Soren Waerenskjold secured a surprise Stage 11 victory for Uno-X Mobility on Wednesday as Tadej Pogacar maintained his iron grip on the yellow jersey.
The 161.3km flat run from Vichy to Nevers ended with Warenskjold claiming win in a bunch sprint ahead of Stage 5 winner Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech).
Belgian rider Philipsen, though, was later relegated from third to 119th and stripped of green jersey points which, while not officially confirmed is most likely for irregular sprinting in the stage finale.
It had been a nervy run-in which saw the peloton fan out across the narrow roads and teams battled for position before the Norwegian launched the decisive sprint, chasing down and then sling-shotting past Kooij's teammate Cees Bol who had attacked for the line early.
It was an unexpected win for Waerenskjold whose only previous stage at World Tour level was at the 2025 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. “I thought I was too far back, and then it opened up on the right side like it usually doesn't do,” he said.
“It was a bit the same feeling as my first big win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, when I was too far back and then suddenly at the front. It's unbelievable.
“It's my biggest win so far. Like I said, when I came here. I knew that there were two or three guys who are faster than me. But if I am lucky and I have a good sprint then it is possible.
“Usually, sometimes I have really good confidence and I believe in myself, but there are many times where I feel tired and like it's impossible to win here, so it's crazy that it happened today … It's a big surprise to myself.”
UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Pogacar finished safely in the peloton maintaining his 3 mins 36 secs advantage over second place Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) with Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) third, a further 30 seconds back.
Tuesday also saw the peloton shatter the speed record for a Tour de France road stage clocking in at an average 50.91km per hour beating the time of 50.36 set by Mario Cipollini back in 1999.
Pogacar, meanwhile, insisted that cycling fans remain “the greatest between all the sports” despite him being booed by some Tour spectators on Tuesday's Stage 10.
The 27-year-old remains a hugely popular rider although there appears to be some frustration stemming from the fact the Emirati team are so dominant in the sport. And Pogacar also described how he uses tennis great Novak Djokovic as a marker about how to handle negative reaction form fans.
“I mean, yeah, for sure, I have haters and haters are going to hate,” Pogacar after his latest win on Tuesday. “It's always like this, even though in cycling it's not as much. For example, in tennis or football, there is much more booing and going against one team or one player because it's just intense, one against each other.
“It's 50-50 with the fans, so in this case, when someone is booing me, I mean, if they boo me actually on the road, they boo the whole bunch, you don't know who it is, because we all pass together.
“I always think about tennis, Novak Djokovic, and the great mentality he has. I think he had one of the toughest careers, getting a lot of boos and unnecessary hate because he is the greatest.
I always look up when someone is going to him and think about him. It's like this, but I also need to say that in cycling, it's not actually so much booing. 99 per cent of people are cheering for everybody.
“Cycling fans are the greatest between all the sports, so we should be happy and grateful for all fans. And to all the booers, I think they just give more boost to my teammate or they put wood on the fire.”
Pogacar's big rival Vingegaard jumped to the Slovenian's defence, saying that those who want to come out and jeer should “stay at home” instead.
“I heard it as well. I think it shouldn't be acceptable in sport,” Vingegaard said in a video interview with Wielerflits.nl ahead of Stage 11. “It can be that they don't support him, but don't boo at him.
“Why do you want to come to a sporting event if you want to boo at somebody? Just cheer on people and be happy, otherwise stay at home.
“I understand that it's not nice for him. Being in the yellow jersey is the most looked at person in this race. I had it also in 2023 especially and it's not really nice.”
Stage 11 results
1. Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) 3:10:06
2. Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) ”
3. Jasper Philipsen* (Alpecin-Premier Tech) ”
4. Milan Fretin (Cofidis0 ”
5. Huub Artz (Lotto Intermarché) ”
*Demoted to 119th by race organisers
General Classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 36:15:02
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +3:36
3. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +4:06
4. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) +4:22
5. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) +4:35
