Thomas Dominates Alps and Takes Yellow Jersey!

Tom Dumoulin was inspirational on the final climb, but Geraint Thomas caught him and took the stage.  The three monster climbs ate up many riders.  The elite climbers created big time gaps.  Thomas now has the yellow jersey and his Team Sky mate Chris Froome is in second.  Tom Dumoulin sits in third overall.  Does Thomas look happy crossing the finish line? (click on image for a larger view)

We missed by roughly 10 minutes for the second straight stage.  And for the second straight stage, cutting power by just 2% would have allowed us to hit the winning time.

• Stage 11:  3h 29' 36" (actual), 3h 19' 02" (prediction), 10' 34" fast (-5.04% error)

I want to do better than 5%!  We were spot on until the final 17-km (11-mi) climb.  Thomas averaged 31.06 kph (19.30 mph).  Top downhill speed went to Tom Dumoulin who was clocked at 93.5 kph (58.1 mph).  I can't even imagine going that fast on a bike!  Many people have been waiting for tomorrow's Stage 12.  The third Alps stage is 175.5 km (109.1 mi) long and begins in Bourg-Saint-Maurice.  There are three monster Hors catégorie climbs, culminating in another uphill finish via the famous Alpe d'Huez.  Our prediction is given below.

• Stage 12:  5h 27' 15" (prediction)

I hope we won't have to cut 2% off our power to match the actual time.  We usually do better in the mountains, but teams' strategies have played a role in our errors.  Not as much shakeup yesterday, but massive shakeup today.  Will Froome help Thomas tomorrow or will Thomas go back to his role of helping Froome?  I'm anxious to see how it unfolds on that final, famous climb!