Key events
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.
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”.
KOM classification: top five after stage 11
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Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), 27pts
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Ben Healy (EF Education-Easypost), 16pts
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Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech), 11pts
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Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates XRG), 8pts
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Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), 8pts
Points classification: top five after stage 11
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Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), 231pts
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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG), 163pts
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Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), 156pts
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Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), 154pts
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Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), 150pts
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
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Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) 41hrs 1mins 13secs
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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG), +29secs
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Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), +1min 29secs
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Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), +1min 46secs
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Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), +2mins 6secs
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Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), +2min 26secs
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Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL), +3mins 24secs
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Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +3mins 34secs
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Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +3mins 41secs
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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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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%).
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:
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Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) on stage three.
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Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) on stage three.
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Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek) on stage three.
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Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) on stage three.
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Eric Vanderaerden (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on stage 10.
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Pablo Ordorica Martínez (Movistar) on stage 10.
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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:
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.
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.
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.