Jonas Abrahamsen wins dramatic stage 11 at Tour de France

Paris [France], July 18 : Tadej Pogacar looked certain to lose time on Stage 11 at the Tour de France after a late crash, only for his general classification rivals to sit up and allow him to catch up. A dramatic day at the Tour, won by Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), saw Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) suffer a huge scare, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) fall short in his bid to catch the leaders and "the rulebook ripped up" after a flurry of attacks while some big names had stopped for a comfort break.

As the stage was drawing to a close, Uno-X's general classification leader caught the front wheel of Tadej Pogacar, sending him skidding to the floor and separating him from the group of GC favourites. As the incident took place outside the 3km "safety zone", he would have lost time had the maillot jaune, Ben Healy (EF Education-Easy Post), not called on the group to wait for the world champion. Not long before, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) had made his first attack of the race, albeit a short dart that was comfortably covered.

The first stage of the second week took place on a punchy hundred-mile loop beginning and ending in Toulouse, "the pink city," which often serves as the gateway to the Pyreneean phase of the Tour de France, as per press release from Tour de France.

It was seen by many, including the day's eventual winner, as one of the last opportunities for a while for non-specialists - climbers or sprinters - to win a stage. Abrahamsen was one of three riders to make a successful move out of the bunch at Kilometre 0, forming the early break with Mauro Schmid (Jayco Alula) and Davide Ballerini (Astana XDS). Although the trio was able to establish a reasonable lead, they had to work to maintain it, as the attacks persisted relentlessly from behind. Only Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) were able to successfully claw their way across to make it a five-rider escape.

That was far from the end of it. Behind the aggression continued, with even the yellow jersey Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) plus general classification favourites Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) getting involved. Going against expected behaviours, the riders of Groupama FDJ were observed to attack during an agreed pause in peloton hostilities. Eventually, an elite chase group formed, comprising Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Axel Laurence (Ineos Grenadiers) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek).

As much firepower as they had, and with theoretically fresher legs, it took them most of the next two hours to make a meaningful dent in the lead of the front five. Cooperation and commitment in the chase were stilted compared to that of the riders up the road. Only by the penultimate climb of the day, 16km from the finish, did it seem likely the two groups would come together.

Except they didn't. With the gap falling fast, Abrahamsen attacked. At the same time, behind, so did Simmons. With all cohesion gone from both groups in an instant, it was every rider for himself. Schmid followed Abrahamsen, while Van der Poel set out to hunt down the pair on his own.

By this point, aside from a single attack by Vingegaard that had been easily neutralised, action in the yellow jersey appeared to have been largely relaxed. On the wide road leading back to Toulouse, however, Uno-X Mobility's overall leader Johanessen made a sharp sweep across the highway and caught the front wheel of Pogacar with his rear. Pogacar slid into a piece of rubber traffic furniture, and although he was soon back up and riding, his group was already out of sight.

The incident occurring further than 5km from home meant Pogacar would not have been given the same time as the group he had been in. Fortunately for the three-time Tour winner, the favourites agreed to suspend their race within the race, allowing Pogacar to make it back to them and finish where he would have.

Meanwhile, Schmid and Abrahamsen could not afford to mess around. Having achieved a good gap over the rest, they quickly settled into what was effectively a two-rider team trial, in an effort to keep Van der Poel at bay. Despite Van der Poel's formidable power, they were successful, reaching the 400m marker with the Dutchman still 200m further back. Schmid wasn't willing to chance it, however, giving slightly more in the finale and providing Abrahamsen with a good lead-out. Despite this, and even with an on-paper stronger sprint, the Norwegian rider beat the Swiss man to the line by less than a wheel's diameter.

There was almost a catastrophe as the riders approached the line when a protester, objecting to the presence of the Israel-Premier Tech team in the race, ran onto the course. Their attempt to interrupt the finish was foiled by a quick-witted staff member.

Victory for Abrahamsen was made even sweeter by the fact that he almost did not appear at the Tour start in Lille at all, having crashed out of a race in Belgium less than a month earlier, on June 18th.

"I broke my collarbone four weeks ago, in the Belgium Tour. I was crying because I thought I wouldn't ride the Tour de France. The day after I was on the trainer and every day, I did everything I could to come back. To win a stage is amazing," he said, according to the press release.

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