Tour de France stage 11 - Live coverage

Hello there and welcome along as we head to and past the half-way point of the 2020 Tour de France. In store we have a 167.5km route from the Atlantic coast, north-east-bound to Poitiers. It's a largely flat stage but this isn't the most straight-forward for the sprinters, with a 1km climb at around 3-4% with 3km to go. In terms of the wind, it's mostly a headwind, with more of a head-cross as we approach Poitiers, but it should be a less stressful day than yesterday. 

The sign-on ceremony is well underway in Châtelaillon. The riders will roll out at 13:25 local time, with the race proper set to be waved underway after 15 minutes of neutralised start. 

And it'll be waved underway by François Lemarchand, given race director Christian Prudhomme is self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. More on that story here. 

While the director and face of the Tour de France was positive for COVID-19, none of the riders were, in what was a collective sigh of relief for the race bubble after the mandatory tests on Monday's rest day. Still, four staff members from four separate teams did test positive and have since left the race. 

Ineos Grenadiers, Mitchelton, Cofidis and AG2R staff test positive for coronavirus at Tour de France

In theory most of the leading sprinters at this Tour should be able to cope with that late climb, although it might just throw lead-outs into disarray, and we could see a slightly messy sprint in Poitiers. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) will be high on confidence after winning his first Tour stage yesterday... actually, has Sam Bennett ever been high on confidence? High-er, I should say, and that win could liberate the rider who puts so much pressure on his own shoulders. He has the strongest lead-out, which Michael Morkov got spot on yesterday, but Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) can claim to be just as fast and it looks like another battle between those two. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Elia Viviani (Cofidis), and Cees Bol (Sunweb) have been there or thereabouts so far. 

More preview goodness from our friends at Procycling

"Expect Stage 11 to be a steady day in the saddle for riders, heading inland from the coast with a fast finish for the bunch sprinters.

"The post-structuralist philosopher Michel Foucault is one of Poitiers’ most famous sons. He theorised that power comes in two different forms: empirical and theoretical. It’s something that the four or five riders who make it into the break on this stage might have time to consider, if only they weren’t trying to engineer a more prosaic form of power - watts through their pedals. Theoretically, they may believe they can make it to the finish and prevent the inevitable. Empirically, however, the evidence will be clear to them that their attempt to win the stage is doomed to failure.

"This is probably going to be the quietest, most straightforward stage of the 2020 Tour. The GC riders will take a well-earned break, the sprinters will crack on with controlling the break then contesting the finish in Poitiers, sure to be a shootout with a straight 1.5km chute to the line."

We're off!

The riders roll out. The neutral zone is 7.5km long. 

One non-starter today and that's Davide Formolo, who broke his collarbone yesterday but still managed to finish. It's a blow for UAE Team Emirates and Tadej Pogacar, who have already lost Fabio Aru, but the Slovenian is looking so good he almost doesn't need teammates. More on Formolo here. 

3km left in the neutral zone. It'll be interesting to see what sort of breakaway we get today, if any. It's a flat stage into a headwind, which is unlikely to tempt a a group of riders that has been notably break-shy at this Tour. 

Crash

After all those spills yesterday, we have one today before we've left the neutral zone. Lutsenko is down, as is a rider from CCC and B&B. 

They were hopping onto a roundabout, where there was a metal sign-post. Cyril Gautier hits it first, then Ilnur Zakarin, then Lutsenko. All three are back on their feet but Lutsenko looks in a bit of pain. 

We reach KM0 but Lemarchand refuses to wave his flag. That's because those three riders are still coming back to the peloton. Lutsenko is the last of them and he's coming back through the cars now, so the start isn't far away. 

Here we go!

Lutsenko is back on. Well, not quite, but good enough. Lemarchand rises through the sunroof and waves us underway. 

Immediate attack from a Groupama-FDJ rider. No one else, though.

It's Mathieu Ladagnous for FDJ. He darted off the front but literally no one else was remotely interested. The bunch is spread across the road and the sprinters' teams are just settling into a controlling pattern. 

Ladagnous has 40 seconds in hand as the peloton ambles along at 32km/h. The Frenchman will surely have been expecting and hoping for someone to join him, so it remains to be seen how he approaches this. 

