Here is the stage report.
The GC standings
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 62:07:18
2. Rigoberto Urán (COL) EF Education - Nippo +5:18
3. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Jumbo - Visma +5:32
4. Richard Carapaz (ECU) INEOS Grenadiers +5:33
5. Ben O’Connor (AUS) AG2R - Citroën Team +5:58
6. Wilco Kelderman (NED) BORA - hansgrohe +6:16
7. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana - Premier Tech +7:01
8. Enric Mas (ESP) Movistar Team +7:11
9. Guillaume Martin (FRA) Cofidis +7:58
10. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain Victorious
Sepp Kuss speaks.
It’s incredible. I am lost for words. I was really suffering in this Tour. I didn’t feel I had the spice in the legs. Today I knew we were finishing in the place where I live, and I am so happy. It was a hard day in the breakaway. I don’t know the climb so much from training because it’s really hard. It means a lot, I can’t believe I am in the Tour, much less winning a stage.
The King of the Mountains standings
1. Wout Poels (NED) Bahrain Victorious 74
2. Michael Woods (CAN) Israel Start-Up Nation 66
3. Nairo Quintana (COL) Team Arkéa - Samsic 64
4. Wout van Aert (BEL) Jumbo - Visma “
5. Bauke Mollema (NED) Trek - Segafredo 41
Updated
Today’s stage result:
1. Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo - Visma 5:12:06
2. Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Movistar Team +23
3. Wout Poels (NED) Bahrain Victorious +1:15
4. Ion Izagirre (ESP) Astana - Premier Tech
5. Ruben Guerreiro (POR) EF Education - Nippo
6. Nairo Quintana (COL) Team Arkéa - Samsic
7. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama - FDJ
8. Daniel Martin (IRL) Israel Start-Up Nation +1:22
9. Franck Bonnamour (FRA) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
10. Aurélien Paret-Peintre AG2R - Citroën Team (FRA)
11. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Trek - Segafredo
12. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Deceuninck - Quick-Step
Pogacar et all coast home together, with Carapaz, Uran and the rest all in close attendance. They couldn’t get past him. Jonas Vingegaard celebrates the stage win for his Jumbo-Visma teammate, Sepp Kuss but job done for Pogacar. Michael Woods comes in wearing the polka-dot jersey but that will be worn by Wout Poels when we resume on Tuesday.
Valverde finishes in second, and Wout Poels comes in third. Dan Martin, who lives in Andorra, also rolls home.
🏆🇺🇸 @seppkuss wins in @andorraworld_ad !
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 11, 2021
🏆🇺🇸 @seppkuss s’impose en solitaire en Andorre !#TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/Gttfrkh99K
Updated
Sepp Kuss wins the fifteenth stage
A great ride from the American, who saw his chance on that final climb and took it, holding off the likes of Quintana, Nibali, Alaphilippe and Valverde. A first Tour de France win for Kuss, who was previously the bag man for Primoz Roglic. He sits up and celebrates with his arms spread wide. Well done.
Updated
2km to go: Van Aert almost comes to grief on a hairpin bend while Kuss is flying down. The streets of Andorre-la-Vieille are cheering on the American as he speeds down.
3km to go: Bad news for Guillaume Martin, who has blown up and has dropped from second and out of the top five.
5km to go: Andorre-la-Vieille is beckoning for Kuss, and he’s on the outskirts. He’s descending at pace and though Valverde has sped up a tad, he won’t be getting close. The yellow jersey group is losing many seconds but no matter. Kuss enters a tunnel as the Andorran capital comes ever closer.
9km to go: That’s the last of the climbing for Pogacar, and nobody has been able to land a glove on him. The GC looks to be his. And the stage looks to belong to Kuss as Valverde’s descent looks a bit slow. Fear gets to us all when the age of 40 is passed.
10km to go: There’s 15 seconds or so between Kuss and Valverde at the front, and Pogacar has control of the group of favourites. Kuss is flying down what looks a treacherous descent.
