4 hours ago
11
Key events
72km to go: The average speed, according to letour.fr, is 52.1km/h. If they keep this up it’ll be the fastest ever road stage at the Tour.
The fastest was in 1999, from Laval to Blois, with an average speed of 50.36km/h.
Tim Merlier had a chat with TNT Sports earlier: “It was a long stage [yesterday]. Yeah. I exploded completely because of the heat again. I was suffering, I needed water to cool down, the water didn’t come, and I exploded completely.
“Luckily I could still push to survive over the climbs. The guys [his teammates] did a great job. But I don’t like it. Second time in my career, I think, that my teammates needed to stay with me to bring me ‘in time’.”
Was he worried about the time cut?
“When we were 50km from the finish, I was pretty sure we were going to make it … we were close behind the grupetto … I knew I was quite safe.
“It’s extra motivation to win [today], for the teammates who stayed with me. I don’t like that they need to stay with me. Let’s hope I can give a a victory to them.”
79km to go: “When you’re a big champ, the fans at roadside get behind you,” Sean Kelly, on commentary, says of Pogacar. “When you start winning too much, they go against you, and that is the case with Pogacar at the moment.
“You cannot win when you’re a big champion, and a super athlete like Pogacar.”
80km to go: Le Berre (TotalEnergies) won the Tour de Normandie in 2022, as well as a race called the Boucle de l’Artois. He rode the Vuelta in 2023.
Charmig (Uno X-Mobility) won a stage at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes this year, but victories are nowhere else to be seen on his pro record.
Oliveira (Movistar) doesn’t have a pro win on his record.
86km to go: You probably don’t need me to tell you that Alaphilippe is by far the most decorated rider among our four escapees. He won the world championship road race twice – in 2020 and 2021 – he’s won six Tour de France stages, Flèche Wallonne three times, Milano-Sanremo in 2019, Strade Bianche in 2019 … He’s not the force he was, but what a career the Frenchman has had.
88km to go: Wow, they are really covering this ground speedily. We are way ahead of the fastest time schedule. The gap between break and peloton is 1min 29sec.
96km to go: “They need to do something about the slime in the moat, because you can’t see the fish,” the commentator Carlton Kirby says of some chateau or other. “It was built in the 15th century.”
98km to go: The gap is 1min 13sec, so the situation is not changing, and probably won’t for a while.
“I think Gary is right about the parcours and that, perhaps, it’s tipped a little too much towards Pogi,” emails James. “They’ve moved towards most of the Tour being semi-classics stages, medium mountains or mountains with sprints – and TTs basically being sidelined.
“I understand why - those are the stages people tune in for - but it’s overtipped the balance towards the best climbers. Not enough TT or different sorts of terrain for others to stake a claim. TT is, in particular, the only sort of GC stage where Pog clearly isn’t the strongest and a big, old-style TT might give another rider something.
“I’m not naive enough to think they’d win but... it’d give Pog a challenge that lots of stages like yesterday don’t.”
“Good to see Julian back in the break,” says Romain Bardet, on the TNT Sports motorbike, of his compatriot … “He had a lot of family at the start, a lot of motivation … today was a good opportunity for him to properly launch his second week.
“The wet roads made it tricky for the riders,” Bardet adds of the start. “I think Alpecin didn’t want to commit to the chase today. They have been the most organised team in the final, but Jasper Philipsen couldn’t deliver the perfect sprint, so maybe they wanted to try a different approach today.”
101km to go: Soudal Quick-Step are doing the lion’s share of the work at the front right now. Tim Merlier wants No 3.
There is a replay of a fan lobbing some water on the breakaway riders on the streets of Moulins.
102km to go: The race is passing through Moulins. No shortage of happy fans at the roadside. The gap is 1min 20sec.
104km to go: The gap is 1min 21sec.
By the way, tomorrow’s stage between Magny-Cours and Chalon-sur-Saône is another “flat” stage, albeit one with 1,800m of climbing.
