Soren Waerenskjold pulled off the biggest victory of his career on stage 11 of the Tour de France, timing a late sprint perfectly to beat the favourites on a day that ended in record time. The Norwegian, riding in his fourth Tour, delivered the first stage win of his career and only the second ever for Uno-X Mobility.
The flat 161.3km route from Vichy to Nevers was expected to finish in a bunch sprint, but the closing kilometres turned messy when Cees Bol opened the move inside the final 500m and his team-mate Olav Kooij did not immediately commit. As the field hesitated, Waerenskjold found a gap near the barriers and launched his attack with about 400m to go. He surged past Bol and held off Kooij, while Jasper Philipsen crossed third before being relegated for moving in the sprint, which lifted Milan Fretin onto the podium.
The peloton averaged 50.9km/h, making the stage the quickest ever in Tour de France history and edging past the previous mark of 50.3km/h set in 1999. Waerenskjold finished almost a bike length clear of Kooij and said afterwards that the result meant everything to him, describing it as his biggest win so far. He also pointed out that while several rivals are faster on paper, the right opportunity and a strong sprint can still make the difference.
There was no change at the top of the general classification, with Tadej Pogacar still leading Jonas Vingegaard by 3 minutes and 36 seconds after stage 11. Remco Evenepoel remains third, with the rest of the top 10 also unchanged after the day’s fast finale.
Source: bbc.co.uk
