Tour de France: Abrahamsen wins intense stage 11, Pogacar survives late crash

Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) won a blisteringly fast stage of the Tour de France starting and finishing in Toulouse.

The Norwegian rider crossed the line just ahead of Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) after a tense chase by Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who finished third, just seven seconds down.

In what was a blisteringly fast day in south-west France, Abrahamsen and Schmid had been part of a five-man break which escaped the clutches of a frantic peloton, which only settled in the final 60km. That group exploded on the penultimate climb, inside the final 15km, when Van der Poel set off in pursuit, but just about failed to get on terms.

Despite a series of attacks on the final climb, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) continues to lead the general classification.

If a dramatic day couldn't become more intense, World Champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)suffered an uncharacteristic crash, which occurred outside the 3km safety zone. However, sportingly, the GC group sat up and waited for him, so he remains second overall.

He and Schmid had escaped the moment the flag dropped at the start of the day with Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), and once they were joined by two others, held off the rampant peloton and concerted chases from other strong groups, including the one Van der Poel had joined.

Wednesday’s 156.8km, 11th stage started and finished in Toulouse, and though the race organisers billed it as one for the sprinters, the stage profile resembled those of the race’s opening days, where the punchier riders prevailed over the pure fast men.

There were attacks from the flag, with Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Swiss champion Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) quickly getting a gap. However, behind it seemed half the peloton wanted to join them.

Around 20km in, the leaders still had less than one minute, the incredible pace behind causing splits in the peloton, yellow jersey Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) caught behind one.

The first hour saw the race cover 52km, but still the leaders had only 1.10, with various groups trying to get across. In the end, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) made it, making contact with just over 80km of the day remaining, the peloton apparently satisfied. But, after a couple more kilometres of calm, the race kicked off again.

With 67km to go, the yellow jersey, Healy got away as part of a group of 15, including Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), who occupied third and fourth places respectively. Though those GC riders slipped back to the peloton, a smaller group emerged.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) and the ever-aggressive Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) set about closing the 50-second gap to the leading five.

Though they got to within 25 seconds, the chasing group struggled to get any closer, despite their indisputable strength. Only when Simmons attacked on the Côte de Vielle-Toulouse, 15km from the line, did the situation change, the American joining Wright and Burgaudeau, though Abrahamsen and Schmid remained at the front.

The two leaders took 22 seconds onto the final climb, the Côte de Pech David, with Van der Poel’s group a further 19 seconds down. On the climb, the Dutchman attacked hard, dropping the others, but he was still 20 seconds down on the two leaders when he crested the climb eight kilometres from the line, and though he got close, he had to settle for third place.