Froome on attack again as Sagan takes another stage

MONTPELLIER, France (Reuters) – Chris Froome showed again he will attack his rivals on every terrain as the Briton extended his overall lead in the Tour de France with a surprising move in Wednesday’s 11th stage, which was won with panache by world champion Peter Sagan.

Team Sky’s Froome, along with his lieutenant Geraint Thomas, jumped into the wheel of Sagan when the Slovak broke away from the bunch 12 kilometers from the finish with his Tinkoff teammate Maciej Bodnar of Poland.

The four built a 20-second advantage until the sprinters’ teams started their effort, but they could not catch the late fugitives.

Sagan, already a stage winner in Cherbourg, outsprinted Froome to take the day’s laurels and deliver an almost final blow to Mark Cavendish in the green jersey race after the Briton was left behind in the finale because of a mechanical problem.

“I won a stage that was made for the pure sprinters. It was a crazy day,” Sagan said.

Sagan, Froome and Bodnar finished six seconds ahead of the pack, which means the defending Tour champion extended his lead by 12 seconds as he collected six bonus seconds for his second place ahead of Thursday’s much-feared 12th stage (live on Eurosport at Sport5 at 3 p.m.) , which ends up Mont Ventoux.

Froome now leads fellow Briton Adam Yates (Orica-Bike Exchange) by 28 seconds and Ireland’s Dan Martin (Etixx-Quick Step) by 31 while last year’s runner-up Nairo Quintana (Movistar) of Colombia lies fourth 35 seconds off the pace.