Geraint Thomas climbs into Tour de France yellow jersey with stage 11 win

Geraint Thomas claimed the stage win and the race leader’s yellow jersey on the Tour de France on Wednesday, with a powerful ride up the final climb of a gruelling 108km run from Albertville to La Rosiere.

Team Sky’s Thomas, who won the Critérium du Dauphiné last month, attacked near the end of the 11th stage. The 2017 Giro champion Tom Dumoulin took second place, 20 seconds behind Thomas and just ahead of his Team Sky colleague and defending champion Chris Froome.

Among the race’s other top contenders, France’s Romain Bardet, Italian Vincenzo Nibali and Colombian Nairo Quintana crossed the line 59 seconds behind Thomas.

The Welshman attacked from the group of favourites with 9km left of the 17.6km ascent at an average gradient of 5.8% to La Rosiere, and caught Dumoulin, who had attacked earlier.

The Dutchman could not sustain the pace of Thomas, who also caught and then left in his wake the Spaniard Mikel Nieve, the last survivor of the day’s breakaway.

“I just felt good today, I followed my instincts,” said Thomas, who now leads Froome by 1min 25sec and third-placed Dumoulin by 1min 44sec.

Several top contenders sustained heavy losses. Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, who was on the attack in the final climb, finished 3min 30sec off the pace, and Britain’s Adam Yates crossed the line 4min 42sec behind.

Last year’s runner-up Rigoberto Uran finished 26min 07sec down, killing off any hopes he may have had of a podium finish.

Thursday’s 12th stage is likely to see the favourites battle it out for yellow again with a summit finish on the iconic Alpe d’Huez.

Jeremy Whittle’s full report from the Tour de France to follow …