In a two-man battle in the final kilometers of Stage 11 of the 2024 Tour de France, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) emerged victorious, beating Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) across the line at Le Lioran.
Pogacar opened his attack on the Puy Mary-Pas de Peyrol, but the Dane was ultimately able to respond to and match the Slovenian, eventually just beating the man in the Yellow Jersey to the finish in a thrilling conclusion to the stage. They were followed over the line 25” later by Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) in third place, with Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) recovering from a late crash to finish fourth, 55” behind the leading pair.
Pogacar remains in control of the General Classification battle, now 1’06” in front of Evenepoel, with Vingegaard third (+1’14”) and Roglic fourth (+2’45”).
Into the Massif Central
171 riders took the start in Evaux-les-Bains, ready for a challenging 211 km route across the rugged Massif Central and 4,350 metres of vertical gain ahead of them. Anticipating that a strong breakaway could prosper and potentially win at the finish line, the first two hours of the stage produced a relentless series of attacks and were completed at a remarkable average speed of 47.1 km/h on the hilly route. This high pace claimed two victims, namely Ion Izagirre and Alexis Renard. Both Cofidis cyclists were already affected by illness and injury respectively, meaning they were dropped – and ended up abandoning as the peloton powered ahead.
An Attack Sticks
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) were the first to make an attack stick, and they were soon joined by Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) and Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team) by the time they reached the top of the Côte de Mouilloux (Cat. 4, km 79.8). Still, the peloton was a scant 12 seconds back with UAE Team Emirates, Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers in control.
The group of six opened a gap as the main group relaxed, and five more riders (Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Guillaume Martin and Axel Zingle (Cofidis)) bridged up to the leaders. Although Zingle sat up, it came down to a consolidated breakaway of ten at km 101 of the stage.
It was at km 111 that the gap reached 2’30”, and the UAE team went into chase mode. As the speeds went rapidly up, some riders were spit off the back, not least Romain Bardet and Geraint Thomas.
Pogacar Makes His Move
Pogacar made his move 600m from the summit of Puy Mary-Pas de Peyrol, 32 kilometers from the finish line. He created a gap of 5” on Vingegaard at the top, which he expanded to 30” on the descent, but he was unable to defend the lead on the climb to the Col de Pertus.
100 meters from the top, the Yellow Jersey was joined by his Danish rival, whom he still beat to the summit to grab the 8” bonus point. The Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) duo were 45’’ behind by that point. On the final climb Pogacar and Vingegaard ascended together, with Vingegaard ultimately able to finish the job at the finish at Le Lioran.
Evenepoel “Satisfied”
“Everybody knows the first two guys are on another level, so I’m satisfied with today,” Remco Evenepoel stated after the stage. “It was very fast and explosive from the start, a relentless stage from kilometer zero all the way until the finish. Maybe I wasn’t quite at my best, because I struggled a bit when the attacks came with 30 kilometers to go, but I didn’t panic and just rode my own rhythm.
“It was hard out there, but I continued pushing and believing, trying my best to make up ground. I didn’t lose too much time today, so I need to be content with how things turned out. I also took time on the other guys and increased my margin in the general classification while retaining second place, so I can say it was a good stage. We need to remain focused, continue to do our best and build on these very good results”, he concluded.
2024 Tour de France Stage 11 Brief Results
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), 25”
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), at 55”
- Giulio Ciccone, at 1’47”
General Classification After Stage 11
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +1’06”
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1’14”
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +2’45”
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4’20”
- Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4’40”
- Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) +5’38”
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