At it happened: GC contenders do battle in the Massif Central
Peloton tackle 211km from Évaux🍎-les-Bains to Le Lioran with 4,350 metres of vertical gain
Bonjour and welcome to Cyclingnews🍒' live coverage oಌf stage 11 of the 2024 Tour de France!
It's an earlier start on today's stage, with a brutally tough a🌜nd long mountain stage on the menu for the 171 remaining riders. 211km, over 4000 metres of elevation gain and six categorised climbs line today's testing route through the Massif Central.
It's the first big uphill day since stage 4 which finished in Valloire after race leader Tadej Pogačar stormed up the Col Du Galibier to ride solo for victory and take yellow. Will the Slovenian repeat his fortunes in the mountains or will another one of the 'big four' - Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) - take over and drop him?
Make sure to read Alasdair Fotheringham's preview of stage 11, with commentꦇs from EF Education-EasyPost's head DS Charly Wegelius and UAE Team Emirates sports manager Joxean Fernández Matxin. Also, take a look at the profile underneath with Wegelius predicting it will allow a strong break to get up the road and fight for victory.
Lidl-Trek will start ౠthe day a man down, or two if you think about all the work he does, with Tim 'El Tractor'🍸 Declercq unable to take the start in Évaux-les-Bains due to illness.
🚨 Unfortunately @Tim_Declercq will not start @LeTour Stage 11 due to illness.Tim has been feeling unwell for a couple of days and after yesterday’s stage it was decided that it was in his best interests to go home to recover. Get well soon, Tim 🫶#TDF2024 📸 Zac Williams pic.twitter.com/7jZIFyYhe8
Today's stage fini☂sh in Le Lioran brings back memories of Greg Van Avermaet's terrific breakaway win on stage 5 of the 2016 Tour de France, when he soloed to the line in the Massif Central to take his second Tour stage win and moved into the yellow jersey.
The final 50 kilometres are identical to that 2016 day, with the same climbs set to decide the day. Can Remco Evenepoel repeat the Belgian success of 'Golden Greg' eight years on from the GC group or will the 👍like🦋s of Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) step up as Belgium's star in central France?
Visma-Lease a Bike have extended Bart Lemmen's contract, with the former military man staying with the Dutch squad until at least 2027. He'll be on protection duty today for Jonas Vingegaard, as the two-time defending Tour champions continued his battle with race leader Pogačar.
🚨 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙀𝙭𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 🚨 From the Royal Dutch Airforce to the Tour de France. We are excited to announce that Bart Lemmen will be staying with Team Visma | Lease a Bike for an extra two years! To celebrate, his former colleagues at @Kon_Luchtmacht sent in a… pic.twitter.com/aTULNWZxOH
Just over an hour away from the départ fictif and neutralised roll-out from Évaux-les-Bains at 11:20 local time in Franc𒁃e (CEST).
If you missed yesterday's sprint stage, catch up with all the action from the race report here. It was a quiet day until the final sprint, where Mathieu van der Poel and Alpecin-Deceuninck put on the perfect lead-out♔ display to fin🍎ally get their sprinter Jasper Philipsen to the line in first:
Tour de France: Jasper Philipsen launches well-timed sprint ahead of Girmay for stage 10 victory
With the mental and physical duel between Pogačar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel only developing as the days go on, read more from Barry Ryan on the yellow jersey's thought about racing with intelligence and how the second week at the Tour might unfold:
Could Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) pos𝔍sibly double up on stage wins to⛦day? There will be great support for him today in central France.
Bardet’s magic corner ✨🇫🇷 Merci for the efforts everyone! We can’t wait for the atmosphere! Today will be a special one 🤩Have fun and above all, respect the riders 🫶🏻#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/OlHsvPvR48
Today could be the first serious shake up of the GC for a while. Remind yourself here of what the current rankings are.
The riders will be setting off in about half an hour, f꧒or the unofficial start. Unlike yesterday, expect many to be preparing themselves for a fast start, and to try and get into the day’s break.
