Stage 11 race report: What a day!
Such a dramatic end to a speedy and tense stage. It had breakaways, attacks, big names and chaotic scenes. Of stage 11, Ben Healy said: “I think I’ve lost a few years of my life on that stage.” That probably sums up how the peloton found today’s unrelenting stage.
For today’s winner though, it was a dream come true, with Jonas Abrahamsen having broken his collarbone only four weeks ago and not even knowing whether he would make the Tour or not. Now, he has an epic stage win under his belt. Kudos to Mauro Schmid who spent much of the day in the breakaway and was pipped on the finish line, and hopefully Tadej Pogačar isn’t feeling too sore after his crash at the end of today’s stage.
As always, thank you so much for reading the blog and for all your messages. Apologies if I didn’t get round to answering your TdF questions. I’ll try to get to them when I’m next on the Tour blog on Friday, so come join me then. Tomorrow, tune in for another Guardian Tour de France blog from my sports colleagues.
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Here are the pictures from today’s podium in Toulouse:
Jonas Abrahamsen says it was 'a dream' to win a Tour stage, four weeks after breaking collarbone
Jonas Abrahamsen of Uno-X Mobility has spoken to reporters after winning stage 11. The Norwegian rider said:
I broke my collarbone four weeks ago at the Baloise Belgium Tour and I cried in the hospital thinking I wouldn’t make the Tour.
The next day, Abrahamsen was on the turbo trainer. Asked what was going through his mind, Abrahamsen answered:
I was thinking ‘I have to win this stage, I have to win this stage’ … It was my dream to win a stage of the Tour de France.
Abrahamsen added:
I know I have a pretty good sprint and we had been out for a long time, so I had to be smart and not go over the limit.
We were working so hard to get the gap all day so it’s great to get the vcitory. I’m so, so happy.
Seperately, one of Abrahamsen’s team in the Uno-X Mobility car screamed in joy and said “its a new level of emotion wining a stage of the Tour”.
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KOM classification: top five after stage 11
Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), 27pts
Ben Healy (EF Education-Easypost), 16pts
Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech), 11pts
Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates XRG), 8pts
Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), 8pts
Points classification: top five after stage 11
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), 231pts
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG), 163pts
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), 156pts
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), 154pts
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), 150pts
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As mentioned previously, there was someone on the course as the leaders headed towards the finish line. You can see in the below image that it was a protester wearing a T-shirt with the message ‘Israel out of the Tour’ that ran on to the final strait, before being restrained by security.
General classification: top 10 after stage 11
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) 41hrs 1mins 13secs
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG), +29secs
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), +1min 29secs
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), +1min 46secs
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), +2mins 6secs
Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), +2min 26secs
Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL), +3mins 24secs
Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +3mins 34secs
Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +3mins 41secs
Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), +5mins 3secs
Top five on stage 11
1. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility)
2. Mauro Schmid (Jayco Alula)
3. Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), +7secs
4. Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Caps), +53secs
5. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), +53secs
The GC group have crossed the line. They finish with a gap of 3mins 28secs. Tadej Pogačar is there and he thanks the others for waiting for him. Ben Healy keeps the yellow jersey for another day!
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Jonas Abrahamsen wins stage 11 of the Tour de France 2025!
Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula) sprint for line but Abrahamsen gets there first. Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) wasn’t able to catch them. There was a member of the public on that final finish straight but they were tackled into the barriers by one of the race organisers. What drama!
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1.5km to go: Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula) have to work together to stay away from Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) before they can think about racing each other.
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3km to go: The other riders are sitting up and allowing Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) to get back. Van der Poel is powering towards Abrahamsen and Schmid – he’s got the gap down to below 10secs.
Tadej Pogačar crashes!
4km to go: Tadej Pogačar crashes. He’s OK but could lose time as he’s outside the safe zone. He’s back on his bike and trying to get towed back.
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5km to go: With 5km to go, Van der Poel is shrinking the gap between him and Abrahamsen and Schmid. They only have a 14sec gap now.
6km to go: Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacks! Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) follow. It’s chaos out there.
7km to go: Now the peloton are climbing. Kévin Vauquelin attacks and Ben Healy tries to follow. Van der Poel is 24secs behind the breakaway.
