DISCUSSION Tour de France Stage 11 | Did the peloton do the right thing by waiting for Pogacar?

After the first rest day of the week, the peloton faced a tricky stage in the south of France, which served as a prelude to what we will see tomorrow in the Pyrenees.

Continuing the trend from the first week, the pace at the beginning of the stage was exceptionally fast. It took quite a while before a breakaway group was established, which included Jonas Abrahamsen, Mauro Schmid, Fred Wright, Davide Ballerini, and Mathieu Burgaudeau.

A chasing group was formed soon after, including some of the most in-form classics specialists, like Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Quinn Simmons, Arnaud de Lie, and Axel Laurance.

On the final climb of the day, the front group fragmented after Abrahamsen attacked, with Schmid perfectly glued to his wheel. The chasing group also saw Van der Poel attack, but he was unable to hunt down the duo in front. Jonas Abrahamsen won the sprint, giving Uno-X their first-ever win in the Tour de France.

The peloton also had a really busy day. Team Visma | Lease a Bike tried once again to explode the race, with Jonas Vingegaard this time attacking in first person. The dramatic moment of the stage was Tadej Pogacar crashing with just 4 km to go. The crash did not have serious consequences, apparently, and the Slovenian did not lose time with the rest of the GC contenders.

Once the stage finished, we asked some of our writers to share their thoughts and main takeaways about what happened today.

Masterful day of racing, full speed from start to finish with some of the very best classic riders and rouleurs battling for the stage win whilst simultaneously having an unpredictable and exciting GC battle. Couldn't ask for more really, it was a proper Tour stage and at the same time the fatigue coming from this 'easy' day can create even more interesting situations later on.

Stage win: Jonas Abrahamsen did what he does best, ride for hours and hours at the limit and simply have an endurance ability that few riders can match. He wasn't the strongest climber or sprinter, but was a very complete rider who benefited from a day of racing with no rest at any point. Mauro Schmid rode a very very strong stage to, his very best level, but it was not enough in the final sprint.

Wout van Aert rode so much to form a breakaway and put Visma in the front so I was surprised he still had the legs in the finale to be in contention, so it was beautiful to see another Van Aert-van der Poel battle. But the group they were in, together with Arnaud de Lie, Axel Laurance and Quinn Simmons is just simply unbelievable - five of the strongest and most in-form classics specialists in the race.

GC: Vingegaard's early attack was a display of what Visma is trying to do in this race, using opportunities to try and surprise, and use their team to try and get the jump on Pogacar. It didn't work but it was a proper attack, perfectly timed and with van Aert in front to push Vingegaard.

Pogacar actually was caught by surprise which is hard to understand because he knows the dangers of the Dane and having Visma men in front. But he closed the gap. That attack was the highlight of the day for me.

On the final climb he tried again over the summit, not on the climb which means Visma finally understood they should be going on the tricky moments of the race... Then Pogacar's crash, which I think won't have many consequences in the race, but it meant for an anti-climatic finale as the GC action completely stopped.

Tomorrow we face the mountains for the first time, with riders climbing a high mountain for the first time in weeks and the heat present. A day for big gaps and potential explosions for some men.

I don’t know what the outcome of the Tour de France will be, but one thing is clear to me: even if Pogacar wins the race for the fourth time in his career, it is difficult to fault Team Visma. They have tried to surprise Tadej since day one, even in days when you would usually not expect them to do so, like today.

I think Pogacar was not expecting such a move today; he was caught off guard by Vingegaard’s attack, but he managed to close the gap really fast. It was one of the first times we saw the Dane attack Tadej in first person, so it was an interesting move from the tactical point of view.

The crash should not have a big impact on the race. Pogacar did not look badly hurt, and apparently he should only have some scratches and a little bit of skin off. Let’s see how he recovers tomorrow, because the climb at Hautacam is very demanding.

I've seen quite a bit of debate around the fact that the peloton waited for Pogacar after his crash, people saying no one waited for Almeida when he fell, or for Enric Mas either… But I don’t think it's such a big deal.

The race situation was different this time. The pace wasn’t full-on when the crash happened, so it's not surprising that the peloton chose to wait. Pogacar is a highly respected rider in the bunch, and honestly, he’d be the first to do the same if something like that happened to Vingegaard, for example.

Jonas Abrahamsen got a very well-deserved win for Uno-X. The Norwegian rider broke his collarbone just four weeks ago in Belgium, and he managed to make it to the Tour de France. It is one of those remarkable stories of perseverance and overcoming adversity that make cycling so special.

Van der Poel delivered another masterclass once again. It looks to me as if the Tour is not his race, though. He fell short of winning the stage, just as he did a few days ago when he was caught by the peloton with just 500 meters to go.

Van Aert confirmed that he is back in good form. Maybe it is not his best form ever, but still, it will be interesting to see how Visma decides to use him in the mountain stages.