12km to go: Pogacar is not for cracking. He seems to have ridden off every assault possible, and though Ben O’Connor has a dig, Pogacar gets back on with an exchange of words.
14km to go: Something of a wobble from Kuss as he reaches the summit but no such problem for the surging Valverde, who is just 19 seconds behind now on the descent. Meanwhile, Vingegaard is trying his best to distance Pogacar but can’t get it done. Then Uran has a dig. Then Carapaz. Pogacar is doing some deep defending, and is having to dig deep.
15km to go: Pogacar tries to attack, but Jonas Vingegaard, the Danish rider seems to have his measure. That’s got rid of O’Connor. Kuss will go over the top as the stage leader but he has Valverde on his tail.
16km to go: Valverde looks bang in form as he chase down Sepp Kus but there’s 29 seconds in it, as Ben O’Connor takes on the yellow jersey group, but Pogacar come back to him.
17km to go: Kuss takes on a bottle, with Valverde and Quintana giving chase with 2.5km of this climb to go. The peloton group of favourites is closed up together as Martin drops down the virtual rankings.
18km to go: Martin is now a minute off Pogacar, and may see himself dropping down the podium position. Ineos have just one domestique with Carapaz, and off he goes, but Pogacar sits on his tail, with Rigoberto Uran there too. Kuss looks to have this climb licked.
19km to go: Oh no, Quintana, who’s gone. All that work but his form is not what it once was. So, down to the likes of Sepp Kuss and David Gaudu. Julian Alaphilippe’s in there too. Gaudu chucks away his gloves, and then Valverde and Kuss go to the front. Kuss looks to have the strength to take this climb. At the back Alaphilippe is soon struggling, as is Michael Woods. In the peloton, Ineos try to put Carapaz in position. They must attack soon to try and crack Pogacar.
20km to go: Quintana was caught, but then boomeranged himself back to the front as soon as the final climb begins. His change of pace has done for Van Aert and he is joined by the old guard of Nibali and Valverde.
22km to go: They are flying along, and Ineos are causing all sorts of problems, with Pogacar under pressure and Martin is still to get back on. The Col de Bexalis beckons, and it’s the final climb of the day, of 1796m.
28km to go: The breakaway is being eaten away at, and the gap is down to around five minutes as they speed down through Soldeu, the skiing town. Martin is struggling to close down the gap on Pogacar.
Updated
32km to go: Guillaume Martin almost dropped off the back of the peloton, but the second-placed rider is doing rather better on the descent. The wind, though, is problematic. Some kind of mini-echelon situation going on up there.
Updated
35km to go: Well well, Pogacar is all alone as he struggles up the hill, as Ineos put the hammer down to try and gain some time for Carapaz. They will try and pace their man down, and there’s a vast descent coming up. Quintana continues to lead, and will surely take the final climb all alone.
Updated
44km to go: Michael Woods goes off the front in that lead group in a chase for mountains points. He’s chased down by Van Aert, and at the back of the group a pair of Ineos riders drop back to help Carapaz in his assault on GC. Quintana and Nibali then try and ride off the front and it’s very windy up there. Quintana weaves from side to side, and takes off, seemingly comfortable at this altitude. He fancies a stage win, clearly, and opens a huge gap up at the top. The rest cannot live with him, and stay together in a group. Dan Martin, quiet all day, quiet this Tour, is in that group. There’s a heck of noise as Quintana goes over the top to take maximum points. Van Aert chases them down, Poels follows and Woods is back and is no longer in virtual polka. Quintana sets off down the hill to Soldeu, the frog’s legs venue of legends. He looks in awesome form, now how’s his descending?
🇨🇴 @NairoQuinCo likes altitude! He goes solo towards the Port d'Envalira!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 11, 2021
🇨🇴 Nairo Quintana aime l'altitude ! Il s'en va seul vers le Port d'Envalira !#TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/a49RD3N3XO
48km to go: They are into Andorra, having been past the customs station. The terrain is mountainous, with shades of green but also a rather dusty road. It looks more Vuelta than Le Tour. The main group continues to take time off the breakaway, and the favourites remain within the peloton.