105km to go: “I suspect much of the booing (not that there’s a great deal) should be directed against the organisation in putting too many mountain stages into the parcours,” emails Gary Naylor. “They’ve become as predictable as Mario Cipollini’s Saeco train and Dave Duffield exclaiming “The Lion King roars again!”
”The rouleurs need those long transition stages (250km-plus); the pure climbers need to be able to drop 20 minutes and then go for stages instead of being employed as super-domestiques for GC men who don’t need them; we need stretches on coastal roads with crosswinds a threat and some cobbles for the classics men to have a pop at the GT specialists. Most of all, we need an early long ITT to give a chance to non-climbers to go into yellow and then have their teams defend it. Maybe go back to the Pyrenees at Stages 10-12 and the Alps at Stages 16-19 or vice-versa.”
108km to go: And 1min 08sec the gap. Surely they are doing this on purpose.
110km to go: Liam Slock’s assault on a solo win (stage eight to Bergerac) was really thrilling. Even luminaries of the breakaway game such as Thomas de Gendt thought he had it in the bag with 10km to go.
Today, I doubt we will see that much excitement, in terms of the sprinters’ teams nearly making a mess of the catch … but time will tell.
111km to go: And 1min 11sec the gap.
All the 1s.
113km to go: “Somewhere near Slane,” emails Bronagh from the Republic of Ireland.
“LouLou loves a bit of camera action so the break won’t last but he’ll get to wiggle his eyebrows in a French way for a bit.
“I’m calling for a diminished sprint and saying today is Girmay’s moment (now watch him drop like a stone).”
118km to go: Philipsen spoke to TNT Sports before the stage. Does Van der Poel’s win take the pressure off a bit?
“It makes a big change in the atmosphere if someone can win … For Mathieu to deliver a win, it was a relief for us.”
Does he think the team need to change something in the lead-out?
“For today? I think we just have to keep doing what we’re doing, and results will follow sooner or later … we are going to work for it … the legs should be there … stick to the plan, we’ll see what the result will be.”
119km to go: The average pace is 53.4km/h. It’s going to be a fast day with a potentially dangerous break up the road.
121km to go: The four-man break has 1min 27sec.
A little earlier, on commentary for TNT Sports, Matt Stephens said this group lacks the really big engines you’d need for it to stay away.
123km to go: Both the break and peloton have been over the first climb, the Côte de Billonnière, a cheeky little category-four. The official site doesn’t seem to say who nabbed the KOM point.
125km to go: Julian Alaphilippe, Mathis Le Berre, Nelson Oliveira, and Anthon “This” Charmig “Man” are in the break.
By far the superior version.
127km to go: “Everybody is ready, and I think that will make a big difference to my lead-out train,” Biniam Girmay of NSN said before the start today. He mentioned that there had been some illness in the team in the first week.
132km to go: Philipsen and Kanter both beat Pedersen to the sprint point. Pedersen went early, and effectively led out Philipsen.
Kanter came past him too. Is that mini-win a good sign for Philipsen later?
132km to go: Slock has given up the chase.
134km to go: Oliveira nearly just lost his back wheel on a left-hand bend. The road is moist.
Le Berre wins the sprint. Then Oliveira, Alaphilippe, Charmig.
Le Berre powered away from Charmig before the sprint and no one looked too bothered.
135km to go: The escapees have 1.5km to ride until the intermediate sprint. It’ll be 10 points on offer to the winner, if Slock takes fifth place as expected.
136km to go: Charmig is the highest in GC among the break: he is 57th, 25min 09sec behind the race leader Pogacar.
138km to go: “Slocky”, who came agonisingly close to a solo win on stage eight, is falling further behind the break. He’s 44sec behind.
