“We have the green jersey, the white one and the yellow helmets” – Juan Ayuso celebrates Lidl-Trek’s triple classification lead at Tour de France

Juan Ayuso celebrated Lidl-Trek’s hold on three Tour de France classifications after safely negotiating the record-breaking Stage 11 between Vichy and Nevers.

Ayuso retained the white jersey as the leading young rider, Mads Pedersen remained in green and Lidl-Trek continued to wear the yellow helmets awarded to the leaders of the teams classification.

“We have the green jersey, the white one and the yellow helmets as the best team,” Ayuso told official Tour de France media. “We just hope to keep going on the same note.”

The Spaniard nevertheless described the fastest stage in Tour history as one of the trickiest of the race, with early rain, slippery roads and a relentless tailwind producing an unexpectedly stressful afternoon.

Ayuso entered Stage 11 only 13 seconds ahead of Paul Seixas in the youth classification, with former UAE Team Emirates – XRG teammate Isaac del Toro a further 33 seconds behind.

Rain had left the opening roads slippery, adding an immediate hazard to a day on which the general classification riders were primarily concerned with reaching Nevers safely. “To be honest, this has been one of the trickiest stages in this Tour so far,” Ayuso admitted. “We started in the rain, and the roads were a bit slippery. I was a bit stressed because things weren’t entirely under control. We just wanted to get through the day.”

A strong four-rider breakaway and the tailwind kept the pace above 50km/h for much of the stage. The peloton eventually covered the 161.3 kilometres at an average of approximately 50.9km/h, breaking the Tour record established in 1999.

“Afterwards, the stage became super fast because of the tailwinds and the strong breakaway at the front,” Ayuso said. “We had to chase really hard and, on my side, I only focused on trying to save as much energy as possible and recover from yesterday’s efforts.”

Ayuso finished safely alongside the other general classification contenders. He remained fourth overall at 4:22 behind Tadej Pogacar, while preserving his white jersey advantages of 13 seconds over Seixas and 46 over Del Toro.

Pedersen’s earlier stage victory had already removed some of the pressure from Lidl-Trek before the team accumulated its three classification leads. “This Tour de France has been quite nice for us at Lidl-Trek,” Ayuso said. “Mads won a stage and that took some pressure out of the way.”

Pedersen collected eight points at the intermediate sprint on Stage 11, but later became isolated during the approach to Nevers and finished 11th.

Biniam Girmay took sixth, while Jasper Philipsen retained third place after the race jury reversed his initial relegation. Pedersen ended the day with 317 points, leading Girmay by 45 and Philipsen by 62.

Lidl-Trek also retained its lead in the teams classification, supported by Ayuso sitting fourth and Mattias Skjelmose eighth overall. The team therefore left Nevers leading the points, youth and teams competitions after 11 stages.