Van der Poel attacks and chases breakaway duo towards finish
9km to go: The crowds lining this climb are amazing. Such big groups of spectators, what we love to see on the climbs. Burgaudeau drops Simmons and Wright. Van der Poel overtakes and attacks. He’s off and away!
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10km to go: Abrahamsen and Schmid start the final climb of today – it’s the category three Côte de Pech David (8oom at 12.4%).
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12.7km to go: So there’s been a lot of change in the last few minutes. Abrahamsen and Schmid attacked and are 19 secs ahead of a chasing group that now consists of Simmons, Wright and Burgaudeau. Then trailing behind them are: Van der Poel, Van Aert, Laurance, De Lie and Ballerini.
14km to go: It’s all coming apart for the breakaway! Ballerini is dropped and caught by the chasers. Abrahamsen leads the way to the summit and Schmid is on his wheel. Wright gets distanced.
15km to go: The breakaway are on the penultimate climb of the day: Côte de Vieille-Toulouse (1.3km at 6.8%). The chasing group follow and Quinn Simmons attacks! He gets away from Van der Poel.
Paul asks:
I’m interested to know how many of the new yellow cards have been handed out so far in the Tour- and to who and for what reason ?
The UCI lists all the yellow cards issued and you can filter by competition here. According to the UCI’s data, there have been seven sanctions in the Tour de France 2025 so far (four for riders and three for team members).
It lists them as:
Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) on stage three.
Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) on stage three.
Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek) on stage three.
Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) on stage three.
Eric Vanderaerden (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on stage 10.
Pablo Ordorica Martínez (Movistar) on stage 10.
Iván Velasco Murillo (Movistar) on stage 10.
The reason given for the riders’ sanctions on stage three is:
Deviation from the chosen line that obstructs or endangers another rider or irregular sprint (including pulling the jersey or saddle of another rider, intimidation or threat, blow from the head, knee, elbow, shoulder, hand, etc.).
And the reason for the team members’ sanctions on stage 10 is:
Non-compliance with the article 2.3.025 by a team assistant during feeding.
20km to go: Ineos Grenadiers’ Axel Laurence directeur sportif has radioed him to say that the winner of today’s stage will come from the group of five chasing. What do you think? Will the break stay away? Or no chance?
28km to go: That chasing group of Van der Poel, Van Aert, Simmons, Laurance and De Lie managed to get the time between them and the breakaway to less than 20secs but it’s oscillating. The breakaway are speeding downhill. EF Education-EasyPost cover the front of the peloton, with yellow jersey leader Ben Healy safely tucked between them.
32km to go: Jonathan Milan, Tim Merlier and Lenny Martinez are part of a 50-man group dropped from the bunch. They’re about 1min 15secs behind the peloton. At the other end of the race, the Van der Poel group is 27secs behind the breakaway.
Here’s how it’s looking out there on stage 11:
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38km to go: Wright takes another KOM point at the summit of the Côte de Corronsac.
The chasers come through 25secs behind and the peloton are 2mins 30sec behind the break.
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40km to go: The riders are about to go uphill again. In a few hundred metres, there’s the Côte de Corronsac (900m at 6.7%). Fred Wright is looking strong heading towards the summit.
45km to go: The breakaway have just reached the summit of the category four Côte de Montgiscard (1,7km at 5.3%). Fred Wright is first and takes the single KOM point. The chasing group has brought the gap down to 25secs. It’s a strong group of five riders: Mathieu Van der Poel, Quinn Simmons, Axel Laurance, Wout Van Aert and Arnaud De Lie.
Joe has got in touch and has a message for Huw (see 2.22pm BST):
If I were Huw and had a decent data plan on my phone, I would disconnect it from the work wifi, and stream the race on my phone. Bypass that work network, and you’re golden.
Breakaway of five riders establish 2min 25sec gap as Van der Poel and Van Aert chase
48km to go: The group of five (Wright, Schmid, Ballerini, Burgaudeau and Abrahamsen) have stretched their lead to 2min 25secs. The chasing group with Van der Poel in it is about 30secs behind the leaders.
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Mark has messaged in and shared a lovely memory. He says:
For my son’s golden birthday (he turned 14 on Bastille Day 2013) we followed the tour on its 100th anniversary year. Remains our favourite holiday. . . I am hoping to one day cover the Tour Femmes.