139km to go: To recap the four riders in the break:
Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling)
Mathis Le Berre (TotalEnergies)
Nelson Oliveira (Movistar Team)
Anthon Charmig (Uno X Mobility)
141km to go: Slock, and the breakaway, are riding into a headwind. Adam Blythe reckons there is no way Slock will be able to bridge given the wind. And indeed the gap is growing, it’s 36sec now.
142km to go: The break has 1min 20sec now. The peloton are letting them go. Liam Slock (Lotto–Intermarché) is trying to bridge across and is 26sec behind.
144km to go: It seems Lidl-Trek were entirely unable to contain the bunfight for the breakaway … ideally they would have had control and taken Pedersen to the sprint point, which is fast approaching.
147km to go: Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling), Le Berre (TotalEnergies), Oliveira (Movistar Team) and Charmig (Uno X Mobility) are up the road with just 5sec, now 10sec. This might be the break …
148km to go: It’s a 54.2km average speed. Spicy. The bunch is strung out, and there will be plenty of burning in the legs of the riders.
150km to go: The terrain is undulating. Certainly not flat, no matter what the route guide says. Alaphilippe tries again, chasing a Movistar rider and AN Other who have a little gap.
151km to go: A five-man group broke away briefly including Van der Poel and Magnus Cort (Uno X Mobility). Now it’s all back together.
152km to go: “Are they trying to make if difficult for Merlier?” asks Sean Kelly on commentary of these early attacks from Van der Poel for Alpecin-Premier Tech.
154km to go: There is quite a bit of water on the road, an unfamiliar sight after the furnace conditions of the first week or so.
Van der Poel attacks from the front of the bunch again, and gets a gap, with Valentin Paret-Peintre on his wheel.
155km to go: A big, sweeping right-hander is treated with due respect by the riders in the wet conditions. Now Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) is up there.
Adam Blythe wonders what on earth was said in the Alpecin-Premier Tech team meeting for Van der Poel to attack? I fancy there is tension between Van der Poel and Philipsen, but it’s only a hunch.
157km to go: Riders from any number of teams are battling at the front. Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana Team) is up there. Will Lidl-Trek stamp their authority on this before the intermediate?
158km to go: It is seriously strung out at the front. Lots of riders fancy a breakaway day. There is rain in the air, and on the ground. It’s 25km to race until the intermediate sprint.
Racing on stage 11!
Attacks from the off. Mathieu van der Poel is up there. Baptiste Veistroffer is also in amongst it again.
“Firstly, it is really depressing that people boo Tadej,” emails Andrew. “Would these people boo Einstein or Mozart. He is likely one of the two or three best riders of all time and yet somehow he gets booed for that?
“Secondly Tadej still has some way to go to equal Merckx’s TdF record. Eddy Merckx won the Tour de France five times (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1974). Merckx’s average winning margin was about 11 minutes 50 seconds.
“Thirdly why do the tour organisers still use helicopters to film the race when a modern drone camera is just as good and fly much closer to the riders and a lot cheaper, and can stay in the air longer?”
Did Tom Pidcock sleep well after crashing yesterday?
“Really good. I slept well. But it was a late night, with these stupidly late starts, dinner at 10pm.”
Will he watch England v Argentina in the World Cup semi-final later?
“We’ll watch it, for sure: Hopefully it doesn’t go to penalties. I’m already a big football fan, but I enjoy watching the World Cup.”
And back to cycling: does he want to be a GC rider or keep going for stages?
“I prefer going for stages, but I think this GC thing is something I want to crack one time in my career … in my position I can still go for stages.”
Stage 11 neutralised start
The riders are out on the road. A cycling race is not far away ...
Christoph Roodhooft, Jasper Philipsen’s boss at Alpecin-Premier Tech, tells Hannah Walker on TNT Sports that his sprinter is “feeling better … but that doesn’t mean he will win today.”
Is there any thought of letting Mathieu van der Poel sprint, instead of Philipsen, given the latter’s apparent lack of form?
“No.”
