In a monumental battle, Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) won the duel over Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), in the first round of the Pyrenees with four climbs in the final part. The duo arrived together at the finish line, after riding 144.9 kilometers between Évaux Les-Bains and Le Lioran.
The Danish rider took a spectacular victory around the Pyrenean mountains after closing a gap of more than 30 seconds on the Slovenian and then surprisingly winning the sprint over his closest rival. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) came in third and Primož Roglič (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) 4th.
It was a day clearly divided into two parts, an initial leg-breaking terrain but without scoring climbs and a final 40 kilometers in which 4 ports were linked: Col de Nérone, Pas de Peyrol, Col de Pertus and Col de Ceré without a meter of rest between them and all but the last one by narrow road, short and with steep slopes. Undoubtedly, ideal terrain to do damage.
In the first of the ports, the Col de Nérone, served to prepare the ground, with UAE Team Emirates burning their ships to harden the race to the limit if the intense pace of the whole day had not been enough.
The script was repeated on the ascent to the Pas de Peyrol, with a terrible final kilometer at 13.4%. The UAE Team Emirates group was maturing, with the commendable work of Adam Yates, who even made his teammate Juan Ayuso give in. A work of maturation that culminated Tadej Pogacar with a hellish start with just 600 m to the summit to which did not respond in the first instance, as he had been doing these past days, Jonas Vingegaard. Remco Evenepoel couldn’t get away either and was a little further behind, while Primos Roglic easily held on to the Danish rider’s wheel.
However, at the start of the third climb, the Col de Pertus, Vingegaard set a strong pace right from the start that dropped his companions. Gradually the Visma-Lease a Bike Dane was cutting the gap with Tadej Pogacar until, finally, giving chase when there was just under a kilometer to crown, the Slovenian took advantage of the effort for the chase to start and scratch a few seconds advantage of the bonus that had this summit.
On the last ascent, much more sinewy and on a wide road, we saw no more movement between them, who were dedicated to consolidate the gap, which was around half a minute over Roglic and Evenpoel, who had been left in pursuit. The only thing that remained to be seen was the outcome of the stage, which, in an uphill sprint, seemed to have been decided in advance for the explosiveness of the UAE Team Emirates rider.
As for the Colombian beetles, they did not have their best day. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorius) was the best Latin rider in 11th place, 3:38 behind the winner, then came Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) in 18th place at 4:39 and Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan Team) finished 85th, more than 29 minutes behind Vingegaard.
The French round will live this Thursday, stage 12, designed on 203.6 kilometers between Aurillac and Villeneuve-sur-Lot, which includes three fourth-category mountain prizes and a finish on flat terrain.
Tour de France (2.UWT)
Results Stage 11 | Évaux-les-Bains – Le Lioran (211 km)
| 1 | Jonas Vingegaard | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 4:58:00 |
| 2 | Tadej Pogacar | UAE Team Emirates | ,, |
| 3 | Remco Evenepoel | Soudal Quick-Step | 0:25 |
| 4 | Primož Roglic | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe | 0:55 |
| 5 | Giulio Ciccone | Lidl – Trek | 1:47 |
| 6 | João Almeida | UAE Team Emirates | 1:49 |
| 7 | Adam Yates | UAE Team Emirates | ,, |
| 8 | Mikel Landa | Soudal Quick-Step | ,, |
| 9 | Carlos Rodríguez | INEOS Grenadiers | 1:55 |
| 10 | Felix Gall | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 2:38 |
Ranking General
| 1 | Tadej Pogacar | UAE Team Emirates | 45:00:34 |
| 2 | Remco Evenepoel | Soudal Quick-Step | 1:06 |
| 3 | Jonas Vingegaard | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 1:14 |
| 4 | Primož Roglic | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe | 2:15 |
| 5 | João Almeida | UAE Team Emirates | 4:20 |
| 6 | Carlos Rodríguez | INEOS Grenadiers | 4:40 |
| 7 | Mikel Landa | Soudal Quick-Step | 5:38 |
| 8 | Adam Yates | UAE Team Emirates | 6:59 |
| 9 | Juan Ayuso | UAE Team Emirates | 7:09 |
| 10 | Giulio Ciccone | Lidl – Trek | 7:36 |