That’s all for today … Thanks for joining me and for all the emails and song recommendations. I appreciate your questions and musings. That was another exciting day of racing and hopefully there’s more of that to come.
I’m signing off for the evening now. Apparently, there’s quite a big football match on tonight so I have to go grab my spot for that.
The full post race report for today’s stage is here, from Jeremy Whittle at Le Lioran:
George also has some thoughts about Vingegaard and Pogačar:
It’s so good for the sport to see Tadej keep on attacking – but I think there’s an increasingly strong argument for him to put on the onus on Jonas. The more matches he burns without reward, the more likely it is that Vingegaard will overhaul him on those brutal final three days.
David has written in about Vingegaard and Pogačar. He says:
The result of today’s stage doesn’t matter too much in terms of first and second. Vinegaard and Pogačar have taken the opportunity to make it a two horse race and effectively eliminate anyone else. Smart moves.
While we’re talking about these two, here’s a video of the duo as they warm down after today’s race.
Sporting rivalry at its peak 🙌#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/Sd3wuxg2Lg
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024
KOM classification: top five after stage 11
Tadej Pogačar, 36pts
Jonas Abrahamsen, 33pts
Jonas Vingegaard, 28pts
Remco Evenepoel, 18pts
Valentin Madouas, 16pts
Points classification: top five after stage 11
Biniam Girmay, 267pts
Jasper Philipsen, 193pts
Anthony Turgis, 121pts
Jonas Abrahamsen, 107pts
Fernando Gaviria, 100pts
Updated
General classification: top five after stage 11
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 45hr 34sec
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) +1min 6sec
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 14sec
Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +2min 15sec
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4min 20sec
Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4min 40sec
Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick-Step) +5min 385sec
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +6min 59sec
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +7min 9sec
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +7min 36sec
Updated
Top five on stage 11
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step)
Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek)
An emotional Vingegaard says he was 'suprised' to beat Pogačar in the sprint
Vingegaard has spoke to reporters after his win. The Danish rider is known for normally not showing much emotion but this post-race interview was packed full of tears. Vingegaard said:
It’s very emotional for me. Coming back from the crash … sorry … it means a lot, and all the things I went through in the last three months. It makes you think of that. I would never have been able to do this without my family.
I’m just happy to be here and it means so much to win the stage, especially to win it for my family. They were there supporting me the whole time.”
Asked about Pogačar’s attack, Vingegaard said:
I couldn’t follow the attack he [Pogačar] had. It was a very strong attack. I had to figh. I didn’t think I’d make it back. I had to keep fighting.
I was suprised to beat him in a sprint … I would never have thought this three months ago.
Vingegaard was asked whether it had been a psychological challenge today, and he said:
I was only thinking about doing my own pace and then later on the sprint.
🎙️ “I didn’t think I’d be able to make it back, but I just kept fighting. ... It means so much to me. I never would have thought this 3 months ago” - 🇩🇰 Jonas Vingegaard
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024
Raw emotions from Jonas Vingegaard in his interview post stage. Check it out ⤵️#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/sdm6H3SWMN
Updated
TV footage shows Roglič’s wheels sliding out on a corner of the final decsent. He crosses the line in fourth place with a bloody knee.
Vingegaard outsprints Pogačar in a photo-finish stage 11 win
Vingegaard and Pogačar play cat and mouse going in to the finish. This looks like a track sprint. That’s a photo-finish ending, so who got it?
Evenepoel rolls across the line in third place.
Updated
2km to go: Vingegaard and Pogačar are descending. Evenepoel and Roglič are together too but it looks as if they may have both come down on a wet patch?
Updated
3km to go: The duo are 150 metres from the top of the climb and locked in together. There’s points on offer but they are for the polka-dot jersey not a time bonus for the GC.
6km to go: Pogačar and Vingegaard mean business. They’ve jettisoned their bidons going into the final climb: third category Col de Font de Cère.
About 36sec behind are Roglič and Evenepoel. Vinggaard could go into second place on the GC depending on how this plays out.
Updated
8km to go: Bardet has had a lot of attention today on this blog and it’s not stopping yet. Tom has emailed in with his thoughts on the French rider and a suitable theme tune.
