From 175th to first – How to maximise a day at the Tour de France to the fullest with Uno-X Mobility

In many ways, the 2026 Tour de France has been somewhat predictable: Tadej Pogačar is in yellow after dominating the mountains, Tim Merlier has looked the best in the sprints, and Mads Pedersen is in the green jersey, all as expected before the Grand Départ rolled out from Barcelona on July 4.

But on stage 11, and one day after he finished last following a crash on stage 10 to Le Lioran, Søren Wærenskjold shocked himself, his teammates, and his rivals with a daring long-range sprint into Nevers, on the fastest day in the Tour's history no less.

It was a strange sprint by Tour standards, with no team fully taking up the mantle of pacing all the way into the final 300 metres, leaving the door open for late attackers. First went Decathlon lead-out man Cees Bol, then Wærenskjold, who squeezed through a gap up the inside of the barrier and scorched to the biggest win of his career.

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Had he not crashed and suffered his way to the line on stage 10, though, arriving in 175th, 41:45 after Pogačar, the powerful Norwegian revealed that he might not have been so bold to take the gap which was quickly closing in front of him.

"I felt [the crash] today, but it wasn't that bad. It was a bit swollen in the leg, and the fingers were hurting a bit," said Wærenskjold in a press conference.

"It was a bit more skin off my fingers than I'm used to when I'm crashing, so it's painful, but it was OK after a while, and when the adrenaline kicks in, I was able to focus on the final.

"I think if I didn't crash yesterday, I probably wouldn't have taken that gap. Mentally, I was like: 'I have nothing to lose, now I'm here in the sprint, I'll try to follow my instinct'. I took that gap even though it was a bit far."

Olav Kooij and Jasper Philipsen closed in on his wheel, but neither could reach it before the line came in and the big man roared in celebration. After several beeps of the horn on the Uno-X bus once their rider's victory was confirmed, his teammates were left in shock as they spoke to reporters, having lost belief in Wærenskjold for the moment at least, so soon after his crash.

"I think he really felt like it would be possible, but after the crash, I think we didn't really believe it," said Tobias Halland Johannessen to TNT.

"He looked sad yesterday, so yeah, crazy today. We really didn't believe we were gonna win today. I think with Søren at least, this is the most crazy feeling."

Best of both worlds on the road to Nevers

Wærenskjold also wasn't the only method of attack the Norwegian team used on stage 11, with the Norwegian team putting Anthon Charmig up the road in the four-man breakaway which survived until the final 7km.

In an era of predictability at the Tour, where Pogačar's UAE squad are hoovering up almost all of the spoils, perhaps Uno-X's tactic to exhaust every avenue in pursuit of the win can be an example to all the other teams fighting for relevancy at this year's Tour.

Charmig was awarded the combativity prize at the end of the day, which would have been prize enough on a day they weren't expecting to win, but Wærenskjold's stunning charge for home has brought them their second successive win on stage 11 of the Tour after Jonas Abrahamsen won the same stage 12 months ago.

"We went for both. We had the Anthon in the breakaway. He was really strong," said Anders Halland Johannessen to TNT.

"But we knew Søren was a bit injured, a bit more than we thought when he arrived at the bus yesterday. But it seems like he found his legs, and he was the best today."

Asked about his sprint style, the stage winner spoke of watching Mark Cavendish in his younger years and taking inspiration from the Tour's stage-win record holder. Eight inches taller, Wærenskjold is certainly aero for his size, but with the brute force to go with it.

"Since I was young, I've been sprinting this way. When I was 14, I was probably watching Cavendish sprint, and his face was almost touching his front wheel," he said.

"Since I started sprinting that way, it's hard to change. I don't really think about my style of sprinting, even though I'm a tall guy, so I just try to stay as low as possible without affecting the power and, especially in the faster sprints, it's an advantage for me."

The Norwegian is under no illusions that on paper, he isn't as fast as a Tim Merlier or Jasper Philipsen, but that with the right conditions and certain things going his way in the finale, he can win a sprint at the Tour de France. Everything came together for him in Nevers.

"I think I gained enough confidence that I could win [at the Tour], but there are probably two or three guys that are faster than me," he said.

"So either they have to be blocked, or I have to be lucky with my sprint, like today when I got A gap. So I knew that it was possible if I'm in the perfect position and if I get a good sprint, but I'll try to tell the team that I'm not the favourite to win, so maybe they think I'm a bit negative, but I think that's my way of being as a human."

Wærenskjold joked during his press conference about the team promising a jet-ski this morning should he win. Sadly, he already has one in his hometown of Mandal, on Norway's southern coast, and if Uno-X race as they did on stage 11, maximising all avenues to try and win, that would be an expensive promise to keep making to their riders.

They had already been second on two stages prior to this, with Wærenskjold in Bordeaux and Tobias Johannessen in Ussel. It's just their fourth Tour and first year at WorldTour level, but the Norwegian team certainly know how to win.

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