50km to go: And this is where the action starts, and Andorra begins soon enough.
51km to go: That Porte-led drive is taking severe time off the breakaway group, almost two minutes. Valverde is up in the lead group, the wily old fox that he is, though the suggestion is he is there to ease Enric Mas along, his Movistar colleague who is ninth. There’s seven clicks of this climb yet and it’s doing serious damage now. Cavendish is being nursed along by his team but doesn’t seem in too much danger right now.
53km to go: There’s a split in the peloton, some action at last where Richie Porte has led an Ineos delegation and riders are being spat out the back. Pogacar is close at heel. Up above, a dwindling lead group is beginning to splinter as that high climb approaches. It’s 10km at high altitude and high heat.
58km to go: This climb has not seen much of a battle between anyone in the breakaway group, while the heat is getting into the peloton, as bottles of water are tipped over teammates. Brad Wiggins must be burning up in his sheepskin. Van Aert takes the points on the second category climb, and Poels is second, and Woods is third. Does that mean there is a swap in the polka dots?
⛰ Celle-ci est pour 🇧🇪 @WoutvanAert. Il passe en tête au Col de Puymorens (2️⃣ CAT) devant 🇳🇱 @WoutPoels et 🇨🇦 @rusty_woods. #TDF2021 ⚪️🔴 pic.twitter.com/1SIbKboaU2
— Maillot à Pois E.Leclerc (@maillotapois) July 11, 2021
60km to go: The top of the climb approaches in just under 5km and there are mountain points to be chased down by Wout Poels and Michael Woods. There’s 1500m of climbing to go. They’ve done 3000m so far, and this has not been a day of much fight.
65km to go: Pogacar’s Team UAE are working hard on the front, while keeping close watch on Guillaume Martin, who surged into second on Saturday. The gap is ten minutes to that 32-man breakaway, and that will surely break up as this huge climb approaches.
70km to go: It’s a time for free-wheeling, or relatively speaking. And there’s plenty of Catalan flags on the road, a sign of the times in Spain. There’s a few tax-free reasons why riders might choose to live in Andorra.
Many riders know Andorra very well from altitude training or after moving to the Principality. @TamauPogi also has great memory from the area - that's where he claimed his first Grand Tour stage win, during the 2019 edition of @LaVuelta 💐#TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/liVDyBIWBW
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 11, 2021
75km to go: Andorra approaches, and thus the climb will begin as mentioned before by our correspondent. It’s still a big group of 32 riders up ahead, and the winner of the stage will surely come from them. Pogacar is taking it easy in the main group that is almost ten minutes back.
🏁 75KM
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 11, 2021
The 32-man break has a lead of almost 10' over the peloton, heading into the final 75km.
Alors qu'il approche du Col de Puymorens, le peloton est toujours pointé à 9'42" des hommes de tête.
Gr.🔴: x32
Gr. 💛💚👶: +9'41"#TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/19J7dJtBXQ
Updated
85km to go: They will soon begin to make the climb that will end up at Port d’Envalira, the highest point of the entire Tour but for now there’s a descent, and all looks calm, even if disaster always lurks on such descents.
95km to go: They started to descend at pace. Michael Forbes gets in touch: Before they reach Pas de la Casa today, they will pass through the France-Andorra border control about 3km outside the town. Andorra isn’t in Schengen or the EU, so will everyone have to slow down and show their passports?”
Unlikely, Michael. Apart from the Brits, that is.
Updated
100km to go: And it will feel like a long 100km. There’s a four-man break on with Van Aert, Poels, Woods and De Gendt but they think better of it and sit up. At the back of the peloton, Cavendish’s Quickstep colleagues are pouring water on him to cool him down. He’s doing OK though and his men are pacing him back into the peloton.
