photo credits @ Le Tour
A hair-raising stage 11 around Toulouse saw Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) lead the way from the first kilometer all the way to the finish! The Norwegian was the first attacker right at km 0, with Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) on his wheel. Behind them, the pace was relentless, with loads of riders eager to make the most of a punchy course. But in the end, the first two attackers were also the first two to reach the line in Toulouse, as Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) came 7 seconds shy of reeling them in. Already a hero of the 2024 Tour with his many breakaways, Abrahamsen takes his first Grand Tour victory, as well as Uno-X Mobility’s first. In the finale, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) crashed, but he quickly got back up and finished in the same time as his GC rivals, ahead of three key stages in the Pyrenees
Earlier, the trio of attackers worked well together, while Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Kévin Vauquelin (Ark-B&B Hotels) and Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) stirred things up back in the peloton.
With so many riders attacking again and again, the three early attackers struggled to open a significant gap despite covering 51.7 km in the first hour, with Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies) later making it a 5-man lead group at km 74.
The gap to the bunch eventually hit one minute, while Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) attacked from within the peloton with 65km to go, a move that was closely marked by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Pogacar.
Once the peloton came back together, Quinn Simmons put the hammer down along with Van Aert, Van der Poel, Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), who worked in earnest to try and chase down the five leaders.
Already into the last 50km, the gap to the breakway was reduced to 30’’, while the peloton trailed by 2’30’’.
Schmid attacked on the penultimate climb – côte de Vieille-Toulouse, with Abrahamsen joining him at the front. Behind them, Simmons sets off in pursuit.
As they faced the mighty Côte de Pech David, Schmid and Abrahamsen were 20’’ ahead of Simmons, Burgaudeau and Wright, while the group with Van der Poel trailed by 30’’.
Back in the peloton, Vauquelin and Vingegaard attacked, but Pogacar reacted as the GC contenders got back together for the final run-in to Toulouse, with Pogacar crashing with 6km to go. But, the Slovenian rider quickly got back on terms with his rivals.
Back up front,, Van der Poel moved closer and closer to the lead duo, coming within 7 seconds of catching them.
However, a very tight sprint saw Abrahamsen emerged victorious, claiming his first ever Grand Tour win.
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