Key events
148km to go: Matîs Louvel is the highest ranked rider in today’s breakaway and needs to win today’s stage by 1hr 5min 31sec to wrestle the yellow jersey from the shoulders of Jonas Vingegaard. It’s unlikely, to say the least.
150km: Astonishingly bad mental arithmetic on my part means the first climb today is coming up presently and much like today’s second climb, continues it’s upward trajectory once the riders have passed the Tour-designated summit. The breakaway are just beginning their uphill journey now.
153km to go: The Alpecin-Deceuninck team of sprinter Jasper Philipsen move three or four riders to the front of the bunch as the gap goes out to 3min 02sec. They’re pedalling along at 43km per hour.
158km to go: Today’s first climb is the category four Côte de Chaptuzat-Haut, which is 490m high with an average gradient of 5% and 1.9 kilometres in length and quite literally crops up in around 10 kilometres time.
160km to go: The riders of Alpecin-Deceuninck are at the front of the bunch, where race leader Jonas Vingegaard is also clearly visible. The road is pancake flat and the gap is almost at the three-minute mark. After yesterday’s early fireworks, today has been comparatively sedate.
161km to go: The gap goes out to 2min 16sec, with Amador, Louvel and Oss perhaps questioning the wisdom of their early enthusiasm. They’re in for a long, lonely afternoon.
168km to go: Amador, Louvel and Oss remain out in front while the riders of Lotto-Dstny are towing the peloton along. The gap is out to 1min 48sec.
174km to go: Amador, Louvel and Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies) have been allowed to escape and have opened a gap of 38 seconds and rising. Strap yourselves in for what promises to be a long, boring afternoon of not a whole lot …
176km to go: Amador goes again and is joined by Matis Louvel (Arkéa–Samsic). A few more riders try to bridge the gap.
They’re racing on stage 11 …
178km to go: Christian Prudhomme semaphores the signal to start racing with his trusty yellow flag but today’s start is nothing like as wild as yesterday’s. The Costa Rican rider Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost) tries his luck with a jump off the front but cancels his escape plan when it becomes apparent nobody is interested in joining him.
The roll-out has begun …
Stage 11 neutral zone: The riders are meandering through Clermont-Ferrand ahead of being given the signal to start racing. Today’s stage isn’t massively flat but not hugely hilly either. We’ll almost certainly have a breakaway but it’s likely to end in a sprint finish. Some of the major sprinters’ may hedge their bets by trying to get men in the breakaway, while the teams of others may try to stop them doing that. It’s the last chance for the sprinters until stage 18, and there’s plenty without a win who will be trying to get one over on Jasper Philipsen today.
Who’s wearing what jersey?
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Yellow: Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 42hr 33min 13sec
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Green: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 260 points
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Polka-dot: Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)
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White: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates)
Bilbao pays tribute to Mäder as Vingegaard retains yellow
Stage 10 report: As he celebrated his first stage win in the Tour de France, Pello Bilbao pointed initially to the sky and then to his heart, in tribute to his former Bahrain Victorious teammate Gino Mäder, who died while descending at speed in the Tour de Suisse less than a month ago. Bilbao won stage 10 to Issoire after outsprinting Georg Zimmermann, racing for Intermarché-Circus-Wanty. Jeremy Whittle reports from Issoire …
The top five on General Classification
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Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 42hr 33min 13sec
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Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) +17sec
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Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2min 40sec
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Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4min 22sec
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Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) +4min 34sec
Tour de France stage 11: Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins (179.8km)
William Fotheringham on stage 11: A bunch sprint for sure, simply because with so few opportunities the sprinters won’t want to let this one get away. A break will go with riders looking for television time, but they won’t stand a chance. The question here is: which sprinters have survived the Massif Central, and which teams have any firepower left? One thing is certain: we won’t see another mass finish for at least eight days.