With a breakaway victory expected by many, this could be chaos at the start of the stage, as multiple riders try to get up 𝕴the road - and therefore a hard one for the GC teams to control. It could be a smart move for them to get some of their 💖own riders into the break, and force their rival teams to chase.
There are six categorised climbs in total today, including the category one Puy Mary. This is seriously tough terrain, and whoever wins the stage will have to have very good climbi🌜ܫng legs - and it could also be a day certain GC contenders are seeking to gain time on.
The riders are moving, as the 4.4km neutralised section begins.There will be some wanting to make their way to the front, to launch attacks right fro⛎m the off.
Warren Barguil has a puncture. As a strong climber a long way down the GC, he’s one of t🔴he men we might see try to get up the road after the racing starts in a 🐼few minutes.
Now Jan Tratnik has a rear wheel change. He’ll 💮likely be on defensive duty, marking out any dangerous moves for Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Jonas Vingegaard.
211KM TO GO
And we're off!
Surprise, surprise, Jonas Abrahamsen i꧟s already one of the ride⛎rs at the front trying to go clear. That man can't stop attacking.
Lots of attempts b⛎eing made by many different riders, but nobody had managed to get any sort of gap yet.
Richard Carapaz is the first rider to get a gap, but it's only of a few bike lengths, ahead of swathes 🥂of riders trying to join him
He's sat up for now, and the peloton is back𝔉 together.
The pa𝓀ttern remains the same, with moves being made con🌠stantly but nobody able to gain even a bike length.
Now 💛a first group has formed: Quentin Pacher, Kévin Vauquelin and Tobias Joha🍌nnessen.
They have ten seconds on the peloton.
200KM TO GO
Now it's 20 seconds for the leading trio.
More attacks being made from the peloton, with a group of about 8 tryin𒅌g to go clear.
Carapaz is involv𝓀ed in that group again, but it too ha▨s been brought back.
This is interesting - Wout van Aert is attackin🐻g.
Van Aert has four other riders with him.
Two riders have gone down on a descent - Kobe Goossens and Frank ღvan ༺den Broek Both are back up and riding, but Goossens looks quite badly bruised.
Those two riders were in a group right at the front of the peloton trying to 💃go clear, behind an EF rider leading the descent.&📖nbsp;
Ben Healy was that EF rider, and Van Aert🎃 is still one of the riders with him with a gap on the peloton.
There are aꦉbout a dozen riders in this chase group.
Lots of very strong riders in this group - as well as🔜 Healy and Van Aert, there is Williams, Zingle, Lazkano, Pidcock, Kwiatkowski, Armirail, Madouas, Gregoire, Carapaz, Tejada, Onley.
Lidl-Trek are trying to shut it down in the𝄹 peloton, 🐎but are 20 seconds adrift.
190KM TO GO
That group is about to catch the leading trio.
They have now engulfed that trio, but the peloton are still charging after them. UAE have 🐟put Tim Wellens at the sfront, and brought them to within six seconds.
The breakaway group has now split in two, with the latte♍r half caught by the peloton.
Healy i🦄s pressing on at the front, with Vauquelꦫin on his wheel.
Meanwhile at the back 💃of the race, Goossens is receiving𝐆 attention from the medical car.
The race is all back together, and thus 🧔begins the next round of attacks. Van Gils is the next to try.
His move came𝐆 to nothing, but Lapeira an 💜Bernard have a gap of a few seconds now.
They too have been brought back.
It really seemed that we'd had our break of the day form earlier, until UAE Team Emirates decided to chase it down. With no GC rider present in it, we can only assume that they fancy the stage win today for Tadej Pogačar, and didn't want to strong a break to chase down.
An 8 man group has now formed, a few seconds ahead of a 15-man chase, which is a few💃 seconds ahead of🤡 the peloton.
