On Wednesday’s hard mountain stage, Vingegaard was the strongest and took the stage win just ahead of Pogacar.
Both choices were asked about the win and then the Dane was quick enough to take the stage win and a bonus second in the summary.
It was a very emotional victory for the Dane, who suffered several broken ribs, a punctured lung and inflammation of the lung tissue after a bad fall in the Basque Country around April.
– It is very emotional for me. Coming back from the accident … It means a lot. Everything I’ve done in the last three months makes you think about it. I wouldn’t be able to do this without my family, said a positive Vingegaard to the organizer after the stage.
Lost the climbing shirt
Pogacar managed to get 16 points in the climbing competition, so the Slovenian takes on Abrahamsen in the battle for the red dot jersey.
The article below follows the announcementThe article below follows the announcement
Abrahamsen is now number two in the climbing competition. He is three points behind Pogacar and five points ahead of Vingegaard in third place.
The Norwegian will be allowed to continue riding there as Pogacar holds the lead in the summary and will continue to ride with the yellow jersey.
In the battle for the yellow jersey, Pogacar now leads by 1.06 to Remco Evenepoel, while Vingegaard follows 1.14 behind the leading Slovenian.
Almost historical
Never in the history of the Tour de France has a rider taken the climbing jersey on the 1st stage and kept it after the 11th stage.
In 1984, Ludo Peeters of Belgium held the climbing jersey from 1st to 10th stage, but lost the next stage. The same fate also befell Abrahamsen.
The article below follows the announcementThe article below follows the announcement
No Uno-X riders managed to break through on stage 11, despite efforts from Denmark’s Tobias Halland Johannessen and Magnus Cort. Abrahamsen was also leading in the main field and tried, but was not close to establishing a break.
The article below follows the announcement
Speed from the start
After a very calm stage the day before, the 11th stage of the Tour de France opened at a furious pace. Many teams were hoping for a break and a stage win, which led to several break attempts right from the start.
Uno-X riders Tobias Halland Johannessen and Magnus Cort both came close to establishing their respective strong breaks early in the stage. The two break attempts were brought in at the main field by the UAE team led by overall leader Pogacar. Many other attempts were also made early in the phase.
This resulted in an average speed close to 50 km per hour at the start of the stage, which caused trouble for some of the riders. Spanish Ion Izagirre and French Alexis Renard had to break the race early in the stage.
Eventually ten men managed to get in for a break, but the distance down to the main pitch was about two minutes most of the time. Towards the third and final climb of the stage, the break was caught by the best overall.
From then on, the stage was about Pogacar and Vingegaard.