Opinion

'You’ve got to be willing to lose to win' - Tour de France - Stage 11 - The Cooldown podcast

Cyrus and Aidan dive into a day that defied expectations, from GC skirmishes and team politics to the most pointless protest of the Tour so far.

by Aidan Burgess (Created with Cyrus Monk)
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Tour de France 2025
ASO / Charly Lopez

Stage 11 saw the breakaway go from kilometre zero and somehow never get caught, despite van der Poel, Wout, and Simmons ripping it behind. Jonas Abrahamsen took the win for Uno-X, but only after Mauro Schmidt spent the last kilometre drilling it on the front… and gifting it away. Meanwhile, Pogacar hit the deck hard with 4km to go. It looked brutal, but he got up, remounted, and thanks to an old-school show of respect, the peloton waited.

Who really made the call to sit up? And is UAE looking shakier than we thought? Domestique and D*ckhead of the Day, insider team pressure, protest etiquette, Fred Wright vs. draft physics, and a big preview of the Hautacam showdown coming tomorrow.

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