Tour de France stage 11: Pogacar crashes but peloton waits, Abrahamsen wins from breakaway, Healy defends yellow

New York Times

16-07-2025

Norway's Jonas Abrahamsen won an incident-packed stage 11 at the Tour de France on Wednesday, outsprinting Mauro Schmid in Toulouse. Behind him race favorite Tadej Pogačar crashed in the finale, but did not lose any time to his general classification rivals after they waited for him to rejoin them.
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The stage was flat out from the moment the flag dropped, with several attempts to form a breakaway, some briefly successful, some shut down almost instantly. If EF Education-EasyPost were hoping for an easy day defending Ben Healy's yellow jersey, they did not get one, with the race run at an astonishing average speed of 48 kilometers an hour.
Halfway through the stage a quintet of Fred Wright, Schmid, Davide Ballerini, Mathieu Burgaudeau and Abrahamsen got themselves clear, but behind them the peloton was in a constant state of flux, a churning mass of attacks and counter-attacks on the hot roads of the Occitanie region in southern France.
With around 68km remaining Healy helped whittle down the yellow jersey group to a selection of favorites, while just ahead of them a deluxe chase group including Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and the ever-sprightly Quinn Simmons eased clear in a bid to reach the leading five.
The culmination of the stage saw a fascinating five vs five battle, which fragmented on the penultimate climb — the Côte de Vieille-Toulouse — with Simmons attacking and bridging to the front group, which disintegrated at the same point, with Schmid and Abrahamsen attacking and going clear.
Van der Poel then made his move on the final steep climb of the Côte de Pech David, but although he painfully and incrementally closed the gap on Schmid and Abrahamsen, he was unable to reach them, with the Norwegian edging the sprint and avoiding a protestor wearing an 'Israel out of the Tour' T-shirt.
The Israel-Premier Tech team released a statement on Wednesday evening, condemning the incident. 'Israel-Premier Tech respects everyone's right to free speech which includes the right to protest. However, the team absolutely condemns any protests or actions of individuals that interfere with racing at the Tour de France or threaten the safety of the entire peloton, as was seen on stage 11. We thank the ASO for their swift reaction to ensure the riders were not affected.'
Jacob Whitehead and Duncan Alexander break down the key moments from a relentless stage.
Find all of The Athletic's Tour de France coverage here. Or follow Global Sports on The Athletic app via the Discover tab.
Pogačar was probably thinking of the Hautacam, the brutal Pyrenean climb which serves as the final for Thursday's stage. Wednesday's climbs were done — the only thing left was fewer than 10km into the centre of Toulouse.
The next thing Pogačar saw was asphalt, and the central reservation of a French highway. The crash happened after Tobias Halland Johannessen switched to the right to match an acceleration from Visma Lease-a-Bike's Matteo Jorgenson. Johannessen clipped Pogačar and the race favorite lost his balance, veered left, skidded, and went down.
Pogačar appeared unhurt — telling his team over the radio that he was fine — but with less than four kilometers remaining, the main risk was losing time to his rivals. However, upon realising Pogačar was down, in a crash which was not his fault, the likes of Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel slowed the bunch down, waiting for Pogačar to catch up.
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'Respect to the peloton,' Pogačar said over his radio, before patting several Visma riders on the back at the finish. 'Respect to everyone, thank you.'
Johannessen apologised to Pogačar after the stage.
The decision to wait was particularly dramatic after accusations have flown between both UAE and Visma over recent days concerning a 'lack of respect' in feed zones.
'It was a sporting decision,' said Visma's Jorgenson. 'I think after the comments the other day, the accusations of being unsportsmanlike, stuff I've never seen from (Pogačar) before, I think at least now he can be confident that we're trying to beat him in a sporting manner.'
🤝 Sportsmanship at its best!
🤝 La sportivité du peloton !#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/W2pdKL7UUl
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 16, 2025
UAE Team Emirates manager Mauro Gianetti told reporters post-race that the injury was 'nothing big'.
'It's just a little bit of harm to the side of the legs,' he explained. 'And wow, something special happened in front, because even the leader of the race stopped and waited for him to come back. This is chapeau. This is cycling showing something special.'
Nevertheless, any crash has an impact on the body the next day — with the Hautacam the riders' first test in the high mountains, the top-level form Pogačar has shown so far this Tour is more uncertain.
