Robert Gesink maintained himself in the top of the overall in the second day in the Pyrenees. The leader of Team LottoNL-Jumbo finished 15th in the eleventh stage of the Tour de France and the Dutchman remains eighth in the general classification.

Wednesday’s stage was 188 kilometres long and ran from Pau to Cauterets. Along the way the riders, climbed the Col d'Aspin and the Col du Tourmalet. Chris Froome (Sky) finished in the same group as Gesink and retained his yellow jersey. Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) won the stage after being in a breakaway.

Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) attacked on the final climb of the day, the Côte de Cauteret, to gain some seconds on the other contenders, but Gesink couldn’t follow. “I wanted to attack as well, because the favourites aren’t really marking, but Bauke beat me to it,” Gesink said. “He took off too fast for me.”

Pain in legs
Like a day earlier, many riders lost time. “Astana pulled really hard on the Tourmalet,” Gesink said. “We arrived at the top with only ten men. My legs hurt now. I really had to dig deep today, but I think many more men suffered.”

Ten Dam helps Gesink
Laurens ten Dam tried to get in the early break several times, but did not succeed in his mission.

“But still I was able to follow the favourites until very late. Luckily, I was of value to Robert today, as I had promised after the team time trial, but today took a lot of power. We need to make a good plan for tomorrow. If I’m going to attack like today again, I probably won’t be able to help Robert in the final kilometres. Then he needs to get his own bottles and from my personal experience, I know it is very nice to have someone with you in the final part of a mountain stage.”

Kelderman works
Wilco Kelderman is experiencing less and less trouble from his back injury. “There is improvement. I was able to do my job today. I could have gone all-in to the top, but that doesn’t make sense at the moment. I want to improve towards the last week, so that I can try something.”

Kruijswijk falls short
Steven Kruijswijk had a tough day in the Pyrenees. “I’m a little less than in the Giro. I noticed that I couldn’t follow the others on the Tourmalet. If attacking is not possible, it’s better to support Robert so we can do a nice Tour with the team.”

Tom Leezer
Tom Leezer hopped on his Bianchi on Wednesday with a bruised nose and suffered along the way. “Given the circumstances, I shouldn’t complain, but there were moments that I would’ve liked to feel better.”

Merijn Zeeman
Merijn Zeeman looked back on the 11th stage with satisfaction. “Laurens did what he could to get in the early brake, but unfortunately his groups never got any space. Robert made a good impression on the Tourmalet. After that, it was about consolidating and that went according to plan.