Nat gets in touch: “re your comment about the steep bus-ride from Barcelona – that’s the gentle side! You should try riding up the Port d’Envalira from the French side. Then you’ll know what climbing is! (I probably couldn’t do it now, but back in the day… and that was with full cycle-touring kit, tent, the lot.)“
Updated
104km to go: As they ascend, Cavendish is dropping off the peloton, Deceuninck-QuickStep colleagues around him, with lead-out man Michael Mørkøv ferrying him along. They are still only 20 seconds off the peloton so that’s a job well done.
Up ahead, the front of the field reaches the summit, and they pick up pace as Wout Van Aert and Wout Poels lead out and Poels takes it, while current polka-dot leader Michael Woods curses as he collects third. The standings are Woods on 60 and Poels on 59, so the jersey may change hands by the end of the afternoon.
Round 1 pour 🇳🇱 @WoutPoels ! #TDF2021 ⚪️🔴 pic.twitter.com/rEU4iwJHkL
— Maillot à Pois E.Leclerc (@maillotapois) July 11, 2021
Updated
110km to go: The gap is now around 8’ 30”, dropping slightly, as they begin to ascend as Montee de Mont-Louis approaches as the first big climb of the day, and it’s not an especially steep one in what will still be hot conditions. The big one of the day is the more challenging.
Dangerousroads.org describes it thus:
Port d’Envalira is a high mountain pass at an elevation of 2.408m (7,900ft) above the sea level, located in the Pyrenees in the Encamp parish of Andorra. It is said to be the highest asphalted road in the Pyrenees.
The asphalted road over the pass, called CG-2, connects El Pas de la Casa with the rest of the country. It’s said to be the highest European road open all year round. The climb has been featured several times at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España cycling races. The pass is bypassed by the nearly 3 kilometers long Envalira Tunnel, at 2,000 meters.
Meanwhile, Bouhanni the sprinter, has gone from the race. He was ten minutes behind the main field. Cavendish meanwhile is still within the group but looks to be struggling now.
#TDF2021 - ABANDON Bouhanni#LFRLive
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) July 11, 2021
120km to go: Antony gets in touch: “Andorra. Agree that it is one big hill after another. We needed an Internet cafe (to print out a Ryanair boarding pass, rather than having to remortgage the house by doing so at the airport), back in the day. Parking was hard in the capital so found the nearest car park within about half a kilometre of the Internet cafe. And walk the rest. Well, by the time we reached it I knew how Hillary/Tensing felt reaching Everest. Still, that was one for the man (and woman) over Ryanair.”
Andorre-la-Vieille was an almost entirely different climate to Soldeu where we had stayed, it was hot and hilly. One of our number exploded in anger when someone tried to drink a bit of his Diet Coke in the heat. It had been a long week.
123km to go: Off goes the sprint, and Matthews, as expected, takes it and adds 20 points in the green jersey standings. He’s now 72 points behind Cavendish.
The mountains points are those to be chased today.
Un groupe de 3️⃣2️⃣ coureurs dans l'échappée. Parmi eux, les 3️⃣ premiers au classement de la montagne :
— Maillot à Pois E.Leclerc (@maillotapois) July 11, 2021
🇨🇦 @rusty_woods (54pts)
🇨🇴 @NairoQuinCo (50pts)
🇳🇱 @WoutPoels (49pts)#TDF2021 ⚪️🔴 pic.twitter.com/vtDATvG7Ld
125km to go: On Eurosport’s excellent coverage, Bradley Wiggins is wearing a biker’s jacket that seems unsuited to the conditions as he describes the riders taking on extra bottles as the road widens. Meanwhile, France awaits Guillaume Martin’s movements. Can today be the day he cracks Pogacar? It seems unlikely, it has to be said.
GC standings here.
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 56-50-21
2. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis, at 4-04
3. Rigoberto Urán (Col) EF Education-Nippo, at 5-18
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma, at 5-32
5. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, at 5-33
6. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Ag2r-Citroën, at 5-58
7. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 6-16
8. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech, at 6-30
9. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, at 7-11
10. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 9-48.
