Key Takeaways: Tour de France Stage 11

Breaking down how a blockbuster GC stage snapped the fight for the Yellow Jersey into incredibly clear focus

On a day of all-out racing through the Massif Central mountain range in central France, Jonas Vingegaard signaled he was at this Tour de France with the intention and form to challenge for the overall win after unexpectedly taking the stage win with a bike throw in a two-up sprint over Tadej Pogačar. Vingegaard’s win came after he impressively reeled in the race leader on the day’s final climb following a long-range attack from Pogačar, which he and his UAE team had set up by making the stage as difficult as possible. This counter and stage win signaled that Vingegaard has fully recovered from the life-threatening crash he suffered this spring and has come to this race with the form to seriously challenge Pogačar for the overall win. Behind the two leaders, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič were the only two GC contenders to stay remotely close, finishing 25 seconds back after well-managed rides that saw them move into pole position to challenge for the overall podium while the best of the rest faded into the distance behind.

Stage Top Five
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +0
2) Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +0
3) Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +25
4) Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +25
5) Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +1’47

Time Select GC Contenders Gained(+)/Lost(-) On the Stage:
Vingegaard +0
Pogačar -1
Evenepoel -34
Roglič -40
Almeida -2’04
Rodríguez -2’10
Ayuso -4’54

Current GC Top Five:
1) Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +0
2) Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +1’06
3) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1’14
4) Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +2’15
5) João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4’20

Stage 11 Race Notebook

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197.9km-to-go: With the day favoring a breakaway due to it taking an immense amount of work for a GC team to control it, the start of the stages sees a scorching fast pace as breaks form, get a small gap and then are reeled in by teams who have missed the move. Interestingly, Visma’s Wout van Aert is attempting to get up the road, presumably to both attempt to win the stage and act as a potential satellite rider if Vingegaard catches him near the end.

78km-45.1km: A strong move eventually gets clear, including the EF duo of Ben Healy and Richard Carapaz, with 132km-to-go. However, Pogačar’s UAE team is set on contesting the stage, keeping the gap under two minutes. Up front, Movistar’s Oier Lazkano eventually increases the pace enough to thin the group down to just him and Healy.

32.4km: UAE’s blistering all-day pace eventually reels in Healy on the ever-steepening slopes of the Puy Mary climb as the race enters its brutal finale that features four categorized climbs. In the fast-closing GC group, Adam Yates is setting the pace for UAE. At the same time, Pogačar sits on his wheel, with his teammate João Almeida oddly sitting behind Pogačar (the spot usually reserved for a team leader). With Almeida sitting back and Juan Ayuso, the team’s other GC option/support rider, already dropped, Yates appears to be Pogačar’s last support rider.

31.6km: On the incredibly steep 14% slopes near the top of the Puy Mary climb, Pogačar unleashes a brutal attack. Behind, Jonas Vingegaard briefly responds before sitting up and looking over at Primož Roglič.

31.4km: As Remco Evenepoel continues at exactly the same pace as before the attack, Vingegaard and Roglič ride off together in pursuit of Pogačar.

31.3km: Vingegaard eventually pulls clear of Roglič and begins closing down on Pogačar, knowing that if he wants to keep Pogačar from pulling out a gap on the descent, he needs to be level with the race leader at the top of the climb.

31.1km: Pogačar crests the climb at the top solo, with Vingegaard just a few seconds behind in pursuit. Both riders push as hard as they can over the top to build up as much speed as possible going into the descent. Meanwhile, Evenepoel, in third place, awkwardly sits up and freewheels over the top, perhaps not quite realizing the value of seconds in this race situation.

28.3km-27.3km: Vingegaard immediately begins losing time to Pogačar on the technical, open descent, but after a flying Roglič catches him, he is able to follow Roglič’s wheel to keep the gap from continuing to extend out.

17.9km: Remco Evenepoel reels in Roglič and Vingegaard in the valley before the following climb, but after Vingegaard gets on the front and begins drilling a high pace, he is quickly dropped. The gap to Pogačar up front is 33 seconds and already dropping.

17.1km: After dropping Roglič, Vingegaard closes the gap to Pogačar in just 18 seconds over the course of a single kilometer.

14.7km: Vingegaard reels in Pogačar right before the climb's summit, which offers valuable time bonus seconds.

14.7km: Pogačar takes the sprint and the 8-second time bonus on offer, but it isn’t as definitive as one would expect.

10.8km-8.5km: On the ensuing descent, we can see Pogačar frantically grabbing for gels from his jersey pocket as Roglič and Evenepoel chase 37 seconds back. Pogačar’s behavior would suggest a hunger knock or bonk (e.g., sudden loss of energy) with such little time left in the race.

150m: Inside the uphill final kilometer, Pogačar is sitting in perfect position for the sprint while Vingegaard is stuck on the front. However, when they wind up their sprints, Pogačar looks visibly sluggish compared to his usual pop.

Finish: Vingegaard crosses the finish line to get a shocking photo-finish sprint win ahead of Pogačar to take the ten-second time bonus. Behind, Remco Evenepoel polishes off a strong chase when he crosses the line for third 25 seconds later. Despite crashing on the descent into the finish line and finishing half a minute later, Primož Roglič is given the same time as Evenepoel due to a highly bizarre interpretation of the 3km rule on an uphill finish on a mountain stage.

Three Key Takeaways