Gallopin wins Stage 11

(AP) — French rider Tony Gallopin led a late breakaway in a show of opportunism and savvy racing to win Wednesday’s 11th stage of the Tour de France as Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali retained the overall lead.
The peloton returned to action after the race’s first rest day with the 187.5-kilometer (116.3-mile) ride from Besancon to Oyonnax, not far from the Swiss border. The stage featured four small- to medium-sized hills near the end.
In the stage’s mini-drama, American Andrew Talansky, struggling through pain from crashes earlier in the race, dropped out of the pack and rode solo much of the day. In a show of grit, he finished some 32 minutes back — enough to qualify to ride another day under race rules.
Gallopin, who wore the yellow jersey for a day before Nibali recaptured it, first tried to break away with about 13 1/2 kilometers (8.4 miles) left but got reeled in. Then, in a late flurry, with less than 3 kilometers to go, the Lotto-Belisol rider tried again. This time, it worked.
He chiseled out a lead of several seconds and, desperately pedaling, held off a surging pack in the final several hundred meters.
Gallopin won by several bike lengths, just enough for him to have time to lift his arms in celebration, panting.