The 11th stage of the Tour de France 2024 was hard to beat in terms of spectacle. More than 30 kilometres before the finish, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) on the 211-kilometre section between Evaux-les-Bains and Le Lioran through the Massif Central, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) decisively. Although the man in the yellow jersey was able to distance himself from the Dane in the meantime, Vingegaard proved his morale, fought back and beat Pogacar by a wafer-thin margin in the final sprint.
None of the competitors were able to stand up to the two Tour de France double winners in their duel. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) finished third on the day, 25 seconds behind Vingegaard, defending his second place overall by eight seconds.
For a long time, the time trial world champion and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) a chasing duo. The captain of the Raubling racing team crashed on the last descent shortly before the finish, but was classified at the same time as Evenepoel due to the three-kilometre rule, although he reached the finish after the Belgian.
Jonas Vingegaard struggles with tears
Vingegaard, meanwhile, was in tears at the finish. "This is very emotional for me. Coming back after the crash. It means a lot to me. After everything I've been through in the last few months. I could never have done it without my family," said the defending champion after his first stage win of the year at the Eurosport. "I'm just happy to be here. It means so much to win a stage, especially to win it for my family. They have supported me all the way."
Vingegaard was initially unable to follow Pogacar's attack on the Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol. "It was a very, very strong attack. I just had to fight. I actually thought that I wouldn't be able to catch up again. I kept fighting, made it back and took turns with him in the lead. It was a bit surprising to beat him in the sprint. But it means so much to me. I'm so happy about the win. Three months ago, I would never have thought it possible."
Tour de France 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 11
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) 4:58:00
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:25
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:25
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +1:47
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +1:49
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +1:49
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +1:49
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:55
- Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2:38
The current standings in the overall standings
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 45:00:34
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +1:06
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:14
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +2:15
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4:20
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:40
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +5:38
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +6:59
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +7:09
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +7:36
How the 11th stage of the Tour de France 2024 went
The eleventh stage was the opposite of the previous day's bumble stage: the places in the day's breakaway group were highly coveted and there were attacks right from the start. There were several attacks, all of which were countered by the peloton. UAE Team Emirates, Tadej Pogacar's team, did not want to let a group get away in the early stages. It was only on the first climb of the day to the Cote de Mouilloux (4th category) that a breakaway group was able to break away substantially: Ben Healy, Richard Carapaz (both EF Education EasyPost), Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Oier Lazakano (Movistar) and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies).
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Chasing group closes the gap
Behind them, a chasing group formed in which Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Julien Bernard (Lidl Trek), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) rode. The chasing quartet caught up with the leaders 110 kilometres before the finish, meaning that from then on ten riders were at the front.
Nils Politt works for Tadej Pogacar
In the peloton, Nils Politt and Tim Wellens had to toil for UAE Team Emirates and gave the breakaway a maximum lead of 2:30 minutes. On the climb to the Col de Neronne (2nd category), the breakaway group fell apart. Lazkano broke away, Healy caught up a little later, as did his team-mate Carapaz on the climb to the Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol (1st category).
UAE Team Emirates stepped up the pace in the peloton so that the escapees were caught in the Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol. There, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), fifth in the overall standings, initially had problems keeping up with his team-mates. Led by Adam Yates, the group became smaller and smaller.
Attack by Tadej Pogacar
Tadej Pogacar attacked 500 metres before the crest. Jonas Vingegaard was initially unable to counter. Together with Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), the defending champion took up the chase. Shortly before the crest, Vingegaard left Roglic behind, but was still ten seconds behind Pogacar. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) had bigger problems. The runner-up in the overall classification lost half a minute on the climb.
On the descent, Roglic was able to close the gap to Vingegaard again. Pogacar's lead over the duo initially grew to 20 seconds. The leader had to survive a moment of shock on the slippery road when his rear wheel slipped off. Despite this, the yellow jersey wearer's lead grew to more than half a minute. Behind them, Roglic and Vingegaard were joined by Evenepoel, Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers). The alliance didn't last long because Vingegaard pushed the pace. Roglic and Evenepoel initially went with him before the Belgian ran into problems again.
Vingegaard catches up with Pogacar
2.5 kilometres before the summit of the Col de Pertus (2nd category), Roglic also had to let Vingegaard go. The Dane made up metres and metres on Pogacar and was back on him shortly before the summit. However, the Slovenian took the eight bonus seconds on the crest. Roglic reached the summit 45 seconds later together with Evenepoel, who had caught him. The chasing duo kept the gap to the leaders at around half a minute.
Roglic crashes - Vingegaard defeats Pogacar
On the final climb, the Col de Font de Cere (3rd category), there was no difference between Pogacar and Vingegaard, both also mastered the last slippery descent on bad roads to the finish. In contrast to Roglic, who slipped in a left-hand bend, lost time at first, but benefited from the three-kilometre rule and was therefore classified at the same time as Evenepoel. Vingegaard opened the sprint for victory from the front, Pogacar was on the same level but could not get past the Dane, who thus won this round of the duel between the two superstars.
