Tour de France | Jonas Vingegaard outsprints Tadej Pogacar to win stage 11 after 'duel of the century'

The Tour de France completed exploded this afternoon. Tadej Pogacar attacked and dropped Jonas Vingegaard with a long-distance attack with over 30 kilometers to go but the defending champion managed to close the gap and amazingly outsprint his rival in Le Lioran.

The day was one where most expected a breakaway to succeed. The first 120 kilometers of the stage however were mostly flat, and this led to an incredibly fast start. UAE Team Emirates made the effort to control a lot of moves as it was clear they aimed for the stage win.

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Only after 75 kilometers of racing did a group of six riders go up the road, with four more joining shortly after. Ben Healy, Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy, Romain Grégoire, Bruno Armirail, Paul Lapeira, Oscar Onley, Mattéo Vercher, Guillaume Martin and Julien Bernard.

But it was a group that never managed to get more than two minutes on the road, as Nils Politt and Tim Wellens kept the gap closely under control behind. It was then a race to the first big climb of the day, Nerbonne, where at the base Wout van Aert crashed. UAE continued to work hard with Pavel Sivakov thinning down the group to around 30 riders. In front, Oier Lazkano and Ben Healy went clear but their time was counted.

On Puy Mary, the toughest and steepest climb of the day, the duo were caught by the peloton. Adam Yates set a blistering pace in the group and Tadej Pogacar launched an attack with 31 kilometers to go, 1 kilometer away from the summit of the climb. He created a gap, and one by one a few seconds behind then crossed Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel.

Vingegaard and Roglic united in the descent, and on the Col de Perthus then Vingegaard set off with a constant pace, catching Pogacar right before the summit of the climb, closing the gap that was of almost 30 seconds at the base of the climb (as Pogacar flew downhill once again). Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic worked together behind, around 45 seconds back. Giulio Ciccone, Carlos Rodríguez, Mikel Landa and UAE duo João Almeida and Adam Yates were in the closest group; whilst Juan Ayuso had lost contact with the GC group earlier.

They couldn't drop each other and actually decided to work together in the final kilometers of the stage. But the final wet descent still saw drama on the road as Primoz Roglic crashed only with a kilometer to go. The final sprint would be uphill and Jonas Vingegaard surprised even further. He outsprinted Tadej Pogacar to win the stage in Le Lioran in a photo-finish. Remco Evenepoel finished third on the day, gaining time on primoz Roglic there in the finale.

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VIDEO: Tadej Pogacar attacks and drops Jonas Vingegaard at Puy Mary!

VIDEO: Wout van Aert crashes once again whilst positioning Jonas Vingegaard into climb