Jérôme Cousin (Total Direct Energie) spent more than 100km alone out front earlier in the race, as his two breakaway companions (who were after KOM points) sat up and left him to it. He said he pressed on 'out of respect for the Tour'. Cousin was up near the front in that neutral zone but obviously didn't fancy it today. 

Cousin was referenced by an indignant Yoann Offredo after stage 5, which had no breakaway whatsoever.

"It was an opportunity to spend four hours on television. Cycling is marketing. We had no racing for more than three months – you have to be up for the fight," Offredo said. "They can say ‘ah, we have a hard stage tomorrow’, or ‘we had a tough weekend’, but it’s the Tour de France! It’s the biggest race in the world!"

Tour de France: Lack of breakaway angers Offredo and baffles Van Aert

Ladagnous is pressing on alone, but he's hardly breaking a sweat at this point. It's comfort break time in the peloton, who look happy with the prospect of a gentle day in the saddle. It's a good job this stage is only 160k...

151km to go

Ladagnous takes his lead out to more than four minutes as many of the riders in the bunch take the time to catch up. 

Attack...?

Tim Declercq rolls off the front of the peloton. 

Slightly bizarre scenes here as the big Belgian opens a 10-metre gap. He's not attacking, and is barely accelerating. Behind him the Jumbo-Visma riders get into some sort of formation and set about riding a slightly stronger tempo. Just a wake-up call from Declercq - now's the time to start keeping Ladagnous under control. 

A sign of the times. Even a lone rider in a headwind isn't allowed more than five minutes. 

In her latest Tour piece, Philippa York has written about Declercq, calling him one of the 'unsung heroes' of the race. 

Philippa York: A Tour de France homage to Tim Declercq

Attack!

And this time I mean it. We have a counter-attack group that has clipped off the front of the bunch, and they're going for it. 

Oliver Naesen and Jasper Stuyven are there, as is Stefan Kung. 

It's a group of six:

Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale)

Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo)

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ)

Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe)

Michael Gögl (NTT Pro Cycling)

Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel Start-Up Nation)

It was Naesen who launched the first acceleration, and the others were immediately with him. 

The sextet have found 30 seconds on the bunch, where the pace has increased in response. 

Deceuninck-QuickStep sense danger in this move. They're now riding hard on the front of the peloton. 

It's a strong move, with some really powerful engines. It's interesting that Bora, Trek, and Israel have fired riders up there. They have sprint cards (respectively: Sagan, Pedersen/Teuns, Greipel/Hofstetter), but they're the less-fancied sprinters, so perhaps they want to make life a little less straightforward for Bennett and Ewan's teams, leaving them weakened for the finale. AG2R do have Clement Venturini as a sprint option, while FDJ have lost their GC rider Pinot so are free to go for breaks. NTT have lost their sprinter, Nizzolo, and GC rider, Pozzovivo, so they should be in for breaks, too. 

138km to go

QuickStep really do not want to let this group go and have to keep them on a leash for the rest of the day. They're going all-out to try and bring them back now. The gap is down to 10 seconds. 

136km to go

Fun over

Those six riders, despite rotating furiously, have been brought to heel by Deceuninck-QuickStep.

Meanwhile, Ladagnous is still out front, but now with a lead of just 1:20. 

What happens now? It's all calm again for the moment, but those riders showed a real desire to get away. (I wonder why they didn't go for it from the start?) Will we see further attempts to break away and make things hard for the main sprinters' teams, or was that just a flash in the pan?

Here's our solo escapee, Mathieu Ladagnous (Groupama-FDJ)

129km to go

It's all calm again in the bunch, as Ladagnous moves back out to 2:30. 

Our top story today concerns the Tour de France but doesn't actually come from the Tour de France. Stephen Farrand has been over to Tirreno-Adriatico (yeah, that race is actually happening right now), and caught up with Geraint Thomas. 

Geraint Thomas: I didn't want to go the Tour de France in another role

That flurry of action already feels like an age ago. Back to Declercq and De Gendt swapping turns on the front of a relaxed bunch. Ladagnous is 3:15 up the road. 