With no awareness of how heat affected the body, some riders ate salted codfish while training, to attune their systems to dehydration; as late as the 1980s, cycling magazines showed pictures of competitors stuffing cabbage leaves down the backs of their racing hats to keep the sun off the nape of the neck.
Thoughts on today’s stage? Or anything Tour de France related? Email me.
The temperate is forecast to peak at 33C in Nevers. Another hot day, but not the full-on heatwave the riders had to deal with last week.
Tim Merlier made the time cut by three minutes yesterday.
There are two categorised climbs today: the Côte de Billonnière is a category-four, coming soon after the sprint point: 1.1km long with an average gradient of 5.8%. The Côte de Billy-Chevannes is a cheeky 1.5km hill, that comes with 37.9km of racing remaining: average gradient 5%.
Points classification: top 10 before stage 11
Today’s intermediate sprint arrives after 27.8km, at Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule. Pedersen’s lead is looking increasingly intimidating for Girmay, Merlier, Philipsen and the rest of the fast men. Lidl-Trek are bound to try and control early doors today and lead Pedersen out for that intermediate.
1. Pedersen 293pts
2. Girmay 239pts
3. Merlier 213pts
4. Philipsen 205pts
5. Kanter 192pts
6. Kooij 110pts
7. Pogacar 107pts
8. Waersenskjold 89pts
9. Del Toro 80pts
10. Turgis 79pts
GC top 10 before stage 11
Isaac Del Toro dropping from third to seventh was the downside for UAE yesterday. But their main man extending his overall lead to 3min 36sec was the real quiz.
1) Pogacar 36hr 15min 02sec
2) Vingegaard +3min 36sec
3) Evenepoel +4min 06sec
4) Ayuso +4min 22sec
5) Seixas +4min 35sec
6) Lipowitz +4min 44sec
7) Del Toro +5min 08sec
8) Skjelmose +5min 45sec
9) Martinez +6min 34sec
10) Pidcock +11min 49sec
Tadej Pogacar extended his lead in the Tour de France with another imperious solo victory on the 10th stage to Le Lioran, in the Massif Central. The Slovenian now leads the Tour by more than a three and a half minutes from longtime rival Jonas Vingegaard, who wilted and lost more time to the other podium contenders.
Over a stage with seven categorised climbs, including the first category Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol and Col de Pertus in the final hour of racing, Pogacar again asserted himself over the peloton with a trademark attack on the penultimate climb.
His latest victory, however, was met with some boos from the roadside crowd, something not seen since the domineering days of Team Sky and Chris Froome, almost a decade ago.
Preamble
Yesterday’s stage 10 was the race in microcosm. There was a bit of fun and games at the front: Ben O’Connor, Javier Romo, Harold Tejada and most notably Richard Carapaz were among those to attack. But UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Tadej Pogacar were never less than firmly in control, and the relentless Slovenian applied the coup de grâce in typically businesslike fashion.
Davide Piganzoli’s pace-setting for Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease A Bike on the Col de Pertus was little more than cosplaying at being a team that can realistically challenge the overwhelming strength of UAE and Pogacar. Even the reaction of the fans at the roadside was a neat summary: most cheered the 27-year-old Pogacar on to more glory, while a minority booed to express their dissatisfaction at his ongoing and seemingly endless dominance.
This being a “flat” stage (1,400m of climbing in 161.3km), the Pogacar debate can be left for another day and we can immerse ourselves in the intrigue of the points classification race – not to mention the daily, self-contained drama of what will hopefully be a fierce fight for the stage.
The sprinters’ teams will be determined not to let a breakaway succeed, especially Alpecin-Premier Tech for Jasper Philipsen, and NSN for Biniam Girmay – two fast men who are yet to win at this year’s Tour. But given his form, and all that work to grind through the mountains yesterday, it would be no surprise for Tim Merlier to make it a hat-trick in Nevers.
Neutralised rollout: 12.50 BST/13.50 CET