Tom writes:
While I admire SL2’s On a Ragga Tip (memorably used as ITV4’s outro music when Bardet took a stage some years ago) the ultimate Bardet-related 90s dance track has to be this one:
Wait for the chorus to hit and you’ll get it.
11km to go: Pogačar and Vingegaard are riding together on the descent. What will happen next?
15km to go: What a ride from Vingegaard. He’s only about five metres behind and he’s going to catch Pogačar. He catches him, Pogačar gives him a look and accelerates again to bag the eight second bonus, with Vingegaard taking the five sec. That means Pogačar has gained three seconds more on Vingegaard in the overall general classification.
Updated
16km to go: The riders are on the second categroy Col de Pertus, a 4.4 km climb at an average gradient of 7.9%. At the top there is be a point bonus marker with a chance of an 8sec, 5sec and 2sec bonuses for the general classification. Those time bonuses are taken off the overall time.
17km to go: Vingegaard has clawed back some of Pogačar’s lead. Roglič was on Vingegaard’s wheel but has been dropped. The gap is at 18 seconds between Pogačar and Vingegaard.
18km to go: Pogačar is still ahead. Vingegaard is about 30secs behind him. Vingegaard has had to take charge to close the gap. His team radio over to say he should relax on the descents and try to damage his competitor’s lead on the climbs.
Updated
24km to go: Evenepoel has been caught by the chasing group. The ITV4 commentators are shouting: “It’s the Galibier again!” Thoughts?
There’s a heart in mouth moment, as they show a clip of Pogačar’s wheel nearly sliding out on one of the sweeping corners of this descent. He stabilises and carries on his way.
27km to go: Vingegaard and Roglič are back together on the descent, chasing Pogačar. Remco Evenepoel, not as confident a descender as thosein front of him, is on his way. He’s 37sec behind Pogačar.
Updated
29km to go: Vingegaard dropped Roglič and is trying to limit the damage, but Pogačar hits the summit of the climb and is now whizzing down the descent. Will he be able to stay out on his own? He has a 17sec gap.
Updated
Pogačar attacks with 30km to go
31km to go: Pogačar has gone! We knew it was on the cards at some point today, but it’s exciting still as there’s still two big climbs to come. Primož Roglič is chasing with Jonas Vingegaard.
Updated
32km to go: Yates has caught and passed Healy. Pogačar is on his wheel as they turn the corner. This climb is the place to be today if the size of the crowds there are anything to go by.
33km to go: It looked like Carapaz had made it to Healy and Lazkano, but he’s already drifted back. Worth keeping in mind that the steepest gradient of this climb is 14%.
UAE Team Emirates look re-energised and they’re pushing hard again to catch the breakaway. Adam Yates has Healy in his sights.
Updated
36km to go: Healy and Lazkano are beginning the biggest of today’s climbs:the first category Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol. It’s just shy of 5km and has an average gradient of 8.1%. It might be a steep climb but it does look quite pretty there among the trees. It’s also been climbed eight times in the history of the Tour de France.
Carapaz is still trying to get over to his EF Education-Easypost teammate. Also here’s the Col de Néronne climb result:
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), 5pts
Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team), 3pts
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), 2pts
Julian Bernard (Lidl-Trek), 1pts
Updated
42km to go: Healy and Lazkano are at the front of this climb. Healy is trying to drop Lazkano at the top of the climb. He wants those five climber’s points and gets them. Carapaz follows with a 25sec gap.
Bardet and Geraint Thomas have dropped off the back of the yellow jersey group.
Updated
43km to go: Soudal-Quick Step, UAE Team Emirates, Ineos Grenadiers and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are fighting for position and are trying to push the pace of the peloton. They (and the uphill of Col de Néronne) have managed to reduce the gap to the breakaway to just over 1min.
Updated
Van Aert crashes
45km to go: Van Aert crashed as he came into a corner and hit a barrier. He’s up and fiddling with his bike as he waits for the team car. It looks like the other riders nearby managed to avoid him.