130km to go: As someone who has been to Andorra on a snowboarding trip - never again, I am no bogus, gnarly dude - I am amazed that anyone would want to cycle there at all. The place is just one big hill, the bus from Barcelona just seems to climb and climb. It’s also the only place I ever tried frog’s legs. Never again there, either. They must have been out of season. The gap to the peloton is 7’ 30” or so.
Updated
135km to go: The sprint that Michael Matthews is chasing is at 124km to go.
Here are the standings. Fair to say the Australian has a fair bit to do to chisel away at Cav.
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck-Quick-Step, 279pts
2. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team BikeExchange, 187pts
3. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix, 174pts
The two groups at the front have come together. Matthews’ aim seems to be to try and put a time gap out there that may cause Cavendish to drop out of the time limit. It’s a dirty old game. The gap to the main group is 6’ 40” and there’s some severe climbing to do.
145km to go: Michael Woods, the leader in the king of the mountains, is up in that leading group, which is 4’ 30” ahead of the Pogacar group. The two chasing groups have joined up, with Nairo Quintana and Julian Alaphilippe involved, and the group is so large that there are now breakaways from the breakaway group, and Vincenzo Nibali and Steven Kruijswijk are up there. Michael Matthews, who is chasing green jersey points, is up there in the vanguard.
😅 Here is the list of the 32 riders in the breakaway. 🇨🇴 @NairoQuinCo is also in the leading group.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 11, 2021
😅 Voici la composition du groupe de tête ! 🇨🇴 Nairo Quintana fait également partie de ce groupe.#TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/05P7YH9ess
155km to go: The front group is now made up of ten riders and may well have the collective strength to stay away from the rest, and particularly so if this group of chasers gets involved. There’s no Team Sky to control things these days so it makes for some delicious carnage. Having gone uphill, they are heading down dale at velocity.
The full list of chasers:
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 11, 2021
La liste complète des poursuivants:
🇫🇷 @DavidGaudu
🇧🇪 @WoutvanAert
🇳🇱 @WoutPoels
🇪🇸 @jcastroviejo
🇪🇸 @alejanvalverde
🇨🇦 @rusty_woods
🇫🇷 @KennyElissonde #TDF2021
🇫🇷 @alafpolak1
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 11, 2021
🇪🇸 Ion Izaguirre
🇫🇷 @FranckBonnamour
🇮🇹 @vincenzonibali
🇫🇷 @MadouasValentin
🇬🇧 @markdon99
🇫🇷 @p_latour
🇳🇱 @DylanvanBaarle
🇺🇸 @seppkuss
🇫🇷 @BrunoArmirail
🇦🇺 @blingmatthews
🇪🇸 @rubenfa
🇮🇹 @ballero_94
🇦🇹 @Poesti_92 #TDF2021
165km to go: You join us 25km into the stage and there’s already a pair of breakaway groups, and Thomas de Gendt has done what he normally does and gone from the get-go. Stephen Kruijswijk and Julian Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Dan Martin (Israel Start-up Nations), Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education-Nippo), Aurélien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroen), Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious) and Sergio Henao (Team Qhubeka NextHash) are with them. There’s a warning out there that there may be gravel on the road as the descenders fly down. Behind them is a group featuring Wout van Aert, Alejandro Valverde, Sepp Kuss, Michael Woods, Vincenzo Nibali and Davide Gaudu. Pogacar is in a group with Carapaz, and for now, Mark Cavendish, who has managed not to be dropped on the early climb over Montée de Mont-Louis. That will come as some relief.
Preamble
After Saturday’s breakaway, a mountain stage if not for the ages but one that will be tough as Le Tour goes off-piste in the Pyrenees and into Andorra, home of duty free and skiing. Tadej Pogacar’s mountain legs will get another test, though it has to be said that nobody has been able to live with him so far within the bruised and battered peloton. It gets pretty lumpy but there is no summit finish, which have been an endangered species during this year’s renewal. At the back the pack, the likes of Mark Cavendish will be trying to hang on in the grupetto, and keep within the time limit or safety in numbers. There’s a rest day tomorrow but this will be a long, hard day in the saddle for all concerned and is a chance for Pogacar to turn the screw.
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