Dramatic slump: Pogacar loses yellow jersey to Vinegaard

Tour de France, 11th stage
Dramatic slump on the mountain: Pogacar loses yellow jersey to Vingegaard

He is the great triumphant: the Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard has won the 11th stage of the Tour de France and has taken over the yellow jersey of the overall leader from Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian, who also won the last two Tour of France, collapsed completely on the first mountain stage in the Alps and lost 2:51 minutes on Vingegaard. The Dane now leads the overall standings by 2:16 ahead of Romain Bardet, with Pogacar dropping to third place.

Lennard Kämna falls behind for tactical reasons

As was to be expected, the German hopeful Lennard Kämna fell back in the overall standings on the first high mountain stage of the 109th Tour – also for tactical reasons. So the driver from the Bora-hansgrohe team has the chance to win another stage because he is no longer competing with the leaders. One day after his long escape and the jump to second place in the classification, the 25-year-old had to give up early on the 151.7-kilometer stage to the Col du Granon on Wednesday and lost several minutes.

From a German point of view, Simon Geschke saved his mountain jersey for another day over the high mountain giants. The stars of the industry provided the famous spectacle at around 30 degrees – and that’s when the tour experienced a huge surprise.

With 4.5 kilometers to go, Jonas Vingegaard attacks the yellow jersey

With 4.5 kilometers to go, Vingegaard attacked. Pogacar tried to counter, but nothing worked with the seemingly invincible. Geraint Thomas, Romain Bardet, David Gaudu or Nairo Quintana – all of the co-favorites literally left Pogacar standing on the mountain. The Slovenian staggered precariously, his jersey completely torn open. It was the biggest defeat in his young career. 2:22 minutes, Pogacar is now third in the standings behind Vingegaard, who single-handedly won the stage ahead of veteran Quintana and Bardet. Bardet is now second overall, 2:16 behind the man from Hillerslev in the far north.

“I’m not giving up. I’ll try to keep at it as long as possible,” said Kämna before the start in the former Olympic city of Albertville. But the undertaking was already over at the Col du Télégraphe, a good 67 kilometers from the finish. Kämna let the favorites go with a heavy step, on the climb to the 2642 meter high Col du Galibier the North German was already more than four minutes behind. “It’s just difficult when you were in the breakaway groups before. That takes a lot of energy,” said Kämna.

Great performance by veteran Simon Geschke

The 25-year-old was therefore no longer in sight at the big spectacle at the front. With Pogacar isolated from his teammates, the Jumbo Visma team launched the grand assault on the Tour patron. Primoz Roglic and Vingegaard took turns attacking the yellow jersey again and again, but Pogacar just couldn’t be shaken off at the time. Instead, Roglic had to pay tribute to the pace himself and fell behind.

Once again, veteran Geschke delivered a courageous performance. The 36-year-old Berliner was again in the breakaway group, fought his way over the Télégraphe in third place and over the Galibier in second. That was enough to successfully defend his coveted white dress with the red dots.

This means that Geschke can tackle the 21 most famous hairpin bends in the world in mountain jersey on Thursday, when it goes up to the legendary Alpe d’Huez ski station. Hundreds of thousands of fans will line up again on the 13.8-kilometre-long final climb with an average incline of 8.1 percent and ensure a madhouse. But even before that, the stage has it all. After the start in Briancon, it’s back over the Galibier and the Col de la Croix de Fer, all mountains of the highest category.

The stage to Alpe d’Huez is scheduled for Thursday on the French national holiday.

tis
DPA