Updated
47km to go: The riders are on the final third of today’s stage and have four point scoring climbs to come: the second category Col de Néronne, the first category Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol, the second category Col de Pertus and the third category Col de Font de Cère.
Wellens and Pollit of UAE Team Emirates have finished their turn on the front of the peloton.
Updated
52km to go: I’ve had an email from Elliot who says he hopes the Tdf blog is a bit more relaxing than the overnight general election blog I was on last week. They are both enjoyable in their own way Elliot, but I’ll admit that the scenery of the TdF does trump the counting venues in the early hours.
Back to cycling, Elliot says:
Re 13:32: ‘it’s not just Jeremy and me – ITV played it under a closing montage of Romain Bardet winning stage one and taking his first yellow jersey.’
As a longtime viewer of ITV Tour coverage, I believe they originated this. They played it over their closing montage when Bardet first won a stage in 2015. In fact you can find the snippet from ITV on SL2’s Facebook page here.
56km to go: The breakaway have grown their lead by about 30sec and now have almost 2min on the yellow jersey group. In that latter group, Nils Politt and Tim Wellens are busy working hard on the front as UAE Team Emirates drive the peloton.
Updated
61km to go: I know a few of you are wondering about Fred Wright. The Bahrain Victorious rider is last on the stage but is plugging on. He’s 21min 40sec behind the head of the race and 14min 20sec behind the last group. He’s a strong rider and doesn’t normally struggle on climbs, so perhaps he’s feeling unwell.
Per the official TdF website:
If the stage concludes at an average speed greater than 44 km/h, the cut off time limit will be calculated based on 20% of the winner’s time. This will correspond to approximately 55 minutes. Will Wright manage to cross the finish line within the cut off time?”
Updated
Bourg-Lastic intermediate sprint result
71km to go: When the ITV4 commentary team start discussing the angle of the hoods on the pros’ bikes, you know the riders have settled down and there’s not much to report. But, perhaps I’m speaking too soon.
Anyway, here’s the intermediate sprint result from earlier:
Bourg-Lastic intermediate sprint result:
Turgis, 20pts
Zingle, 17pts
Lapeira, 15pts
Van den Broek, 13pts
Carapaz, 11pts
Rodriguez, 10pts
Williams, 9pts
Cort, 8pts
Dillier, 7pts
Vercher, 6pts
Skujins, 5pts
Russo, 4pts
Gregoire, 3pts
Harper, 2pts
Benoot, 1pt
Updated
76km to go: Ineos Grenadiers have said via the radio that they think UAE Team Emirates have “something cooking”. It does seem like that.
This man has something in mind...#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/oAkcpukL4y
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024
Tom has emailed in from The Hague with a lovely message. He agrees with Jeremy on the SL2 song and Romain Bardet (see 1.01pm BST):
Enjoying your rolling report here in a sunny The Hague.
I’m with Jeremy on this – every summer for the last decade, whenever the road gets a bit lumpy, I’ve been singing ‘Bardet, Bardet, it’s Romain Bardet’ and dancing around my living room like an idiot. My daughters only know that version of the song and are now old enough to roll their eyes rather than join in.
And it’s not just Jeremy and me – ITV played it under a closing montage of Romain Bardet winning stage one and taking his first yellow jersey.”
Updated
79km to go: Here’s the ten in the breakaway:
🏁 96KM
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024
🚴♂️🔟 < 1’54'' < 🚴♂️🚴♂️🚴♂️ 🚗
Inside the final 100km.
Dans les derniers 100 km.
🇫🇷 @JulienBernard17
🇫🇷 @BrunoArmirail
🇮🇪 @_BHealyyy
🇪🇨 @RichardCarapazM
🇬🇧 @OscarOnley
🇪🇸 @LazkanoOier
🇫🇷 @PaulLapeira
🇫🇷 Mattéo Vercher
🇫🇷 @GrgoireRomain2
🇫🇷 @GuilmMartin#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/dZyfEyKIsd
The official Tour de France website tells me that Healy and Martin are the best placed overall among the breakaway. Healy is 19th in the GC at 7min 15sec behind leader Pogačar, while Martin is 22nd at 7min 41sec behind.
