Tour de France | Jonas Vingegaard outsprints Tadej Pogacar to win stage 11 after 'duel of the century'
CyclingWednesday, 10 July 2024 at 16:32
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.
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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- He was evidently not considered a threat by Carapaz and del Toro, either, until it was too late.velodan05-06-2025
- Insane that Yates lost the Giro seven years earlier when he was winning stages for fun in first two weeks.singleta05-06-2025
- Luck is when Issac Del Toro and Carapaz get a puncture and Yates gets 30 s. Stupid tactics of others is not considered luck. Yates won by 4 minutes. There is not way he gets 4 unless the people behind him acting out.abstractengineer05-06-2025
- Corruption is the secret ingredient. Otherwise, the only other explanation for the poor state of cycling is they're not funded.
KerisVroom05-06-2025 - Giro 2025 is like Tour 2008 when Carlos Sastre won atop Alpe d'Huez. He should like ride Cadel Evans winning in Tour 2011.
James2631805-06-2025 - If they have to say that is not afraid, actually they may be afraidAlanCristian0205-06-2025
- This is pretty much a low bar for a star rider. Domestiques from other teams got higher GC rankings than him. Either he has to really train for those 1 hour climb or give up on GC hope altogether. Not a fan of Pidcock, but I think he's definitely capable of doing better if he really trained for long climbs, which his coach said he didn't. Best of luck to him.KerisVroom05-06-2025
- Nuh, realistically, Jonas is the only main rival unless some accidents befall Tadej.KerisVroom05-06-2025
- I just simply don't believe team orders were at fault. In what world would a pink jersey leader knowingly throw away their lead just to follow team orders? Del Toro surely knew the gap to Yates was growing and he was going to lose his lead. So either Del Toro didn't have the legs or he was stupid and listened to alleged team orders to only follow Carapaz. It simply does not make sense - I mean even if the team orders were true, Del Toro shouldn't take it literally e.g. if Carapaz crashed and all the other top ten riders went 3mins up the road, would Del Toro really be stupid enough to "follow team orders" and stick with Carapaz? This is an exaggerated example, but it is exactly what Del Toro did with Yates. Del Toro only has himself to blame - if someone is threatening your lead, you chase, it shouldn't take team orders to tell you to do that!Pogboom05-06-2025
- Chris Froome...who cares yet he gets top billing here!frieders305-06-2025
If you don't understand that the biggest joke is Pogačar and his otherworldly dominance at literally every race this year, then I have a bridge to sell you. The last time I saw someone won the Giro and then performed incredibly well at the Tour, was Pantani who was doped to the gills, and not even him had that kind of dominance in 1998 like Pogačar has this year. But suddenly it is completely normal that there is a cyclist who can crush all others from Milan-San Remo to Il Lombardia, who can easily beat everyone else in sprints, cobbled classics, high mountains and time trials