Tour de France: Vingaard reborn, beats Pogacar… by the millimetre; Joao Almeida moves up one place

The 2024 Tour is in full swing after the Dane beat the Slovenian at the end of a stunning mountain stage. Joao Almeida moves up to fifth

Jonas Vingegaard beat Tadej Pogacar in a sprint, decided by a photo finish, at the end of the spectacular 11th stage of the Tour de France, between Evox-les-Bains and Le Lioran (211 km). The Dane from Visma-Lease a Bike won after recovering from the Slovenian who attacked on the penultimate climb of the Tour, but he was unable to stay isolated.

Pogacar kept the yellow jersey by 1.06 minutes ahead of Remco Evenepoel, who managed to defend Vingegaard's second place (+1.14m), while Primoz Roglic, who did not avoid falling on the final descent (but was replaced at the same time by the Belgian) and lost time in fourth place (+2.15).

Joao Almeida, who followed Pogacar almost to the finish, moved up to fifth place (+4.20m).

The peloton exploded on the tough climb of Puy Mary (Category 1; 5.3km at 8%), just over 30km in, when British rider Adam Yates (UAE) set a very strong pace at the front, highlighting the wear and tear on Tadej Pogacar’s rivals, exposing the weakness of teammates Juan Ayuso and Joao Almeida, and launching the Slovenian’s attack from 500m up.

The yellow jersey was about 30 metres away from the duo of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora), but the Slovenian gave up before the summit, leaving the Dane isolated in Pogacar’s pursuit. Fifteen seconds later, Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick Step) passed.

On the ensuing snaking descent, which was executed at breakneck speed, Roglic joined Vingegaard in pursuing Pogacar, but increased his advantage to 30 seconds at the bottom of the next climb (Port de Bertos: second car. 4.5km at 8.2%), still the penultimate of the journey, where the Roglic-Vingegaard duo was caught by the Evenepoel group, João Almeida and Carlos Rodrigues (Ineos).

However, in the first few hundred metres, Vingegaard set a pace that was too strong for them, which made them take off. Moreover, Roglic did not resist any longer on the wheel of the reborn Nordic sprinter, who set off solo in an attempt to catch Pogacar – who practically managed to reach the top of the mountain, where the Slovenian sprinted to gain three seconds.

Together, they started the descent connected to the final climb (Col de Font de Cére: third cat. 3.4 km at 5.6%), with the duo Evenepoel and Roglic (+35 sec) in pursuit, already behind the group of João Almeida (+1.25 m).

On the final climb, Pogacar slowed down, showing fatigue, and alternated with Vingegaard to maintain the advantage over Evenepoel and Roglic (who had fallen on the way down), who remained above 30 seconds.

2.5 km from the summit, Jonas Vingegaard looks into Pogacar's eyes, in a gesture of defiance for the yellow jersey, anticipating a promising end to the stage… However, until the final count of the mountains, there was a truce between the two bitter rivals. There was one last descent to the finish line, where the stage winner would be decided between them.