Jonas Abrahamsen wins Tour de France Stage 11 as Tadej Pogacar crashes

Toulouse – Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen won Stage 11 of the Tour de France in Toulouse on July 16, while defending champion Tadej Pogacar crashed 4km from the line.

Pogacar fell after hitting the back wheel of another rider, but his rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel sportingly waited for the Slovenian to catch up after he got back on his bike. Ireland’s Ben Healy retained the leader’s jersey.

The thrilling stage over 156.8km from Toulouse and back was unexpectedly won by Abrahamsen as a long-range breakaway foiled the ambitions of the sprinters.

Abrahamsen contested a two-way cat-and-mouse battle of nerves down the home straight with Swiss Mauro Schmid, as the cunning Mathieu van der Poel crept up on them and finished third seven seconds adrift.

Said Abrahamsen: “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.

“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.

“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.”

Healy retained the overall lead on his first day in the fabled yellow jersey, while Pogacar remains second and Evenepoel third.

Following the July 15 rest day, July 16 was billed as a likely sprint finish with 70 points at stake in the sprint points standings in Toulouse.

Stage 11 did however feature five small climbs along the route, making sure it was constantly fast and nerve-racking.

UAE Team Emirates rider Pogacar suffered a fall and struggled to put his chain on after sliding across several metres of tarmac and had looked as if he would lose 30 to 40 seconds while Vingegaard and Evenepoel waited for him.

Healy will lead the peloton into the Pyrenees on July 17, where the first real mountains will test his and everyone’s legs on the legendary beyond-category Hautacam climb.

Meanwhile, a protester wearing an “Israel out of the Tour” T-shirt ran onto the final straight of Stage 11 before being restrained by a security officer.

The protester, who was also waving a keffiyeh, was about 50m from the finishing line as Abrahamsen just about edged out Schmid for his maiden stage victory.

Israel is represented on the Tour by the Israel-Premier Tech team, but no Israeli riders are competing in the race.

Israel’s military operations in Gaza have killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health authorities.

Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have died as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack, by Israeli tallies.

Some other protests are planned on the Tour route, Reuters has learnt from sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Tour organisers and the Israel-Premier Tech team were not immediately reachable for comment. REUTERS, AFP