Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) completed an amazing comeback from a broken collarbone suffered under a month ago at the Baloise Belgium Tour, winning stage 11 of the Tour de France from the day-long breakaway in Toulouse.
The Norwegian, who was one of the most combative riders last July, outpaced Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) to the finish as the pair dodged a protestor on the line, while metres behind, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) fell just short of catching the pair with a solo 9km chase.
Abrahamsen and Schmid had been part of a five-man move which went clear right at the start of the 156.8km stage, holding strong all stage long despite wave after wave of attack flowing from the peloton for over half the day.
After going clear of breakmates Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) on the steep slopes of the day’s final climb, the Côte de Pech David, the pair rode on to the finish as Van der Poel attacked from a strong chase group including Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek).
The Dutchman, already a stage winner on day two of the Tour, fell seven seconds short of making the catch, leaving Abrahamsen and Uno-X Mobility, racing their second Tour de France, celebrating their first stage victory at the race.
“I broke my collarbone four weeks ago in the Belgium Tour. I was crying in the hospital because I thought I wasn’t riding the Tour de France,” Abrahamsen said after the stage.
“The day after I was on the home trainer and hoping I could go to the Tour. Every day, I did everything I could to come back. So, to be here having won a stage of the Tour de France is amazing.
“[Schmid] was so strong today from the start. I tried and it was so difficult to pass him, but I was thinking ‘I have to win this stage, I have to’, and then I got a wheel in front and that was so nice.
“I knew I had a pretty good sprint, and we had been out for a long time. From km0 I was sprinting after the car. So, I had to be smart and not go over the limit. In the end, I was hoping to take him in the sprint. We were with very strong guys but never with more than two-and-a-half minutes, I think. We worked so hard to get the gap all day and it’s so nice to get the victory now.”
The drama in the final wasn’t confined to the breakaway battle, either, with a GC skirmish on the Côte de Pech David giving way to panic for race favourite Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) as he crashed with 4.1km to run.
The World Champion was part of a select group that had gone clear from the peloton over the top of the hill, and while attacks from Visma-Lease a Bike pair Matteo Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard didn’t throw him off, unfortunately he was left with nowhere to go when Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) cut across his front wheel.
Pogačar hit the ground and slid towards some road furniture, but he was up and quickly back on his bike, joining a chase group as Jhonatan Narváez and Adam Yates helped pace him back.
In a show of sportsmanship, the GC group slowed up to let Pogačar back in, saving him any time loss with the Slovenian now just having to worry about tending to any cuts and grazes ahead of the Thursday’s stage 12 race to the Pyrenees.
How it unfolded
After a day off for the Tour’s first rest day, the race resumed on Wednesday for stage 11, a Classics-style, 156.8km race in the hills around Toulouse. The day featured five classified climbs, all fourth category aside from the finale, with 1,600 vertical metres along the way. After 25.9km came the Côte de Castelnau-d’Estrétefonds (1.4km at 6.6%), but much of the day’s climbing came late on the stage.
At 111.6km came the Côte de Montgiscard (1.6km at 5.3%), with the Côte de Corrosnac (900m at 6.7%) 5.4km later with a series of smaller, uncategorised climbs to follow. The final two challenges, at 14.3km and 8.8km from the finish, respectively, came with the Côte de Vielle-Toulouse (1.3km at 6.8%) and the sprinter-challenging Côte de Pech David (800m at 12.4%).
Once the flag dropped, Jonas Abrahamsen, jumped out of the peloton to launch the day’s breakaway. The Norwegian was joined in the move by Mauro Schmid and Davide Ballerini to make it a trio out front.
Behind, a variety of riders – including Wout van Aert and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), plus Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) – tried to come across before the ascent of the Côte de Castelnau-d’Estrétefonds, though no moves succeeded.
On the way up, Van Aert attacked twice more, with others including Quinn Simmons and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) also trying, though nothing stuck.
The attacking continued on the other side of the hill and into the final 100km, with Abrahamsen’s three-man move holding their minute’s advantage up the road all along.
With 90km to run, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) got clear from the peloton, bridging across the gap to Abrahamsen, Schmid, and Ballerini to make it a quintet out front as the peloton finally seemed to settle.
Only it hadn’t, even with the new-look breakaway two minutes up the road and a 50 kph average speed so far. Two-dozen more riders made a break for it, with Van Aert in there once more and joined by a host of other notable names including Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla), and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies).
The attacks kept on coming behind them, however, dragging that large group back into the fold at 70km to go. There, a split in the peloton saw the top GC names mingled among those trying to break away, eventually resulting in another group of five getting clear on the run to the intermediate sprint.
Van Aert, Simmons, and De Lie were joined in the move by Van der Poel and Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers), the group lying 50 seconds off the leaders as the peloton, now finally calm, lay 2:30 back.
The chasers slowly ate into the gap to the leaders over the Côte de Montgiscard and Côte de Corrosnac, though with 40km to go it remained at 30 seconds. Behind, having missed both moves, Israel-Premier Tech led the peloton.
The five riders out front put up a spirited fight in holding off the all-start chase group, their advantage still holding at 20 seconds as they reached the 20km to go mark.
Five kilometres later, Simmons made the first move from the chase group, jumping clear on the penultimate climb of the Côte de Vielle-Toulouse. Up front, meanwhile, Abrahamsen had attacked, taking Schmid with him over the top.
Wright, Burgaudeau and Simmons formed a three-man chase behind the two leaders, while Ballerini dropped back to the quartet Simmons had left behind.
At 10km to go, Abrahamsen and Schmid led the race onto the steep slopes of the Côte de Pech David, 20 seconds up on the chase and 35 up on Van der Poel’s group. Midway up the short, sharp hill, the Dutchman went for broke, flying away from his breakmates and leaving Wright, Burgaudeau, and Simmons behind as he crested the summit alone.
Van der Poel still had 27 seconds to make up, however, and just under 9km left with which to do so. Back in the peloton, Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) kicked off the hostilities, setting in action a minor GC skirmish which saw Jorgenson and Vingegaard mount mini-attacks to annoy Pogačar.
As Van der Poel slowly but surely closed in on the two leaders, something else annoyed Pogačar as Johannessen cut across him as moves flew in the group. Suddenly, Pogačar was on the floor, and almost as quickly he was back up and chasing.
Up ahead of him, over 20 seconds up the road, a truce was called, letting Pogačar back in and ensuring his rivals wouldn’t benefit from his misfortune. Further ahead, Van der Poel was also closing in, with 10 seconds left to make up in the final 2km.
It was a tense chase on the roads of Toulouse, but one that saw Van der Poel run out of road. The Dutchman – lead-out man, stage winner, yellow jersey wearer – has done it all this Tour, but Abrahamsen was the man of the day, beating Schmid to the line as Van der Poel rounded out the podium.
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