Another crazy Tour de France stage: Pogacar crashes, Van der Poel just falls short, and Abrahamsen wins the thriller in Toulouse

After a well-deserved, and much-needed, rest day in Toulouse, the peloton set off from the same southern French city for a scenic loop through the rolling hills just outside the Pyrenees. A sprint finish seemed unlikely, thanks to the tricky finale just outside the capital of Occitanie. Stage 11 looked like one for the classics specialists or breakaway riders.

And those breakaway riders made it a day to remember right from the start. From kilometer zero, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) broke away. The trio impressively held their ground amid constant attacks from the peloton. Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) joined the fight, along with names like Quinn Simmons, Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), and even Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).

The Frenchman wasn’t given the green light by his team and dropped back, and the other attackers didn’t have much luck either. As a result, the average speed after an hour and a half of racing was over 50 kilometers per hour. Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Mathieu Burgeaudeau (TotalEnergies) managed to bridge up to the three leaders after a tough chase, turning the front group into a break of five. That’s when the peloton finally eased off.

Or did they? Not quite! A whole bunch of riders still saw an opportunity. Van Aert jumped in again, and for the first time, we saw Mathieu van der Poel at the front. A strong group got away, and suddenly, the yellow jersey Ben Healy went after them. And who was with him? Jonas Vingegaard! The Dane and the Irishman bridged to the group with Van Aert, triggering a red alert among the other contenders.

Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar responded immediately, and the rest of the GC contenders soon followed. Primoz Roglic and Tobias Halland Johannessen missed the move, but a group of around 20 riders had suddenly broken free. What followed was a temporary ceasefire, which riders like Van der Poel, Van Aert, Laurance, Simmons, and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) took full advantage of, they surged ahead once more, chasing down the five leaders.

That was no easy task, as the riders up front continued to push hard at the head of the race. The gap hovered around 30 seconds for a long time. You might think that big names like Van Aert and Van der Poel would close it down easily, but even in the hilly finale, the five leaders seemed to have fresher legs than the chasers. The peloton also kept the gap close, it could still go either way.

In the final 15 kilometers, two tough climbs remained. Had Van der Poel and Van Aert been saving their legs to shine on those? On the first of the two climbs, the second group edged a bit closer, just as Simmons launched an attack. At the same time, Schmid jumped from the lead group. The race exploded! The Swiss champion didn’t get away, but the American champion managed to open up a gap.

Could he catch the front group? They didn’t make it easy for him. Ballerini, Burgaudeau, and Wright were dropped, but the second group lingered about 10 to 15 seconds behind. Abrahamsen and Schmid pressed on together at the front and began the final climb with a decent lead. It was short, but the steepest of the day. Could the two leaders survive?

The Côte de Pech David started brutally steep. The lead was 35 seconds, and in the Van der Poel group, nobody moved for a while. The strongest riders still seemed to be up front. Even Simmons, who had launched a furious attack earlier, ran out of steam on the steep slopes. But finally—action: Van der Poel attacked just before the summit, immediately opening a huge gap. Van Aert couldn’t follow.

The Dutchman flew up the climb, but the gap to the front two remained 25 seconds. Van Aert was about 10 seconds behind him, with Laurance on his wheel. Meanwhile, chaos broke out in the peloton: Vauquelin launched an attack that blew things apart. Healy responded, with Vingegaard and Pogacar right behind.

The peloton exploded completely, only about 15 riders remained. Vingegaard launched an attack near the summit, with Evenepoel and Pogacar immediately responding. Jorgenson was the next to try, but the American couldn’t get away either. Meanwhile, Van der Poel had closed the gap to just 16 seconds behind Schmid and Abrahamsen, who couldn’t afford to hesitate.

But they did, just a little. Van der Poel was closing in fast, when suddenly a crash from Pogacar with 4 kilometers to go caused a brief moment of panic in the peloton. In a classy move, his rivals eased off, allowing him to rejoin. Back at the front, Van der Poel got within 7 seconds, but the finish line was approaching fast.

Abrahamsen stopped pulling at the front, and the bluffing began. Van der Poel arrived just a second too late, it came down to a photo finish, won by the incredibly strong Norwegian. Schmid took second, Van der Poel third.