Jonas Vingegaard pips Tadej Pogačar on stage 11 to ignite Tour de France title race
Jonas Vingegaard of Visma Lease-a-bike began the fightback against UAE Emirates’ Tadej Pogacar in the toughest stage of the 2024 Tour de France to date, beating the race leader to the stage win by a hair’s breadth.
In a pulsating finale to what many believe to be the Tour’s most testing stage in Le Lioran, the big four of Pogacar, Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel traded blows on some of the steepest, roughest roads in the Massif Central.
The quartet of Grand Tour winners lived up to the pre-race hype in a stage that saw Pogacar gamble on a long range attack, Vingegaard call his bluff, Roglic, of Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe, crash on a damp hairpin bend and Soudal Quick-Step’s leader, Evenepoel, seek to limit his losses.
The defending Tour champion’s stage win was as much a psychological blow as a sporting success, coming after Vingegaard’s serious crash at the Itzulia Basque Country in April and low-key start to this year’s Tour.
In typical swashbuckling style, Pogacar attacked, 31.6km from the finish, and 600 metres from the top of the Puy Mary, with only Vingegaard and Roglic, albeit after a moment’s hesitation, able to follow. But once again, the Slovenian failed to land a killer blow and after a frantic 20km pursuit, first with Roglic and then alone, Vingegaard caught his long-standing rival with 14km left to race and won the stage in a dramatic sprint finish.
“It’s very emotional for me. Coming back from the crash [in April], it means a lot, and all the things I went through in the last three months,” Vingegaard said. “It makes you think of that. I would never have been able to do this without my family. I’m just happy to be here and it means so much to win the stage, especially to win it for my family. They were there supporting me the whole time.”
Pogacar’s failure to distance his rival will feed into the speculation that while he remains strong, Vingegaard may now be getting stronger as the race continues.
More details to follow