2016 Tour de France – Stage 11

Carcassonne – Montpellier--162.5 km

It was wind and not mountains or stormy weather that created a bit of chaos Wednesday at the Tour de France.

Gusts up to 60 kilometers an hour led to a number of crashes, splits in the peloton and even a late four-man escape that included overall race leader Chris Froome and one of his Team Sky teammates and world road champion and points classification leader Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), who also had a teammate with him.

Brent tweeted, “Just for the record, calling that a ‘sprint’ stage is bit of an understatement. I prefer ‘filthy wind madness through tiny villages’ stage.”

At day’s end, BMC Racing Team co-leader Tejay van Garderen had climbed two spots to ninth in the overall standings.

The windy weather also led race organizers to shorten Thursday’s stage by 6.5 kilometers and eliminate a summit finish at Mont Ventoux.