Polish Rider Wins Stage 11 - Brit Still In Yellow

The 2015 Tour de France is now slightly over half done -- with 11 of the 21 stages having been completed. Former Tour winner Christopher Froome has a rather substantial 2' 52" lead over American Tejay Van Garderen at this point. Can Froome maintain that lead and win this year? Can Van Garderen overtake him (or even stay on the podium)? Those questions will only be answered in the next 10 stages.

Stage 11 was a very tough 188 kilometer ride in the Pyrenees. It was won by Polish rider Rafal Majka (last year's winner of the Polka Dot jersey). Daniel Martin of Ireland finished in second, and Emmanuel Buchmann of Germany finished in third.

These mountain stages seem to get more difficult each day, and stage 12 is no different. It is a 195 kilometer course with a category 2 climb followed by two category 1 climbs, and then finishing at the top of an extremely difficult unrated climb.

Here are the standings after stage 11:

YELLOW JERSEY (Overall Leaders)
1. Christopher Froome, Great Britain (Team Sky)
2. Tejay Van Garderen, United States (BMC Racing)..........2' 52"
3. Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas, Colombia (Movistar)..........3' 09"
4. Alejandro Valverde Belmonte, Spain (Movistar)..........3' 59"
5. Geraint Thomas, Great Britain (Team Sky)..........4' 03"
6. Alberto Contador, Spain (Tinkoff-Saxo)..........4' 04"
7. Tony Gallopin, France (Lotto-Soudal)..........4' 33"
8. Robert Gesink, Netherlands (Lotto NL-Jumbo)..........4' 35"
9. Warren Barguil, France (Giant-Alpecin)..........6' 44"
10. Bauke Mollema, Netherlands (Trek Factory Racing)..........7' 05"

GREEN JERSEY (Best Sprinter)
1. Peter Sagan, Slovakia (Tinkoff-Saxo)..........239 pts
2. Andre Greipel, Germany (Lotto-Soudal)..........232 pts
3. John Degenkolb, Germany (Giant-Alpecin)..........184 pts
4. Mark Cavendish, Great Britain (ETIXX-Quick Step)..........172 pts
5. Bryan Coquard, Francee (Europcar)..........108 pts

POLKA DOT JERSEY (Best Climber)
1. Christopher Froome, Great Britain (Team Sky)..........57 pts
2. Richie Porte, Australia (Team Sky)..........40 pts
3. Rafal Majka, Poland (Tinkoff-Saxo)..........32 pts 
4. Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas, Colombia (Movistar)..........32 pts 
5. Robert Gesink, Netherlands (Lotto NL-Jumbo)..........28 pts 

WHITE JERSEY (Best Young Rider)
1. Nairo Alenander Quintano Rojas, Columbia (Movistar)
2. Warren Barguil, France (Giant-Alpecin)..........3' 35"
3. Romain Bardet, France (AG2R La Mondiale)..........18' 58"

TEAM LEADERS
1. Team Sky (Great Britain)
2. Movistar (Spain)..........2' 46"
3. Tinkoff-Saxo (Russia).........5' 29"
4. BMC Racing (United States)..........18' 33"
5. Astana Pro Team (Kazakhstan)..........24' 37"