Two Intermarch&ea𝄹cute; -꧋ Wanty riders are setting the pace, and going deep to try and make this move stick.
Christophe Laporte h💞as jumped clear, and has a sizable gap of five seconds. With Van Aert attacking earlier, clearly Visma-Lease a Bike want a rider up the road.
The rest of the peloton is all together again, me🌱aning Laporte is the only man out in ﷺfront.
Laporte too has been brought back now.
180KM TO GO
So we're over 30km into the stage, and still no br🅺eakaway formed. And this co✅uld go on for a while yet!
It's calmed down a li♏ttle, with no committed moves beꦗing made the last few kilometres. It's only a matter of time though.
Anꦺd now Alberto Bettiol does exactly that, taking teammate Ben🌺 Healy an two others with him.
Again, the elastic hasn't snapped, and 🏅they've been joined by multiple more riders.
It's EF who are the main agressors. Bettiol is no longer at the front, but Healy a꧂n Carapaz are taking turns at the fr🐠ont instead.
A new group of 🔴about ten has now formed, featuring none of those E❀F riders.
170KM TO GO
They too have been shut down. Pogačar is up near the front, patrolling.
Ion Izagirre is a rider who you might have expected to be in the mix today, but is off the back of the peloton an💙d doesn't 𒐪look right - perhaps he is sick?
Richard Carap🀅az and Cristián Rodríguez are the first riders in a while to get a gap. The pair has 1💮0 seconds on the peloton.
There's a flurry of attempted counter-attacks in the peloton, but they remain together, 13 seconds behind Carapaz and Rodrígueᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ🅠ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚz.
We’ve been racing fo🐼r an hour now, and still no break. This has been breathless! Things are looking good for Carapaz and Rodríguez though, who now have a lead of 15 seconds.
Izagirre isn't the only rider struggling off the back today.🦩 His Cofidis teammate Alexis Renard is also adrift, as is 🔯Fred Wright.
Carapaz and Rodríguez have company About seven riders have joined them, and the peloton is 11 seconds a🍸drift.
This is the most promising things have looked for a🔜 breakaway group for a long time. Could this be the one?
Magnus Cort, Clément Russo, Anthony Turgis, Alex Zingle, Sylvain Dillier and Mattéo Vercher are the riders who have joined Carapaz and Rodr&iacu♌te;guez.
Very bad news for Cofidis -𓄧 both Izagirre and Renard have both just abandoned. There's clearly some kind of problem in the Cofidis ranks.
Multiple riders are pouncing out of the peloton 𝐆trying to join this lead group, including Pidcock.🅺
150KM TO GO
The front group still has 15 seconds.
Toms Skujiņš, Paul Lapeira and Frank van den Broek have manage to join the leaders.
The gap is up to 20 seconds, but still ne🐲w attacks are being made from the peloton, including one from Romain Bardet.
We're onl🐎y a few kilometres away from the intermediate sprint, which Girmay an Philipsen are aware of. Philipsen has tried to sneak away, but is being marked by the green jersey.
Turgis has jumped clear from the rest of the break, seemingl🎃y to gain maximum points at the sprint. He crosses the line first, and ꦺtakes 20 points.
Turgi🎀s was🌊 third in the points classification, and now moves up to third.
A mechanical for Felix Gall in the peloton.
There is one other rider in t🌟he break we didn't notice - Stephen Williams. He's a potential stage winner today, and 🌟will like the punchy climbs coming later on.
This b๊reak still isn't been le go by the peloton, though, which are bringing them back again, the gap back down ཧto under 10 seconds.
140KM TO GO
So in full, the twelve man lead group consists of: Magnus Cort, Clément Russo, Anthony Turgis, Alex Zingle, Silvan Dillier, Mattéo Vercher, Richard Carapaz, Cristián Rodríguez, Toms Skujiņš, Paul Lapeira, Frank van den Broek and Stevie Williams. They're lead is only 10 seconds overr the peloton.
