Tour de France favourite Tadej Pogacar suffered a high-speed crash towards the end of Wednesday's Stage 11 that saw Jonas Abrahamsen take the honours after a thrilling photo finish with Mauro Schmid.
UAE Team Emirates-XRA rider Pogacar hit the deck on the Cote de Pech descent after skidding along the tarmac with 4km to go but was able to rejoin the peloton – including rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel – who sportingly waited for his return having not lost any time.
Pogacar struggled to put his chain on and had looked as if he would lose 30 to 40 seconds. “I'm quite OK,” said the Slovenian. “A bit beaten up but we've been through worse days. It was a hectic day from start to finish. Thanks to the peloton who waited … big respect to everyone in front.”
The three-time champion remains in second place, 29 seconds behind Irishman Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) who retains the overall lead and yellow jersey that goes with it, while there was no change at all in the general classification top 10.
It was a first Grand Tour win for Abrahamsen and his Uno-X Mobility team coming despite the Norwegian breaking his collarbone just a few weeks before the Tour, making this success even more spectacular – and unexpected.
Abrahamsen spent the entire day among the top 5 riders before a finale that saw him hold off the challenge of Schmid (Team Jayco-AlUla) by the slimmest of margins, with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) coming home third.
The Dutch star's late surge to catch the leading duo fell just short and had to settle for a place on the podium which had been expected ti finish in a bunch sprint.
The GC group, including Pogacar and yellow jersey-holder Healy, finished the 156.8-km ride around Toulouse 3 mins 28 secs back.
“I broke my collarbone four weeks ago in the Belgium Tour. I was crying in the hospital because I thought I wasn’t riding the Tour de France,” Abrahamsen, 29, said after the stage.
“The day after I was on the home trainer and hoping I could go to the Tour. Every day, I did everything I could to come back. So, to be here having won a stage of the Tour de France is amazing.
“[Schmid] was so strong today from the start. I tried and it was so difficult to pass him, but I was thinking ‘I have to win this stage, I have to’, and then I got a wheel in front and that was so nice.
“I spent 10 days in the mountain jersey last year and wasn't able to win a stage so to do it today is so nice. It's a dream come true.
“It's so nice to be with a team from the start in 2017 and see the team growing every year. I'm so proud of the team. They believed in me to come to the Tour de France and to win a stage so it's so nice.
“I knew I had a pretty good sprint, and we had been out for a long time. In the end, I was hoping to take him in the sprint.
“We were with very strong guys but never with more than two-and-a-half minutes, I think. We worked so hard to get the gap all day and it’s so nice to get the victory now.”
Healy will lead the peloton into the Pyrenees on Thursday where the first real mountains will test his and everyone's legs on the legendary beyond category Hautacam climb.
General classification after Stage 11
- Ben Healy (Ire/EF Education-EasyPost) 41 hrs 1 min 13 secs
- Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +29secs
- Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal Quick-Step) +1min 29 secs
- Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 46 secs
- Matteo Jorgenson (US/Visma-Lease a Bike) +2mins 6 secs