Sounds like wonderful memories! Yes, the Tour de France Femmes is worth going to watch. I was lucky enough to go one year and follow along in a team car for journalistic purposes.
57km to go: Abrahamsen crossed the line first on the intermediate sprint, followed by Ballerini and Schmid.
Results of the intermediate sprint
1. Abrahamsen, 20pts
2. Ballerini, 17pts
3. Schmid, 15pts
4. Wright, 13pts
5. Burgaudeau, 11pts
... +50secs
6. Simmons, 10pts
7. De Lie, 9pts
8. Van der Poel, 8pts
9. Van Aert, 7pts
10. Laurance, 6pts
... +1min 20secs
11. Oliveira, 5pts
... +2min 32secs
12. Milan, 4pts
13. Girmay, 3pts
14. Consonni, 2 ts
15. Turgis, 1pt
61km to go: Wright, Schmid, Ballerini, Burgaudeau and Abrahamsen are just 1km away from the intermediate sprint. Van der Poel, Van Aert, De Lie, Simmons and Laurance follow 45secs behind.
Poor Huw, he says he’s not able to stream live TV coverage at work any more. Very unjust. He emailed in to say:
My work have put on web filtering so I can’t access the live stream any more, unfortunately. Guardian live updates, enjoying the stage in an what feels like an old school manner to my millennial eyes. Why the hell was Milan attacking early ?!
It was a bit of a strange move but I think Jonathan Milan had been told by his team to be at the front and keep an eye on any moves. It was quite a tense start so I think no one wanted to be left behind early.
68km to go: Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), along with Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling), Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-Alula) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Caps), have joined the chasing trio. Behind them, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) make a move, with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) following. Don’t worry, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) is there and the chasing group swells to 15 riders. If they could all calm down, I might just get a second to have a bite of my lunch.
75km to go: Mark Renshaw has radioed his team to say “there’s no rules any more in cycling” – it’s in relation to the attack I mentioned earlier while some riders were taking a comfort break. Groupama-FDJ’s Quentin Pacher and Clément Russo are joined by Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Gianni Vermeersch in the chase to the breakaway. Behind Pacher, Russo and Vermeersch is a group of 19 riders including Wout Van Aert.
Tim has emailed in and is very happy to see Fred Wright in the breakaway. He says: “GO FRED!!!!!!”
80km to go: Quentin Pacher and Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ) have attacked. The commentators on TNT Sports are discussing how some of the riders in the peloton were stopped on the side of the road for a comfort break when it happened. They add that it’s also difficult to know what’s going on across the peloton so they don’t know whether it was intentional or not.
82km to go: And the pair have made it across, so now the breakaway consists of: Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula) and Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana). The break has almost 2mins on the peloton.
85km to go: Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies) have managed to get away from the peloton and have very nearly bridged across to the breakaway. The pace in the bunch has dropped and it looks as if they’re letting the break go for now.
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92km to go: Van Aert and Campenaerts have worked together to try to get away but haven’t had any luck. The peloton are shutting down any small attacks and the breakaway are surely going to get caught – they only have 18secs on the peloton now.
98km to go: With less than 100km to go, the breakaway have 38secs on the bunch. Both group of chasers have been caught by the peloton and now it looks as if they’re working together to drive down that gap.
Mike has emailed in with a question about how the Tour de France jerseys are prepared for the riders:
Good afternoon and thanks for the excellent coverage!
I have a question about the jerseys: Ben Healy is the holder of the yellow jersey and is resplendent in yellow today. Do the teams have some yellow, green or polka dot kit on stand by in case someone gets to the top of the classification or are they magically rustled up overnight?Has anyone ever not had one ready and had to go without? The behind the scenes intrigue of the tour!
It’s a good question. It’s actually the race organisers who provide the Tour de France jerseys, not the individual teams.
Rouleur have an interesting interviw with Fabrice Pierrot, who for the past 20 years, has printed the team names and logos on to the yellow, green, polka dot and white jersey every day for the post-stage podium ceremony. According to the article, each rider receives a short-sleeve and long-sleeve jersey, a sleeveless vest and, if necessary, a rain jacket, plus a skinsuit if they request it. Pierrot said: “I’m never quite sure, but during the Tour, I print over 1,000 jerseys.”
In regards to a rider not having one ready, I don’t know but will have a look into this! Unless any readers out there know?