'Luckily I just have a little bit of skin off,' Pogačar said post-stage. 'I was scared when I saw the sidewalk that I was going with my head directly to the sidewalk, but luckily my skin is tough and stopped me before the sidewalk.'
'Tomorrow is a big day coming. We'll see how I recover. Normally the day after a crash you're never at the best, but I will give my best tomorrow and we'll see. I think we're ready as a team for Hautacam.'
Jacob Whitehead
Cyclists suffer, that much is self-obvious and evident from the grimace and sweat. But some cyclists suffer for sport that sometimes feels more like a punishment than a craft, contorting themselves to meet its definitions of improvement and success.
Abrahamsen once weighed 60 kg, a weight which, the 29-year-old said last year, had seriously affected his health. In a bid to live up to the heroes of his youth, the weight he shed left him with a delayed puberty — not needing to shave and some inches short of his current height.
Two seasons ago, the Norwegian decided something in his career needed to change. Abrahamsen began to eat — putting on 20 kg over a single off-season. Giving up on his climbing dreams? Not a bit of it.
Abrahamsen recorded his personal best climbing numbers in the 2024 Tour, animating the polka-dot jersey competition. In Toulouse, however, he eclipsed it all — achieving his first Grand Tour stage win, and just the second major win of his career.
Just four weeks earlier, Abrahamsen had broken his collarbone in a crash at stage one of the Baloise Belgium Tour.
'I cried in the hospital thinking I wouldn't make the Tour,' he said after the finish. 'But the day after, I was on the home trainer, trying to get ready.'
🗣️'I broke my collarbone 4 weeks ago… I was crying in the hospital because I thought I would not ride the Tour, but the day after I was on the home trainer…I did everything I could to come back and to win a stage is amazing!' – 🇳🇴 @AbraJonas
Interview with a very happy Jonas… pic.twitter.com/HPOdjETrlw
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 16, 2025
He managed to recover in just nine days — 'Maybe I'm superhuman,' he joked to Cycling Weekly before the Grand Depart. Now, he and Uno-X have the first Tour de France stage win in their history, and the day's combativity award too.
A word too, for Schmid, who lost a stage he had animated for so long, by so little.
No words 💔
What an effort! From KM0 to the finish, a ride to be proud of 👏#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/SMQRMADq6b
— GreenEDGE Cycling (@GreenEDGEteam) July 16, 2025
Jacob Whitehead
'In Toulouse, we usually always have a big bunch sprint,' course designer Thierry Gouvenou told The Athletic earlier this month. 'This year we revised it, there are hills in the final part of the course to try and encourage escapees. We can't offer nine or 10 stages that are completely monotonous.'
Well, all we can say is merci, because this stage was a fantastic advertisement for bike racing — there was not a single quiet moment in 157 kilometers.
The balance between the riders and the route was perfectly demonstrated in the final part of the stage, with five leaders being chased by five pursuers.
On paper the five behind were the stronger quintet, but the five ahead not only knew they had to work perfectly together to stay clear, they fully committed to doing so. There's a phenomenon in road racing called Group Two Syndrome, where a chasing group works less than optimally because there it will contain riders who work less hard than their temporary-allies, hoping to save some energy for when the group in front is eventually caught. Except this lack of cooperation — even if it is subtle — often means that the second group do not in fact reach the riders they are chasing.
🇺🇸 Big attack from @QuinnSimmons9 on the côte de Vieille-Toulouse, who will try to get back to the front of the race on his own.
🇺🇸 Grosse attaque de @QuinnSimmons9 dans la côte de Vieille-Toulouse qui va tenter de rentrer seul sur la tête de course.#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/0LwJl6ac5W
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 16, 2025
But that's where route design kicks in. Because the final two climbs of today's stage were perfectly placed (and of an ideal steepness) to allow the both the leading and second groups to self-destruct via successful attacks. Up top, Schmid and eventual-winner Abrahamsen went clear on the Côte de Vieille-Toulouse, as did Simmons from the second group, while on the Côte de Pech David, Van der Poel made a huge move.
💥 @mathieuvdpoel drops his breakaway companions on the Pech David climb. But @AbraJonas and Mauro Schmid still have a 30-second lead!
💥 @mathieuvdpoel lâche ses compagnons d'échappée dans la côte de Pech David. Mais @AbraJonas et Mauro Schmid ont toujours une trentaine de… pic.twitter.com/R9zO7eLlUj
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 16, 2025
That left the Dutchman in a 'group two' on his own — one where no syndrome is present, just a requirement for sheer effort.