82km to go: Craig has emailed in with a question:
Is it true that the climb categories are based on which gear a Citroën 2CV needed to ascend? Category 4 in 4th gear … Category 3 in 3rd gear … so on.
If that is true, it is fantastic.
This Rouleur interview with lead course designer of the Tour de France, Thierry Gouvenou, would suggest it’s just a fun story, sadly.
Legend has it that the classifications were originally decided with a Citroën 2CV car, with the climb’s category judged to be the same as the gear necessary to motor up it. For Thierry Gouvenou, the Tour’s race director and the person responsible for designing the race route, that’s all nonsense.
‘Perhaps the story came from a drunken night between journalists,’ Gouvenou tells Rouleur. ‘In cycling we have so many stories like that that have been embellished over time. Maybe there’s some truth in it somewhere, but I’m not convinced.’
Instead, “Gouvenou and his team at ASO rely on a simple mathematical formula,” writes Tom Davidson for Rouleur. He writes, quoting Gouvenou:
‘Essentially, if we have a climb that isn’t so well known, we multiply the distance by the average gradient squared,’ he says. ‘That gives us a number which then gives us a score.’
Let’s take, for example, Alpe d’Huez. With its 21 hairpins, the mountain stretches out 13.8km in length, at an average pitch of 8.1%. The sum therefore is 13.8 x (8.1 x 8.1), giving a score of 905.
Gouvenou and his team found that the following scores correspond to the long-established categories:
600+ points – hors catégorie
300-600 points – 1st category
150-300 points – 2nd category
75-150 points – 3rd category
Up to 75 points – 4th category”
Updated
86km to go: UAE Team Emirates have been driving the peloton and have reduced the gap to the leaders to just under 2min.
Today’s stage has six categorised climbs, with four of those coming later in the day. Ouch.
95km to go: Jeremy has got in touch with a question related to Romain Bardet:
Does anyone else feel the need to sing On a Ragga Tip by SL2 everytime Romain Bardet is mentioned??
He’s referring to this song:
The truth is, no, I wasn’t thinking about this song, but now I can’t get it out of my head. Cheers Jeremy. I suppose you did warn me …
Updated
99km to go: Team Visma-Lease a Bike have reminded their riders, over the radio, to fuel up. They need 120g of carbs in the next hour apparently. This is a good reminder for me to eat my sandwich (cheese and pickle, in case you’re interested).
In the race, the ten rider breakaway are pushing on while the peloton is being controlled by UAE-Team Emirates on the front.
103km to go: The quartet chasing the breakaway have closed the gap, so we have a group of 10 now leading the race. They have a 2min 28sec lead with as we dip under the halfway mark of the stage.
You can see the full route of stage 11 via the Strava interactive map below:
Updated
113km to go: The six-man breakaway has almost 2min on the peloton now. There’s a group of four riders (Bruno Armirail, Julien Bernard, Romain Grégoire and Guillaume Martin) who are chasing and are about 10sec away.
Updated
120km to go: Here are some of the latest images from the Tour today, via the newswires:
Updated
123km to go: Davide Formolo, Cort and Garcia launched a chase on the breakaway but have been caught by the peloton. The six riders out front are ascending the Côte de Larodde climb, a 3.8km climb with an average gradient of 6%.
Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), has had a bike change after a mechanical.
125km to go: The Côte de Mouilloux has taken its toll and the peloton has split into several groups. Movistar’s Oier Lazkano has bagged a climber’s point.
Lapeira, Healy, Lazkano and Oscar Onley joined Carapaz and Vercher on that climb and now this group of six has about 37 seconds on the yellow jersey group.
132km to go: The breakaway has been swallowed up but Carapaz and Vercher have counterattacked and taken a lead into the first categorised climb of the day. The Côte de Mouilloux is a 1.9km cat four climb with an average gradient of 6.3%.
❌ It's all over for the breakaway!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024
❌ C'est terminé pour l'échappée !#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/IWlWgH1pfZ
Updated
135km to go: Bill has got in touch and says:
I can sympathiser with Laporte. It’s like when you find out there’s a chance to see a really great band who are playing in the pub next door but nobody wants to go as it’s going to be a long day ahead.