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108km to go: Clément Berthet, Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Matteo Vercher (Total Energies) join Delettre and Haller in the chase. This group is 43secs behind the breakaway. Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin Deceuninck), Gregor Mühberger (Movistar) and Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) attack and chase the chasers. During the first hour of riding, the pace has been full on – 52km/h apparently.
115km to go: With 40km already covered at speed, Schmid, Ballerini and Abrahamsen are still out front and have 1min 13secs on the peloton. Haller and Delettre continue to chase. Intermarché-Wanty drive the peloton.
120km to go: Total Energies’ Alexandre Delettre is chasing the breakway (Uno-X Mobility’s Jonas Abrahamsen, Jayco-Alula’s Mauro Schmid and XDS Astana’s Davide Ballerini) – hope this makes you happy Michael! Delettre is joined by Marco Haller (Tudor Pro Cycling) and they sit about 40secs behind the break.
125km to go: It’s a rapid start and these riders are not messing about. The three-man breakaway are trying to push on but their lead has reduced to about 30secs. The peloton momentarily split, with Ben Healy behind in the second group. It’s come back together now though, so we have the peloton and the breakaway as they were.
131km to go: The peloton are pushing up the first climb of today, the category four Côte de Castelnau-d’Estrétefonds (1.5km at 6.6 %). Alaphilippe, Campenaerts and Van Aert take turns attacking on the climb. Quin Simmons (Lidl-Trek) also attacks and Van Aert follows. Abrahamsen was the first at the summit from the trio in the breakaway. He grabs one KOM point.
Updated
132km to go: Sean Kelly and Rob Hatch have been chatting about how fast today’s stage could be. Kelly says it’s going to be a “rapid day”. There have even been predictions that today’s stage could be done and dusted in three hours, given it’s just over 150km. The trio in the break have a minute on the peloton now.
Here are some pictures from so far today:
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138km to go: Thomas Gachignard (Total Energies) and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) have got away and are chasing the break together. They’re only 10secs ahead of the peloton, while the gap to the breakaway continues to increase.
141km to go: Robert Stannard (Bahrain Victorious) tried to bridge across but is back in the peloton now. The breakaway has 46secs on the bunch. Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek) attacks again.
148km to go: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) attacks but is reeled back in.
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150km to go: As well as Van Aert, Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto-Caps), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Niklas Märkl (Picnic-PostNL), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) were in the chasing group. They’ve been swallowed up by the peloton now. The trio out front have about 20secs.
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153km to go: Abrahamsen, Schmid and Ballerini have managed to stay away and have 20secs on the peloton. Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) chases! Others join him to create an eight-man chase group.
The racing has begun!
156km to go: The flag has been waved and the race is under way. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) immediately set off and was followed by Mauro Schmid (Jayco Alula) and Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana). Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) is up there too.
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For more than a decade, the interest in British riders racing in the Tour de France was focused on familiar names – Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas – but now a new generation of English-speaking talent is making its mark on the world’s biggest race.
Ben Healy, West Midlands-born but with Irish heritage, has been the revelation of the Tour so far, and was fully rewarded for his unrelenting efforts with the yellow jersey of race leadership on the Bastille Day stage to Puy de Sancy.
Healy was briefly a teammate to Tom Pidcock as a teenager before shining as an under-23 rider. Success in the “Baby Giro” in Italy drew him to the attention of the American team, EF Education-EasyPost.
More than his results, Healy’s approach to racing, free of the risk-averse tactics of some predecessors, is refreshing and exciting. Unafraid to fail, his attacking style has sometimes fallen short, with a stage win in the 2023 Giro d’Italia the notable exception.
In this Tour, however, with victory in Vire and a yellow jersey just four days later, he has finally fulfilled his promise. His success has been Ineos Grenadiers’ loss, as he is understood to have rejected an opportunity to move to the British team.
For Oscar Onley, currently seventh overall, his second Tour has been a world apart from his debut, in 2024, when he finished 39th. The 22-year-old from Kelso admitted that he was overwhelmed on his first appearance in the race. “I really struggled during the first week,” he recalled. “I was wondering: ‘What am I doing here?’”
This year, Onley is seventh overall as the race looks towards the Pyrenees. So far, he has coped much better, holding on to a high overall placing through one of the toughest and fastest opening weeks in Tour history. “Once you’re racing, it’s just another bike race,” he said, “but it’s the scale of everything around it, the expectations, the media.”
