The 11th stage of the 2025 Tour de France, contested this Wednesday between Albi and Toulouse, offered a stunning scenario. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), present in the breakaway from the opening kilometers, soloed to a historic victory for his team, narrowly edging out Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) after a grueling battle. Third place went to Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who fought back too late to catch the leading duo.
A stage under high tension from the start
From the moment the flag dropped, the tone was set: attacks multiplied, sparking a fierce battle to form the day's breakaway. The initial group formed with Schmid, Abrahamsen, and Ballerini (XDS-Astana), joined shortly after by Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies).
For nearly 100 kilometers, a war of movements animated the peloton, with several attempts to join up. This intensity ended up fracturing the main peloton 125 km from the finish. Among those trapped: Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), wearing the yellow jersey, Tadej pogacar (UAE-XRG), 2nd overall, and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep). Thanks to the collective work of their teammates, the leaders managed to catch up, but the stage remained unstable.
Pogacar on the ground, but without damage
About 15 kilometers from the finish, as the peloton was reorganizing, Tadej Pogačar crashed on the descent after touching the wheel of a rider in front of him. The Slovenian, this season's world champion, hit a curb with his left shoulder. Awaited by the favorites in a spirit of camaraderie, he was able to resume without any time-related consequences. At the finish, Pogačar praised this fair play via race radio: “Big respect to all the guys today.”
A Dantesque finale despite a prestigious group of pursuers
Behind the breakaway, a five-star counterattack began the chase: Van der Poel, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Axel Laurance (Ineos-Grenadiers), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny), and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek). Despite their recognized strengths, the pursuers never managed to close the gap to the leaders, their gap remaining between 20 and 30 seconds. Van der Poel, in great form, tried everything on the final climb, but the effort came too late.
Abrahamsen, who had never won a WorldTour race before Wednesday, sprinted past Schmid in a close finish in Toulouse, giving Uno-X Mobility its first-ever Tour de France stage victory.
An unchanged general classification on the eve of the Alps
Despite the intense action of the day, there were no major changes in the general classification. Ben Healy retains the yellow jersey with a 29-second lead over Pogacar. The top five remains unchanged on the eve of the first major mountain stage, between Auch and Hautacam, where the favorites should begin to reveal themselves more clearly.