We have another 45km or so to the only categorised climb, which, at 1.1km at 4.4%, will barely be noticed. A further 17km later comes the intermediate sprint, which should be interesting as Bennett looks to defend his green jersey from its usual host, Peter Sagan. 

You've definitely got room to multi-task on a day like today, so why not listen to our latest podcast. We discuss the coronavirus tests, the race so far, and what's ahead, plus there are interviews with Marc Hirschi and Chris Froome. Here's the link you need. 

Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) has won two stages already, and might just be a contender today, given how well he's going. His primary role is to protect Primoz Roglic, but if this is a quiet day then he may be allowed a little freedom at the end. That wasn't the case yesterday, when Roglic stated Van Aert "needed to work". More from the yellow jersey here. 

107km to go

The gap is hovering at 2:55 as Declercq and De Gendt continue to control the peloton. 

100km to go

Ladagnous takes us into the final 100km, with a lead of three minutes over the bunch. 

The view of the front of the bunch for the last hour or so. 

Here are the current points classification standings. The winner of the stage will get 50, while the first at the intermediate sprint (set to be Ladagnous) gets 20, with points decreasing for the next 14 riders. 

1 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-Quickstep 196

2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 175

3 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 129

4 Matteo Trentin (Ita) CCC Team 123

5 Wout van Aert (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 111

6 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 105

7 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 95

8 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 82

9 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 77

10 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 72

86km to go

It's still De Gendt and QuickStep on the front of the bunch but they're pressing on the pedals a little harder now, and the gap to Ladagnous has come down to 2:25. 

Rigoberto Urán is quietly looking very good at this Tour, sitting sixth overall. He's had his injuries in the last couple of years but it was only 2017 that he finished runner-up at the Tour. We spoke to his DS Charly Wegelius yesterday. 

Wegelius: Still many unanswered questions in this Tour de France

Feed zone for the riders, who grab their musettes and begin to hand out the contents. 

75km to go

Ladagnous reaches the top of the Côte de Cherveux, the fourth-cat climb and the only one on today's route. He picks up one KOM point but that won't be of any concern. 

And now the peloton comes over the top, 2:55 down. 

Over in Italy, Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) has taken a fine victory on stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico, going clear on a horribly steep late climb before dispatching Rafal Majka in a two-up sprint. Here's the page you need for that. 

Tirreno-Adriatico: Woods wins stage 3

The lone leader today continues the trend of breakaway-shyness at this Tour. Besides the headwind and the clear modern style of sprint teams preferring short gaps and longer-range control, the main reason seems to lie with the spread of leaders. Previously the second-division wildcard teams could always be relied upon to throw riders up the road, but both B&B and Total Direct Energie believe in their sprint chances with Bryan Coquard and Niccolo Bonifazio, respectively, while Arkéa-Samsic have a genuine GC facourite to look after in Nairo Quintana. With the reduction in squad sizes, teams are no longer to divert resources away from their leaders and towards breaks that, although they earn publicity, are almost certainly doomed operations. 

Less than 10km to the intermediate sprint now. Ladagnous is going to take full points, while we should see Bennett, Sagan and others fight it out in the bunch.

The road to this intermediate sprint is an uphill drag, and things are starting to liven up in the bunch. 

59.5km to go

Ladagnous rolls over the sprint line with a lead of 1:45. 

B&B come to the front to lead out the intermediate sprint. This is for Coquard, who crashed yesterday and said he wasn't feeling so good...

Kevin Reza takes it to 400m, then it's Jens Debuscherre for Coquard, but Total Direct Energie attack on the right. 

It's Geoffrey Soupe for Total but Bennett and Sagan are alive to it. Bennett gets a late lead-out from Morkov and finishes the job. Morkov actually holds on for second place, which is even better, depriving Sagan of a couple more points. 

Gregor Muhlberger is struggling at the back of the bunch. According to his Bora-Hansgrohe team, "he reported already yesterday that his legs didn’t feel good at all. Doesn’t look like he feels better today."

55km to go

The acceleration in the bunch en route to that sprint has brought the gap to Ladagnous down to 1:10.