The viewers of TNT Sports have voted on who they think will win today’s stage. They rate Jonathan Milan, followed by Wout Van Aert, Tim Merlier and then Mathieu Van der Poel.
There’s about 8km left of the neutralised start. On the TV coverage, reporters have been asking the riders how they spent the rest day. Both Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar say they had haircuts. Pogačar seemed very pleased that he’d had a ride with a proper cafe stop as well.
Bill has emailed in with his thoughts on today’s stage:
Given the profile of the parcours, I can’t see any breakaway thrilling heroics ending well, as the day sets in for the bunch sprint.
I’m genuinely pleased that Healy is in yellow, he got a proper stomp on on Monday, and seems to be in a position to keep hold of the jersey today. If he keeps his wits about him, it’s only his Toulouse.
Great pun. Bravo.
Today’s rollout has begun
Stage 11 of the Tour de France 2025 is under way. The peloton have rolled out from Toulouse. There’s a 16.5km neutralised section before the racing begins at approx. 1.45pm CEST/12.45pm BST.
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Matt Stephens on TNT Sports spoke to Ben Healy (EF Education-EasySport) before today’s stage. Healy said he reckons it’s a day for the break, “hopefully” he added with a conspiritorial grin. He described the final climb before the finish as a “real kicker”.
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There’s also an official stage 11 briefing by Continental and French former professional cyclist, Jean-Marc Marino. He said:
Stage 11, Toulouse to Toulouse, 156.8km – this is a special stage because it comes right after the first rest day, and it’s a tough one with five categorised climbs, but also a good amount of flat terrain overall.
We call this the Lauragais hills, with beautiful views of the Pyrenees, and especially the final climb: 900m at 12.4%, with the first 200m reaching 20%, and the summit is 8km from the finish.
The stage ends in Compans-Caffarelli, right in the centre of Toulouse – this could be a day for the breakaway. It could suit someone like Van der Poel, Alaphilippe or Van Aert attacking late in the stage. Or maybe even Pogačar. A solo rider, a small group – anything could happen. It’s a wildcard stage. Maybe 40 riders will contest a sprint, maybe two, maybe one, or two, or three, or twenty.
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In case you wondered how the Tour riders spent a long awaited rest day, here’s what yellow jersey leader Ben Healy got up to:
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This is what general director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme, has to say about stage 11:
The teams banking on a bunch sprint won’t be hampered by any hilly terrain as they focus on their mission for the day. Vigilance will be required at the end of the stage due to the changes in direction that could be exploited if there’s a strong wind blowing. However, ‘Avenue Cavendish’ is one of those finish straights that’s ideally suited to a contest between the peloton’s most renowned thoroughbreds.
Here is the route profile of stage 11:
Stage 11: Toulouse to Toulouse, 156km
Here’s a look at today’s stage, Wednesday 16 July: Toulouse to Toulouse, 156.8km, with William Fotheringham’s preview:
This could go either of three ways: full bunch sprint, reduced bunch sprint, or break. The finale with its series of little hills might burn off a fast man or two, and will certainly make a coordinated chase difficult. This could be the last full bunch sprint of the Tour, so let’s plump for Philipsen; if the break goes and the sprinters’ teams tire in the finale the wily Dane Magnus Cort is a good bet.
The preview was written before the Tour, so Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won’t be in the mix today after having to withdaw from the race on stage three.
Preamble
After a rest day on Tuesday, the Tour riders are back for stage 11: a 156.8km loop, starting and ending in Toulouse. It’s classified as a flat stage with 1,750m of elevation gain, but there are a few bumps for the peloton to navigate: four category four climbs and a category three climb near the end.
Sprinters such as, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick-Step) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) will be eyeing up this stage, which could very well end in a bunch sprint. However, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has speed and strength that could come in handy for a flat stage with some lumps. It’ll also be interesting to see what Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) does, wearing the yellow jersey that he grabbed off Tadej Pogačar’s (UAE Team Emirates XRG) shoulders on stage 10. As always, I’d love to get your thoughts, so please email via the link above.
Before the action starts at 1.15pm CEST (12.15pm BST), here’s a reminder of how stage 10 played out:
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