The pel💟oton is closing down on the l෴eading twelve, and is splitting up in the proccess.
Those splits seemed to have healed, while the leading dozen only have a few🉐 seconds of an advantage.
Today has already been exhausting for the riders, and they ha💖ven't even hit a climb yet! The first is coming in a few kilometres.
The twelve riders has now been caught, but from it Carapaz has managed t☂o attack with a Vercher, and the pair have opened up a gap on the downhill they're currently descending.
Carapaz and Vercher have built a lead of 6 seconds on the descent, and have now started the Côtꦏe de Mouilloux (which is 1.9km at 6.4%).
A group of four is chasing the leading duo, a few secon✱ds behind.
Riders are being dropped out the peloton on this clim🌄bs, and many are struggling at the back Surprisingly, one of those riders is Pello Bilbao, who is up there on GC in fifteenth.
Healy, Lazkano, La♛peira and Onley are the four riders cha♑sing Carapaz and Vercher.
And those six rider𓆏s have come together 🌳as they go over the top of the climb.
Lazkano was first over the climb, taking the o🐼ne KOM point on offer.
130KM TO GO
These six riders have a lead of 14 seconds🧜 on the peloton. Could this be the day's b❀reak? It feels like we've asked that question many times already about many different other groups, so it could all change again yet.
20 seconds for this leaꦫd group now. That's as big as anything we've seen today.
We're on the next climb now, the Cô🅷te de Lar✱odde. They'll be riding up it for 3.7km, up steep slopes of 6%.
Bike change for Bardet in the peloton. He was unsuccessful in his earlier attempt to get i🅷nto the break.
This is lookin🔥g good for the break. They're le♔ad has grown to 47 seconds on this climb.
A reminder of the six riders in th🐻e ♛lead group: Richard Carapaz, Mattéo Vercher, Ben Healy, Oier Lazkano, Oscar Onley and Paul Lapeira.
This was Carapaz and Vercher൩ on the descent earlier, where they made the gap that ensured their presence in the group🌳 that now leads the race.
Crucially, Carapaz has Healy with him. The Irishman is doing lots of the pace-setting o𒈔n this climb, and looking as power🌜ful as ever despite all the work he's in already today.
Carapaz made a point of coming through to take the maximum points at the top of the climb. Maybe he has his eye on the polka-dot jersey, havi✤ng fallen out of GC contention.
120KM TO GO
The peloton is now 1-30 adrift of the leading sextet, but an all-French chase group has formed in between, containing Bruno Armirail, Julian Bernard, Guillaume Martin, Axel Zingle and Romain Gr🐷égoire.
𒈔Zingle has been dropped from that chase group, unable to stay wi🐬th the pace on the undulating terrain.
The chase group is 30 seconds behind. They face a big ♑chase, but ꦑwill hope to make it from here.
Interestingly, none of the six riders in the lead group have ever won a stage at the Tour de France before. Although in Carapaz’s case, it’s more of a technicality ♛- he crossed the line arm in arm with Ineos teammate Michal Kwiatkowski at 𝕴a stage during the 2020 edition.
110KM TO GO
The chasers have the lead grouಞp in their sights now, and are only a feღw seconds behind.
That's it, the two groups have come together.
So we now h😼ave a ten-man group at the front of the race, two minutes ahead of the peloton: Richard Carapaz, Mattéo Vercher, Ben Healy, Oier Lazkano, Oscar Onle♔y, Paul Lapeira, Romain Grégoire, Julian Bernard, Guillaume Martin and Bruno Armirail.
The coming together of the groups means EF are no longer the only team with two men at 👍the front. Decathlon A๊G2R now has Paul Lapeira and Bruno Armirail. Neither rider has the climbing credentials of EF's Carapaz, but the punchy nature of those to come could suit Lapeira.
For the first time all day, things are relaxed out there. The peloton are content to let this brea♚k maintain a lead for now, and we don’t have another climb for about another 55km.
