leftfield pick today, but let's face it - its better than the stage deserves.

Photo credit: ASO / Alex BROADWAY

A notable mention for Aimé De Gendt from Wanty-Gobert simply for having a go once that break was just about caught, ostensibly to go out for the most combative rider of the day, but I think there was a chance that had the peloton switched off, as unlikely as it was ever going to be, there was certainly a chance that he could have driven them very, very close to the line for the stage win."

From BORA - hansgrohe

"It was a day for the sprinters and our team did again a very good job. I was in a good position in the final straight to the finish and I was powering ahead. At about 100 metres from the line, I had to abruptly change my course in order to avoid a rider in front of me. That meant I lost contact with the riders ahead of me and when they sprinted, I tried to close the gap but it was impossible. Despite this, I'm satisfied I was still able to finish fourth and maintain my lead in the green jersey." – Peter Sagan
 
"The day began relatively easy but in the final kilometres it turned into a hectic race with some crashes and in one of them, Gregor hit the ground. He lost some skin but it isn't anything serious. Peter took important points in the intermediate sprint and in the finale, the team brought him once again in a good position. He was able to catch the wheel of Viviani but then had to swerve in order to avoid one of the lead-out riders, a move that made him lose his position. Still, he managed to take fourth, which is a good result for the green jersey." – Enrico Poitschke, Sports Director

From Team Wanty-Gobert

Photo credit: Photo News

 
"It is nice to conclude my first breakaway in my first Tour de France with a moment on the podium for the combativity prize. I enjoyed the atmosphere and many Belgian encouragements during the first 120-130 kilometre, afterwards, we rode full in order to stay ahead of the bunch as long as possible. I felt strong in the breakaway and left my three French companions behind in the final, in order to make a stab at the combativity prize. My 30-second advantage on the peloton gave me hope for the stage victory until I arrived on a sloping section. I couldn't see the end of it, my legs were empty, and I realized I would finish behind the peloton rather than in front. It was nice to show my worth in the Tour de France!" – Aimé De Gendt

STAGE SUMMARY FROM ASO

Caleb Ewan claimed his first Tour de France victory on stage 11 in Toulouse, making it ten different winners of the first ten individual stages this year. The Australian pocket rocket outclassed Dylan Groenewegen in a very tight finish. Julian Alaphilippe retained the yellow jersey ahead of the Pyrenean stages.

Photo credit: ASO / Alex BROADWAY

Calmejane, Perez, Rosseto and Aimé De Gendt at the front

170 riders took the start of stage 11 in Albi. One non-starter: Rick Zabel (Katusha-Alpecin). Four riders took off from the gun: Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Energie), Aimé De Gendt (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Anthony Perez and Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis). It was highly expected that Albi native Calmejane and Toulouse native Perez would be part of the move from Albi to Toulouse. The sprinters’ teams put Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Soudal), Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) and Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick Step) at the head of the peloton to maintain the time difference under three minutes. It was 2’55’’ at the côte de Tonnac (km 32) where Perez passed first ahead of De Gendt and the maximum time difference was recorded at côte de Castelnau-de-Montmiral (km 77) where Perez was first as well.

Quintana and Porte in a crash

Perez also won the intermediate sprint at Gaillac (km 87). The gap was down to one minute with 50km to go. 30km before the end, a crash took Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Michael Woods (EF Education First), Richie Porte and former yellow jersey Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), among others, to the ground. Niki Terpstra (Total Direct Energie) was forced to pull out. The GC riders involved in the accident made it back to the pack. It was bunched up again at the front when De Gendt, the most aggressive rider of the day, was the last breakaway rider swallowed by the peloton with 4.5km to go.

Photo credit: ASO / Alex BROADWAY

Grand Tour trilogy for Ewan 

Jumbo-Visma took the command of the peloton in the last 4km of racing, with Wout van Aert and Amund Groendahl Jansen pulling hard. Katusha-Alpecin and Bora-Hansgrohe took over before the Dutch team went to the front again. Despite missing his lead out man Jasper De Buyst who got caught in a crash with 10km to go, Caleb Ewan of Lotto-Soudal perfectly positioned himself behind Dylan Groenewegen and pipped him on the line to become the sixth rider taking his first ever Tour de France victory this year. Like Elia Viviani in Nancy, he completed his Grand Tour trilogy at the age of 25 after winning one stage at La Vuelta and three at the Giro. He had four top 3 before he managed to reach his goal in his first participation to the Tour de France.

Also in Blog