The third decide of the 12 months is a spot and a day the place many tales got here collectively. Stage 11 of the Tour de France was a breathless watch and for that alone it was a thrill and memorable.
In a race the place the massive names and groups typically dominate, it additionally gave an underdog story with collarbone calcification and depicted the World Tour promotion-relegation battle too.
Merci Sébastien Bosvieux. A biking fan, he lives on the sting of Toulouse and in September 2024 he emailed Tour de France organiser Thierry Gouvenou with details about a wall-like street on the outskirts of the town. The Pech David hill sits above the Toulouse and is a well-liked gymnasium for cyclists and runners alike. There are other ways up, every ample to dynamite a peloton however the Chemin des Canalets on the western aspect is the toughest.
Gouvenou should know France’s geography higher than most however not but each street and he was receptive, eager to keep away from processional dash phases and the 2025 route with its begin in Lille and passage throughout the north hunted out each climb going to enliven issues. However Phases 8 and 9 to Laval and Châteauroux had been flat and the pondering was Stage 11 wanted to be spiced up and Bosvieux’s recommendation got here in helpful with the route redesigned previous to the presentation. When the Tour route was unveiled on 29 October 2024 had been no particulars but it surely definitely seemed just like the Chemin des Canalets. Certain sufficient it was.
On 18 June 2025 Jonas Abrahamsen crashed out of the Baloise Belgium Tour’s opening stage, breaking his collarbone. Information stories mentioned he was more likely to miss the Tour de France given the race was simply 17 days away.
The Tour de France began on 5 July and Abrahamsen makes the entrance group on the run in to Lille when the race break up, a clue he’d recovered absolutely and maybe even benefitted from the depth and warmth of static coaching as a part of his rehab.
Stage 11 is on 16 July and begins and finishes in Toulouse. After a protracted impartial journey out of the suburbs to flee the polynesia of roundabouts the stage begins. As you’ll be able to see within the picture above as Christian Prudhomme waves the flag Mauro Schmid is out of the saddle, lips pursed, to launch the primary transfer of the day. Subsequent to him is Abrahamsen who goes too and so they’re joined by Davide Ballerini of XDS-Astana.
The trio appear to dangle off the entrance with only some seconds’ lead as a raging peloton chases and riders attempt to bridge throughout. The typical velocity within the first hour is 51km/h. Jonathan Milan in individual has a go. Wout van Aert is launched by Victor Campenaerts. Others strive however everybody cancels one another out because the trio preserve rolling. Because the peloton tries to take a seat up Fred Wright and Mathieu Burgaudeau slip away and handle to get throughout. The hole goes as much as 45 seconds, then over minute for the quintet after 75km. It appears like issues will lastly ease up.
Solely Groupama-FDJ’s Quentin Pacher’s house is on the route later in Castanet-Tolosan and he’s decided to characteristic. Others must strive too. EF wish to defend Ben Healy’s yellow jersey for one final day earlier than the Pyrnees and assist mow down strikes. At one level Jonas Vingegaard slips into an assault. And so it went on, a day of anarchy amid the sunflower fields.
A high quality counter-attack noticed Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Quinn Simmons, Arnaud De Lie and Axel Laurance away. That they had the lead 5 in sight for a lot of the ultimate 40km however couldn’t shut the ultimate metres, typically simply twenty seconds away. After Van Aert tried an assault Simmons made his transfer on the penultimate climb. The American’s transfer appeared to immediate Abrahamsen and Schmid to speed up in a final bid to keep away from him.
On to the ultimate climb of Pech David and Schmid and Abrahamsen nonetheless led by a couple of seconds. Van der Poel units off in pursuit, the small street became the town’s liveliest stadium for the day with big crowds. Van der Poel later mentioned he didn’t realise there have been nonetheless two riders up forward, a shock given for a way lengthy his group had the leaders in sight at occasions. However his pursuit prompted the lead pair not play video games.
Behind Kévin Vauquelin made a transfer on the Pech David climb and this prompted a small group of the GC contenders to go clear. Amongst them Tobias Halland Johannessen who drifted throughout the street, felling Tadej Pogačar within the streets of Toulouse. This shut down any extra assaults on this group.
Up forward Schmid and Abrahamsen couldn’t play video games within the shaded boulevards with Van der Poel closing in. The 2 who had been away all day sprinted for the win, Abrahamsen the powerhouse, Schmid a finisseur with a monitor pedigree and it was Abrahamsen who received by a wheel.
Why the spotlight?
Continuous racing and should you had been fortunate to look at it reside in full there have been few quiet moments and it was visually interesting with sunshine and crowds too. It’s a decide for the day’s racing however tags different Tour phases which might make highlights too however are rolled into this.
To look on the Tour route earlier than it reached the Pyrenees was to think about a group of flat days however the route exploited each hill doable and whereas this left the sprinters pissed off it meant infinite motion. Occasion the dash stage to Châteauroux was a shock thriller with Van der Poel escorting Jonas Rickaert. Lots of lately had been the breakaway world championships with most of the world’s greatest riders in peak type giving it all the pieces, this “Tour impact” is more and more pronounced.
Stage 11 was exemplary with motion from begin to end and it was nearly a pity somebody needed to win as this meant the day needed to finish.
Dare we ask for extra? One lament is we didn’t get an GC motion on the day. Vingegaard slipping right into a transfer did add a quick thrill and Pogačar’s crash with out hurt introduced drama however this was all on the eve of the primary large mountain stage and so the motivation for many contenders was to take a seat tight moderately than danger loads for under meagre beneficial properties. Nonetheless if, say, Matteo Jorgenson and Primož Roglič had made a late transfer to take time it will have been even higher.
With hindsight
There’s not an excessive amount of to extrapolate from today, it felt like a celebration that simply went effectively, the day had a buzz moderately than deep that means.
Nonetheless this was the final day the place the Pogačar-Vingegaard duel held out promise. 24 hours later Pogačar received by over two minutes at Hautacam and the expectant temper was punctured.
Uno-X received promotion to the World Tour with 26,717 factors, simply 397 factors forward of Cofidis and Abrahamsen’s win right here delivered 210 UCI factors. Because the chart above exhibits the staff closed in on Cofidis all through the season however in biking phrases they obtained Cofidis’ wheel in July and had been capable of outsprint them on the end so the Tour counts for lots. However the day was a qualitative assertion, Uno-X scored all through the season however received right here they received on the highest degree too.
There’s additionally a behind-the-scenes side to this. Uno-X have a superb assist workers, many from Sky/Ineos, and Abrahamsen’s restoration was partly because of being despatched to see a specialist surgeon in Manchester. Plus there had been numerous work on his vitamin so he might eat extra carbs per hour than most. A current Buddies (subscribers) episode of The Biking Podcast tells this story effectively.
Highlights of 2025 – Half I
Highlights of 2025 – Half II
The submit Highlights of 2025 – Half III first appeared on The Internal Ring.
