TOULOUSE, France (AP) — Tour de France favorite Tadej Pogačar crashed near the finish while Norwegian rider Jonas Abrahamsen won the 11th stage on Wednesday.
Pogačar, the three-time champion, crashed with 3.9 kilometers remaining after hitting the wheel of Tobias Johannessen in front. His rivals for the general classification slowed down so he could get back on his bike and rejoin them. Pogačar, who was able to reattach the chain on his otherwise undamaged bike, thanked them for waiting.
“All good, all good,” Pogačar said over the UAE Team Emirates XRG radio. “Respect to the peloton, respect to everybody.”
Johannessen apologized as he felt responsible.
“I think the whole peloton moved to the right and I just followed the movement of Matteo Jorgenson and some other guys. I think Pogačar was on the radio so we just bumped into each other and I think it’s something that happens,” Johannessen said. “But I really didn’t want him to crash and I don’t think any other guy in the peloton wants Pogačar to go down. We just stopped and waited in the group straight away and I hope he’s fine.”
Abrahamsen, who attacked from the start, beat Swiss rider Mauro Schmid in a photo finish.
A as they sprinted for the finish, racing each other at the end after they’d worked together to stay ahead of Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel’s late push to catch them.
It was Abrahamsen’s first stage win at the Tour and the first in this race for his team, Uno-X Mobility.
The Norwegian rider wasn’t sure he’d even be racing at the Tour when he broke his collarbone in a crash at the Tour of Belgium last month.
“I was crying in the hospital because I (thought) I was not riding Tour de France,” the 29-year-old Abrahamsen said. “But the day after I was on the home trainer and hope I can go to Tour de France and every day I did everything I could to come back and here I’m standing in Tour de France, to win a stage is amazing.”
Van der Poel dropped his head and slouched on his bike as he finished 7 seconds behind in third, while the GC group including Pogačar and yellow jersey-holder Ben Healy finished 3:28 back.
Healy, only the , still leads by 29 seconds from Pogačar.
Ottawa’s Michael Woods finished 92nd in Wednesday’s stage and sat 89th overall, one hour eight minutes 36 seconds behind Healy.
Guillaume Boivin of Longueuil, Que., Woods’s Israel-Premier Tech teammate, was 163rd on Wednesday and 161st overall, 1:57:22 off the pace.
After the first rest day on Tuesday, Wednesday’s stage was a 156.8-kilometer loop from Toulouse back to the southern “Pink City” with views of the Pyrenees. It was expected to suit the sprinters, though there was a sting in the tail with a 20% incline on the Côte de Pech David before the finish.
Abrahamsen struck with 155 kilometers to go and was joined by Schmid and Davide Ballerini, prompting persistent attacks from the likes of Van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Victor Campenaerts. Ultimately all their efforts were in vain.
“It’s a crazy stage, guys,” the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team riders were told over their radios, “A crazy stage. Stay focused.”
Vingegaard’s chance
The Tour starts tackling the Pyrenees on Stage 12, a 180.6-kilometer hike from Auch to Hautacam, with the final 45 kilometers sure to be a grueling challenge — first at the Col du Soulor, a 11.9-kilometer climb with a 7.3% incline, before an even steeper incline at Col des Bordères. The stage ends with a 13.6-kilometer climb to Hautacam, the resort overlooking Lourdes, with an average gradient of 7.8%.
It could suit Jonas Vingegaard, who in 2022 increased his lead over Pogacar at Hautacam on his way to his first Tour victory. Vingegaard is fourth in the GC rankings, 1:46 behind Healy.
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