100KM TO GO
The gap is now 2-27. UAE Team Emirates are leading the peloton, and, based on how they chased down moves earlier on, they will keep the lead group within sight, so they can bring them back and try to deliver Tadej Pogačar for a stage win.
The lull ༺in proceedings has given Kobe Goossens a chance to drop back and get more help from the medical car. He’s badly bashed up from his crash earlier, but still p🅷resent in the peloton.
UAE Team Emirates are certainly riding like a team that doesn't wꦫant to ive the break too much leeway. They've already brought the gap down to under two minutes.
90KM TO GO
With 90km to go, the gap is 1-ꦑ55. The break will need more than that ahead before they st🍌art climbing again if they're to survive to contest the stage win.
Here's the break of the day eღarlier, back when they were trying to secure a lead over the peloton. You can see from their expressions how hard they had to go.
80KM TO GO
The gap is holding steady, at two minutes. Though the next official climb isn’t for another 30 kilometres o𝓡r so, they've been climbing up an uncategorised hill these past few kilometres, and the road will rise for a while before the start of that upcoming hill. There’s no straightforward stretch of road all day.
This unclassified rise is hard enough for some riders to be dropped out of the peloton, including Biniam Girmay🍰 in 🐼the green jersey.
UAE Team Emirates leꩲading the peloton at a steady pace, as they have been for several kilometres now.&nb💎sp;
Tim Wellens and N🌄ils Politt are the tꦕwo UAE riders doing all the work. They are holding back their climbing domestiques for later.
70KM TO GO
UAE Te🌳am Emirates are starting to wind it in. The gap’s down to 1-30, and this🌳 is looking increasingly likely that, despite all their efforts to get up the road, the break won’t succeed.
Decathlon are getting anxiꦿous in the break. Armirail is at the front, and has notably increased the pace, with the riders at the back having to strain not to get dropped.
60KM TO GO
The increase in pace has had some effect, as the gap grows out a bit again to 1-45. That's still not nearly enough for them to be c𝓡omfortable, though.
UAE Team Emirates are showing the benefits of having top classics specialists for domestiques on terrain like this. All on their own, Tim Wellens and Nils Politt have managed to control the gap, meaning climbing domestiques Marc Soler and Pavel Sivakov 🤡can be kept in reserve.
The riders are ascending gradually, as they approach the official start of the category♐ two Col de Neronne. This one sets the tone for the 😼hills to come, in that it’s short (3.9km), but steep (8.7%).
It’s still two minut🥂es between the break and the peloton. We can expect the former group to start breaking on the upcoming 💛hill, as the superior climbers up the pace in a bid to hold off the peloton and win the stage.
On paper, Carapaz is the strong🌜est climber, though will he be fatigued from all of his efforts earlier, when he was the main instigator for forming this group in the first place?
Martin and Onley are also recognised primarily as climbers, but the punchy nature of these climbs might instead suit 🍌a rider like Grégoire or Lapeira.
50KM TO GO
The gap now is 1-55. Still the long dra꧟g before the official climb continues.
More riders are now contributing to the pace-setting in the peloton, with Soudal-QuickStep forming a train next to the UAEs. For the latter, Wellens is done and dropped, and Marc Sol🔥er is now leading the line.
The break have just started the climb.
A crash in the peloton, and it's Wout van Aert.
Van Aert was leading ♍the peloton for Visma-Lease a Bike on the run-in to the climb, and🔯 overshot a corner.
He looks OK, and is back up, but 𒀰iౠs needing to fix his bike before he can continue.
Lazkano and Healy have gone c♉lear from the 🌊rest of the break on the climb.
🌸However, they are now only 55 seconds ahead of the pelo🌳ton.
Lazkano drops Healy.
UAE Team Emirates have taken over control of the peloton again on the climb, with three men ahead of Pogačar.
Sivakov, Yates and Almeida are the three teammates with Pogačar
Lots of riders being dropped out the peloton now, including Barguil and Bardet, two of the ma🎉ny riders who tried to get into the day's break.