Today looks brutal. I think that it one of the GC contenders sniffs a bit of weakness on his rivals, they’ll be bound to get a stomp on up the final climb. However, with a rest day, and couple of flat stages, all should be raring to go. There’s sufficient talent on the top three, and enough of a will to win that one of them’s going to crack … If they do, it’ll take some thrilling heroics over the next 10 days to pull any gap back.
On the other hand, I suspect that this stage could also be targeted by some of the super domestiques to keep them happy, engaged, and happy to work for their leaders when it comes to the business end. Or, in Wout Van Aert’s case, just do it all. Options are generally good!
139km to go: It’s not looking great for Wright, he’s only just rolled through the intermediate sprint and is still a way back from the peloton.
Elsewhere, there’s been a mechanical for Felix Gall (Decathlon-Ag2r) who had to briefly stop to put his chain back on and is pushing to rejoin the peloton.
Updated
146km to go: The riders have just gone through the intermediate sprint. The only one interested was Anthony Turgis who pushed ahead from the breakaway to roll across the line first.
That front breakaway group is made up of 11 riders at the moment: Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ), Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Axel Zingle (Cofidis), Cristian Rodriguez (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Magnus Cort (Uno-X), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies), Toms Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek), Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) and Frank van den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL).
Updated
Ion Izagirre and Alexis Renard abandon the race
149km to go: Sad news for Cofidis. Two of their riders, Ion Izagirre and Alexis Renard have abandoned.
❌ Both 🇪🇸 Ion Izagirre and 🇫🇷 @alexisrenard_ have abandoned the race.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024
❌ 🇪🇸 Ion Izagirre et 🇫🇷 @alexisrenard_ ont tous deux abandonné la course. #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/EVMUcuc3Os
Updated
152km to go: Other riders have joined Carapaz and Rodriguez. There group has grown to about 10 riders or so.
154km to go: Wright is almost 5min behind the head of the race. The gap between the peloton and the duo in the breakaway has reduced to about 8sec. It seems unlikely that Carapaz and Rodriguez will stay away as a pair, given how interested so many teams are in getting in the breakway today. But then again, perhaps some riders will manage to join them?
Updated
159km to go: Carapaz and Rodriguez have an 10sec gap but the peloton are visible behind them. EF Education-EasyPost have said on the radio: “The race is going to come hard.”
165km to go: Cofidis rider Ion Izagirre is 1min 58sec behind the peloton. On ITV4 they’re speculating that the Spanish rider is not feeling well. Fred Wright has just gone past Izagirre trying to get back to the peloton – not sure why he’s that far back.
At the front of the race, Carapaz and Rodriguez have broken away.
168km to go: While we wait for some more action from the peloton, here’s Nielson Powless’s pre-race thoughts on stage 11:
Today is going to be a very exciting day because the breakaway is going to have probably half the peloton looking to escape and it’s going to be a big fight for that. And then a big fight for the finish.”
174km to go: Christophe Laporte went on the offensive but his solo breakaway didn’t amount to much as no one followed him, so he’s back with the peloton now.
181km to go: Team TotalEnergies are on the radio, telling their riders to “follow the waves”. That’s a good way of putting it. There are still attempts at breakaways but the peloton are not ready to let any of them go. The riders have covered 30km at a pretty rapid pace (average speed of 50km/h).
Updated
186km to go: There were too many strong riders in the breakaway and the chasing group, so the peloton have reeled it in. Stand by for the next attack.
192km to go: Among the others looking keen to join the breakaway are Tom Pidcock and Ben Healy. Van Aert is with them and this second group has broken away from the peloton and is chasing the trio up ahead, who have about 15 secs on them.
The Intermarché-Wanty rider Kobe Goosens crashed on a descent and has lost a bit of skin on his hip. He’s back up and on the bike though.
Updated
199km to go: The first breakaway of the day has gone and is formed of three riders: Tobias Johansson, Kévin Vauquelin and Quentin Pacher. They have a 25sec gap on the peloton.
Wout van Aert looks a little interested at the head of the peloton. Could we see something from him today?
