Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard won stage 11 of the Tour de France following a sprint to the line with rival and overall leader Tadej Pogacar.
Defending champion Vingegaard, of Visma-Lease a Bike, edged out Pogacar of UAE-Team-Emirates as the pair raced for the line after several climbs on the 211km stage to Le Lioran in France’s Massif Central region.
Pogacar remains in the yellow jersey and is now one minute six seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel, who was third on the stage, with Vingegaard a further eight seconds behind.
When Slovenian Pogacar attacked with 32km to go he pulled away from the rest of the field but Vingegaard reeled him back in on the penultimate climb.
Denmark’s Vingegaard, 27, suffered a major crash in early April which left him with multiple serious injuries and he said through tears after the stage: “It is very emotional for me, coming back from the crash…
“It means a lot and all the things I went through in the last three months… I would never have been able to do this without my family.”
On Monday’s rest day Pogacar had suggested that Vingegaard was “a little afraid” of him and his team, following Sunday’s stage nine in which Vingegaard chose only to follow Pogacar’s wheel.
But Vingegaard was the first to launch the sprint on Tuesday as they accelerated to the line, and stayed ahead of the straining Pogacar, 25.
“Now we can all see it’s a fair fight and [Vingegaard] is in top shape,” said Pogacar afterwards.
“He beat me really good on the line. Let’s continue to do it like this.”
Of the ‘big four’ contenders for the overall win, Belgium’s Evenepoel of Soudal-Quick Step lost touch when Pogacar attacked on the Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol, but recovered well to finish just 25 seconds behind.
Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe was tracking Evenepoel before crashing late on when his rear wheel slid out on a tight left-hand downhill bend, but as it was inside 3km to the finish he was given the same time as Evenepoel.
Britain’s record-breaking Tour stage winner Mark Cavendish of Astana-Qazaqstan finished near the back of the field, 41 minutes behind the leaders.
But countryman Fred Wright of Bahrain-Victorious is out of the race after finishing beyond the time limit of 53 minutes, 38 seconds.
Tour de France stage 11 results
1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) 4hrs 58mins 00secs
2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) Same time
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal-Quick Step) +25secs
4. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe +55secs
5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) +1min 47secs
6. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +1mins 49secs
7. Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) Same time
8. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal-Quick Step “
9. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +1min 55secs
10. Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +2mins 38secs
Tour de France general classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) 45hrs 00mins 34secs
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal-Quick Step) +1min 06secs
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 14secs
4. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +2mins 45secs
5. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +4mins 20secs
6. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +4mins 40secs
7. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal-Quick Step) +5mins 38secs
8. Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) +6mins 69secs
9. Juan Ayuso (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +7mins 09secs
10. Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) +7mins 36secs