Back♔ out front, Carapaz has bridged up to He💝aly, and together are chasing Lazkano.
Healy has now been given the go-ahead to ride away from Carapaz, ꦅand is only a few seconds away from Lazkano.
Pogačar might have three teammates with him, but Vingegaard is also well-protected, with Jorgenson, Benoot and it seems another Visma-Lease a Bike rider still with him.
Healy h🌞as caught Lazkano, 500 metres fro𓆏m the top of the climb.
Healy reaches the top of the climb first to take maximum points, with Lazkano on 𒁏his wheel.
Carap൲az crests it 30 seconds later, followed by Onley and Bernard a bit further down, and⛎ then the UAE-led peloton 1-30 later.
40KM TO GO
1-20 now b꧋etween Healy and Lazkano at the front, and the peloton. They will descend for only a few kilometres before starting the next climb, the Puy M😼ary.
Pogačar now has a fourth teammate with him, in Juan Ayuso. The Spaniard was hanging towards the back of the peloton on the climb, but is back at the front again, and doesn't appear to be suffering.
Healy and Lazkano have ꦯstarted climbing Puy Mary. This is the hardest climb of the day, averaging a painful 7.9% for 5.3km.
And now, one minute later, the peloton start the climb. UAE Team Emirates are bound to set a fierce pace - and will this also be where Pogačar makes his move?
Sivakov still leads, and has Ayuso, Almeida and Yates behind him ahead of Pogačar.
Meanwhile a the front, Cara𒈔paz hasn't given up yet, and joined back up with Healy🎐 and Lazkano.
While there are 5 UAE riders in the peloton, there are four Vismas (Vingegaard, Benoot, Jorgenson and Kelderman), 2 Boras (Roglič and Hindley), 2 Soudal-QuickSteps (Evenepoel and Landa) and 3 Ineos (Rodriguez, Bernal, De Plus).
Correction, there are 3 Soudal riders: Ilan Van Wil⭕der is also there for Evenepoel.
Sivakov is finished, and Ayuso takes over.
Ayuso's turn didn✃'t last long, and Yates has taken over.
The peloton is really starting to thin now under 🤪the pace of Yates. Hindley, Ayuso, Benoot🉐, Meintjes are all dropped.
Berna༒l, Mas are also dropped, riding alongs🥂ide Ayuso.
Lazkano is caught, as was Carapaz earlier, leav𓃲ing Healy as th🍸e last man out front.
That's it Healy is caught. The d♉ay is over for the breakaway.
There are only ten riders left in the peloton: Adam Yates, Almeida, Pogačar, Roglič, Vingegaard, Evenepoel, Landa, Rodriguez, Ciccone, and a Visma-Lease a Bike rider (either Jorgenson or Kelderman).
31.5KM TO GO
Pogačar attacks!
Nobody has followed him.
Vingegaard and Roglič lead the chase behind, Evenepoel is further behind.
Now Vingegaard is dropping Roglič.
Pogačar reaches the top of the climb, Vingegaard just 2 seconds behind, Roglič just a few seconds behind him.
Now Evenepoe🎉l reaches the top, still further adrift.&n🌳bsp;
30KM TO GO
They're descending now, and all four of the GC favourites are alone! Pogačar leads, 11 seconds ahead of Vingegaard, who's 5 seconds ahead of Roglič, who's 15 seconds ahead of Evenepoel.
Roglič has caught Vingegaard, just as he did on the descent of the Galibier during stage four.
Pogačar must have had this descent in mind when he decided to attack so early, remembering how much time he gained on Vingegaard on the Galibier.
Evenepoel has been caught by the next group on the road, which consists of Rodriguez, Adam Yates, Almeida, Kelderman, Landa and Ciccone𓂃.
Dodgy moment for Pogačar, who's bike locks for a split second. He's taking risks on this descent!