The route of this year's Tour de France continues to generate superb racing. Helped, of course, by the relentless effort of the riders.
Duncan Alexander
After Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April, third-placed Healy walked into the podium area and embraced victor Pogačar, before grabbing the Slovenian by both shoulders. 'When do you retire?' he mock-begged the reigning Tour de France champion.
'Well, I have a contract until 2030,' Pogačar replies. 'So maybe then.'
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Fast-forward three months. Healy is currently wearing the yellow jersey and leading the Tour — ahead of Pogačar.
Now, the Irishman has limited pedigree in the high mountains, and it would be a surprise if he retains yellow past Thursday's stage up the Hautacam — but EF have vowed to do everything they can to retain the jersey, despite the faintness of Healy's ultimate GC ambitions.
But having seized yellow with a long-range attack, would Healy stay aggressive?
'I think we'll be taking a much more defensive posture at this point in time,' EF team boss Jonathan Vaughters told reporters. 'Of course, I love the very aggressive style that we have, but ultimately we'll honor the jersey, we'll defend the jersey and I'm sure Ben is going to keep the jersey as long as he possibly can. We'll dedicate ourselves to a much more traditional strategy as long we can possibly can do that.'
Later, Vaughters stated that he believed a top five finish for Healy was possible — which would represent a shock result. Healy's previous highest finish in a Grand Tour was 27th in last year's Tour.
To keep him high on GC, EF's rouleurs — big-engine riders such as Kasper Asgreen, Michael Valgren, and Harry Sweeny — had to keep him safe at the front of the bunch, especially with the aggressive conclusion to Wednesday's stage. Save for one early moment when they were on the wrong side of a brief split in the peloton for 5km — and were summarily told off over the radio by directeur sportif Charly Wegelius — they did that job.
Healy finished with the main group of GC favourites, holding onto comfortably over the Côte de Pech David and retained his 29-second lead in yellow.
Jacob Whitehead
The next day sometimes feels a long time away on the Tour, not least the next year, but the key topic at Soudal-Quickstep's rest day press conference on Tuesday was the subject of Evenepoel's future.
Contracted at Soudal-Quickstep until 2026, the 24-year-old double Olympic champion is currently third on GC — but his team are significantly weaker than UAE Team Emirates and Visma Lease-a-Bike. Speculation about Evenepoel's long-term future at the team has run on for months — with INEOS and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe both holding a long-standing interest.
Asked directly whether he could guarantee he would be remaining at Soudal-Quickstep next season, Evenepoel replied: 'The year 2026 is still far away. It should be clear that I cannot answer these kinds of things. There is speculation and we have to keep everyone happy.
'I had a big discussion with (CEO) Jurgen Foré about this topic, because he is also worried. We talked about it and everything is clear. So that's the answer I can give.'
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However, it is understood that Evenepoel is set to join Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe next season, with a long-term deal expected to be finalised over the coming months.
Red Bull should be able to offer Evenepoel much more climbing support in the high mountains, boasting names such as Primoz Roglic, Florian Lipowitz, and Giulio Pellizzari on their roster, and they possess one of the largest budgets on the WorldTour.
Jacob Whitehead
Intermarche-Wanty were visited ahead of the stage by former Chelsea and Belgium footballer Eden Hazard, a big cycling fan, who rode up Mount Ventoux in the team's jersey last summer.
Second week of the Tour de France 💛
With the support of Eden Hazard 🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/yvroeZym2X
— Intermarché-Wanty (@IntermarcheW) July 16, 2025
'I used to watch a lot Tour de France, every holiday, every summer, but then when you play football, it's not easy to find time to do cycling,' he told The Athletic at Soudal-Quickstep's bus, where he was a guest of fellow Belgian sporting superstar Evenepoel.
'When I retired two years ago, the first thing I wanted to do was to climb Ventoux. I called my friends, and told them: 'Let's go for that.' When I have time, I have a few friends in Madrid, and we'll still go out riding for a few hours.'
Jacob Whitehead
The race finally reaches the Pyrenees, taking a steady route to the Col du Soulor before sending the riders up Hautacam for the seventh time in the race's history, a 13.5km climb with an average gradient of 7.8 per cent. Vingegaard put Pogačar to the sword here in 2022 to all but seal his first overall title.