Tour de France : Parra Wins 11th Stage as Bauer Retains Overall Lead

Fabio Parra of Colombia won the 11th stage of the Tour de France Wednesday, the first climb through the Alps, by 20 seconds over Thierry Claveyrolat of France.

However, Steve Bauer of Canada kept the overall leader’s yellow jersey for the fourth straight day. His time of 40 hours 5 minutes 20 seconds gave him an 11-second advantage over Jerome Simon of France. Eric Breukink of Holland remained 43 seconds off the lead in third place.

Parra and several other mountain experts--including Luis Herrera of Colombia, Pedro Delgado of Spain and Raul Alcala of Mexico--moved forward in the standings as sprinters such as Sean Kelly of Ireland and Jean-Francois Bernard of France lost ground.

Parra, 28, finished the 144-mile stage in 6:04:54. The mountainous stage, which passed through western Switzerland, was the longest of the 21-day Tour.

Bauer finished 22nd in the stage, 23 seconds behind Parra.

Parra, who rides for the Kelme team, was eighth in the Tour in 1985 and sixth last year but generally has been overshadowed by Herrera.

Parra moved up from 28th to 11th overall as he broke away from the pack with 24 miles to go in the stage and rode by himself the rest of the way on the sunny, hot day.

Two-time winner Laurent Fignon of France, one of the favorites, finished 126th in Wednesday’s stage and is 91st overall, 23 minutes behind Bauer. Fignon, who has suffered from stomach problems and a knee infection during the Tour, said that he was unsure whether he could continue.

The 12th stage today is another mountainous trek of 141 miles from Morzine to Alpe d’Huez.