It's paying off in terms of his gap - he's now 21 seconds ahead of Vingegaard and Roglič.
Meanwhile the Even🦋epoel group is a fur𒁃ther 15 seconds behind.
Further down the road, there's a much more relaxed atmosphere on the Puy Mary. Romain Bardet is riding through the section where his fan clubꦜ has assembled to pay homage to him. ඣHe's being mobbed by fans all along the road!
Just as he did on the Galibier, Rodriguez has flown down this descent, and has led himself, Yates, Almeida, Ciccone and Evenepoel onto the wheels of Roglič and Vingegaard.
Pogačar has now started the next climb, with a lead of 35 seconds over that group.
This climb is🍸 Col du Perthus, and it's 4.5k𝓀m at 8.2%.
Vingegaard has upped the pace again on this climb, and he and Roglič are drifting clear from the rest of the group.
Evenepoel is also with them both.
Now Evenepoel is being dropped by the other two. They are still 33 seconds behind Pogačar.
The gap between Pogačar and the 2 chasers appers to be coming down. It's being reported as 25 seconds.
Vingegaard attacks! He's dropped Roglič, and is motoring up the climb now.
There are 20 seconds already between Vingegaard and Roglič, and just 15 now between Pogačar and Vingegaard. Vingegaard is climbing this hill faster than anyone else on the road.
Still one kilometre left to climb for Pogačar.
Evenepoel has now caught Roglič. They're 35 seconds behind Vingegaard, and 50 behind Pogačar.
Pogačar will really want to still have something of a gap over Vingegaard by the top of the climb. If he's still out front, he'll hope to extend his lead again on the descent.
Vingegaard is cꦚlosing him down though, he has hiღm in sight.
And he's caught him! Just a few m🌠etres from the top.
The two sprint for the bonus seconds, and Pogačar wins it. But that's a huge morale boost for Vingegaard, given the size of the deficit at the start of the climb.
Evenepoel and Roglič reach the top of the climb about 45 seconds later, Evenepoel claiming the remaining two bonus seconds.
This time, Vingegaard is working with Pogačar. He's setting the pace on the descent.
Here's Romain Bard✃et soaking up the applause of his fan club.
10KM TO GO
35 seconds for Pogačar and Vingegaard. Still one more climb to come, the Col de Font-de-Cère, which is easier than the two that preceeded it.
Evenepoel and Roglič are the two riders who are 38 seconds behind, while Rodriguez is in a group 50 seconds behind them.
Pogačar and Vingegaard are on the shallow lower slopes of the final climb now.
They're both ta𝔍king turns, but neither seems fully committed.
With Carlos Rodríguez in the group behind Evenepoel and Roglič are Almeida, Adam Yates, Ciccone and Landa.
Pogačar and Vingegaard are now at the official start of the Col de Font-de-Cère, where the gradient kicks up to 5.8% for 3.3km. Is that too shallow for any of them to make a gap with an attack?
5KM TO GO
Still Pogačar and Vingegaard are together with Roglič and Evenepoel 40 seconds behind them.
1km to the top for the two leaders.
Tadej Pogačar in the yellow jersey, before he was caught by Vingegaard.
Vingegaard is pulling for the final kilometre of this climb. It seems he wants to set a pace fast enough to discourage another Pogačar attack.
The two leaders reach the top together. Now, the question is who will win the two-up sprint at the finish? Not only is there is a stage win on offer, there are also more bonus seconds.&nbs💯p;
Evenepoel and Roglič reach the top, 30 seconds later. They've limited their losses well today.
Evenepoel has upped the pace on the descent, and Roglič is struggling to hang on to him.
A problem for Roglič, who has had to stop.
It seems he crashed.
Meanwhile the leaders are approaching th♒e finish, 400 metres꧅ to go.
Vingegaarဣd is being fo🍬rced to lead out the sprint.
He's slowe♊d the pace and keeps looking behind him, in anticipation of the spri🐎nt.