This is KM 11 of stage 11 of the 111th TDF, that's the stat!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024
Km 11 de la 11e étape du 111e TDF, ça c'est de la stat !#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/r41j6mxpfu
Updated
202km to go: Gary is the first to email in today. Congratulations Gary! There is no prize though, I’m afraid.
Gary thinks it’s going to be a defensive day for the GC contenders. He writes:
I fear a defensive day for the GC contenders (only three after the misguided insertion of the Galibier so early). Why would they attack? Nobody can win it today, but get isolated and end up mano-a-mano with a rival who has a teammate with him, and you can certainly lose it.
Feels like a strange Tour in many ways, like we’re waiting for Pog to fall off and then it can begin.
204km to go: Matt Stephens on Eurosport is saying that the road surface today is quite sapping and will “add to the fatigue of today’s stage”. They’re talking a lot about “heavy roads” on the Eurosport coverage – apparently, this is when the road surface has “bigger chippings”, or essentially, is less smooth and fast.
Who’s wearing what jersey
Yellow: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 40hr 2min 48sec
Green: Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) 267pts
Polka-dot: Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) 33pts
White: Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step)
Also, in case you missed yesterday’s race report from stage 10, here are Jeremy Whittle’s words from Saint-Amand-Montrond:
The racing has begun!
210km to go: Racing is under way on stage 11. The flag has dropped and it’s a cagey start with a polka-dot clad Jonas Abrahamsen hovering around the front.
According to the Tour de France’s NTT predictor, Pello Bilbao, Maxim Van Gils, Richard Carapaz, Enric Mas and Santiago Buitrago are the riders to watch for attacks today.
💥 5 attackers to watch
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024
Today’s stage has all the looks of an attacking fest. Here are five attackers to watch according to the NTT Predictor, starting with an Ecuadorian history maker!
💥 5 attaquants à suivre
Le profil du jour inspire tout particulièrement les attaquants.… pic.twitter.com/Y65wIoYbpo
Today's roll-out has begun
They’re off! The peloton will have an 4.5 km neutralised sector before the official start of today’s race.
🗣️ And off we goooooo
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 10, 2024
🗣️ Et c’est partiiiiiii #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/Z2EqaF4rsJ
Updated
The top 10 on General Classification
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 40hr 2min 48sec
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) +33sec
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 15sec
Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 36sec
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2min 16sec
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2min 17sec
Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +2min 31sec
Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick-Step) +3min 35sec
Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +4min 2sec
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +4min 3sec
Stage 11: Évaux-les Bains to Le Lioran, 211km
William Fotheringham on stage 11: There is no respite in this Tour; this is a brutal day out in the Massif Central: 4,000m of climbing, culminating in a wicked final 60km including the super-steep Puy Mary climb, and two shorter ascents before the finish. There should be a big break from the off to contest the stage win – the finale suits a punchy rider like Ireland’s Ben Healy – while the favourites watch each other closely for signs of weakness.
Updated
Tour de France race director, Christian Prudhomme, on stage 11:
There’s only one stage across the rugged Massif Central, but what a stage it is!
With 4,350 metres of vertical gain, the riders will have to be on their mettle at all times, and particularly in the final 50km, when the degree of difficulty rises a level with a series of very challenging obstacles: the climb to the Col de Néronne, then to the Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol with its fearsome final two kilometres, then continuing on to the Col de Pertus, the Col de Font de Cère and the ascent to Le Lioran.
They provide all manner of opportunities for eager climbers to attack.
Preamble.
Welcome to the Guardian’s latest Tour de France live blog. The riders will face a 211km mountain stage today, which promises to be an exciting day for us spectators. It’s likely that there will be breakaways going from the start, plus stage 11 will be a good test of the GC contenders credentials ahead of the Pyrenees and Alps later in the Tour.
It’s also a pretty long stage considering the elevation gain (4,350 metres) so the peloton will be rolling out earlier than usual (10.20am BST/11.20am CET).
Send me your thoughts and questions via email. It’s always great to hear from you and I also love hearing about where you’re following the live blog from, so include that if you want.
Neutralised start: 10.20am BST/11.20am CET
Updated