Vingegaard goes, and Pogačar is struggling to pass him...
..Vingegaard wins!
Evenepoel arrives now, 25 seconds later.
Now here comes Roglič. The good news he's back on his bike, the bad news is he stands to lose time.
He reaches the line 55 seconds. That crash cꦰost him about half a minute, and who knows what physical damage?
Now comes the next group, being le🌄d by Ciccone. He arrives at 1-46, followed by Almieda, Yates and Landa, with Rodríguez distenced by a few seconds at the end.
Pogačar must have been tired by the finish, as you'd never normally expect him to lose to Vingegaard in a sprint.
Vingegaard is getting very emotional durꦫing the post-race interview, talking about how he got from his crash a few months ago to here. For a man who rearely𒐪 shows emotion, that must have meant an awful lot to him.
Here are today's stage rankings:
1 Jonas Vingegaard
2 Tadej Pogačar at same time
3 Remco Evenepoel at 25secs
4 Primož Roglič at 55secs
5 Giulio Ciccone at 1-47
6 João Almeida at 1-49
7 Adam Yates
8 Mikel Landa both at same time
9 Carlos Rodríguez at 1-55
10 Felix Gall at 2-38
And here' the updated GC. Despite his losses, Evenepoel just about hangs on to second overall൩.
1 Tadej Pogačar
2 Remco Evenepoel at 1-06
3 Jonas Vingegaard at 1-14
4 Primož Roglič at 2-45
5 João Almeida at 4-20
6 Carlos Rodríguez at 4-40
7 Mikel Landa at 5-38
8 Adam Yates at 6-59
9 Juan Ayuso at 7-09
10 Giulio Ciccone at 7-36
Vingegaard had𝄹 to dig deep right to the line, but just about had the energy to celebrate after crossing it.
Incidentally, Pogačar took enough points to move into the lead of the King of the Mountains classification, but Abrahamsen will still wear the polka-dot jersey tomorrow as the Slovenian sports yellow.
That was yet another epic battle between the two great Tour de France contenders of their generation, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. Pogačar defends the yellow jersey for now, only conceding one second due to bonus seconds earned earlier in the stage, but this was a victory for Vingegaard, both in terms of the stage win, and the psychological blow of coming back from so far behind to catch his rival on terrain supposedly better suited to him.
The stage is set for another thriller between these tw🔯o.
Some news coming in now - it seems Primož Roglič has been reprieved, and been awarded the same time as Remco Evenepoel. His crash came within the final 3km, so, despite this not being a sprint stage, so he will only lose 25 seconds to the two leaders, rather than 55.
Primož Roglič came down with 1.1km to go on the way to the finish line in Le Lioran. Here are some details on his unplanned episode in the chase with Evenepoel.
Primož Roglič's Tour de France GC hopes saved by modified 3km rule after late crash on stage 11
Roglič shown here crossing the finish line in fourth, giving same time as Evenepoel
"Now we can all say that it's verified that he's in top shape. He beat me really good on the line. I did a pretty good sprint after that kind of stage. So it was a really tough day, but I enjoyed it, and it was a really beautiful day out there," Pogačar said about the two-up sprint against Vingegaard.
Vingegaard was quite emotional at the finish, saying: "I made it back and started relaying with him, and yeah, bit surpr꧒ised I could beat him in the sprint. But of course, yeah, it means so much to me. I'm so happy about the victory today. It's yeah, it's really, I would never have thought this three months ago.
"I'm just happy to be here and yeah, it means so much to win a stage, especially to win it for my family. Yeah, they were there supporting me the wh❀ole ti🦄me."
More on Jonas Vingegaard in our latest story from stage 11 at the Tour de Franceꦕ.
He’s still in the game. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) came through an arduous stage 11 of the Tour de France with his second place overall still intact despite losing 25 seconds to top favourites Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike). And as the Belgian pointed out, time-wise, the size of his setback was smaller than in the Alps, too.
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