The pace is still high in the bunch after that sprint. Jumbo-Visma have set up a train on the left-hand side of the road. The gap to Ladagnous continues to fall as a result. 

Here are the results from the intermediate sprint

1. Matthieu Ladagnous, 20 points
2. Sam Bennett, 17
3. Michael Morkov, 15
4. Peter Sagan, 13
5. Matteo Trentin, 11
6. Bryan Coquard, 10
7. Jens Debusschere, 9
8. Geoffrey Soupe, 8
9. Thomas De Gendt, 7
10. Ryan Gibbons, 6
11. Daniel Oss, 5
12. Rémi Cavagna, 4
13. Anthony Turgis, 3
14. Pierre Latour, 2
15. Damiano Caruso, 1

And here are the new overall points classification standings

1. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step), 213
2. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), 188
3. Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), 139
4. Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), 134
5. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), 111
6. Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), 105
7. Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), 95

Ladagnous has a word with his team car then sits up and stretches out. It looks like he's ready to call it a day here and slip back into the peloton. They're just 20 seconds behind now. 

Ladagnous is still dangling at 17 seconds. When he's caught it could be an opportunity for other attackers to try and shake up this stage.

On French TV, Thomas Voeckler calls on the second-division wildcard teams to do that shaking up, to make something happen, "to prove they are worthy of their place in the Tour". 

Muhlberger is dropped and back with his team car. He's suffering here. 

43.2km

All over for Ladagnous

Chapeau to the Frenchman for taking sole responsibility of breaking away today, but the adventure is over and the peloton is all back together again. 

AG2R look keen to set the tempo in the peloton now. 

Teams are organised into groups. It's AG2R on the right, then QuickStep, Total Direct Energie, and finally Jumbo-Visma on the left.

Ladagnous averaged 39.2km/h over his three-hour breakaway. 

Muhlberger has stopped. He's sitting on the bonnet of his team car, head slumped over. He's about to abandon, it seems. 

Not sure exactly what's wrong with Austrian. Hearing that he's ill but nothing confirmed from the team yet. 

Muhlberger abandons. The 26-year-old climbs into that car now, and that's his Tour over. He was set to support Emanuel Buchmann here but the German, who crashed at the Dauphiné, is already more than 10 minutes down on GC. 

The pace continues to ramp up, still 32.5km to the finish. We still have the same formation of team trains - AG2R, QuickStep, Total, Jumbo - spread across the road. 

Crash! Lopez is down

It's Izagirre - not Lopez - but it doesn't look good. He's slumped against a wall. 

It's Ion Izagirre (Gorka is also here). He's receiving medical attention now after a number of his teammates stopped to help him. It looks like he'll be leaving the race, too. 

It's unclear how the crash happened. It was in the middle of the bunch and none of the cameras caught it. 

Izagirre abandons. Confirmation comes over race radio. It looks like a broken collarbone for the Spaniard. 

26km to go

The peloton continues without him, and we're now heading towards the final 25km of today's stage. It doesn't look like anyone's interested in attacking at this point and we're approaching Poitiers as one peloton. 

"Yesterday, Peter Sagan collected his 46th top 3 in a stage of the Tour de France, just as many as Bernard Hinault. Only Eddy Merckx (63), André Leducq (57), Erik Zabel (53) and Nicolas Frantz (50) got more."

A nugget from the Tour's statsperson, there. Sagan continues to rack up the placings but it's hard to see him as anything other than diminished in this Tour. His results have been trending downwards for a while now, too long for it to be written off as a mere blip. Once he was the major star and the most fearsome force in pro cycling but his status seems to have changed significantly. He has another year left on his Bora contract but does seem to be approaching a crossroads in his career. 

Sagan will, of course, win today now I've written that. 

Izagirre's teammates Harold Tejada and Alexey Lutsenko were also held up in that crash and are making their way back to the bunch with Movistar's José Joaquin Rojas, who's kits is well and truly ruffled up. 

21km to go and Sunweb have got themselves organised on the right now. They've been far and away the biggest collective force in the bunch sprints, almost taking us back to the days of full-team lead-outs. Yesterday, though, they had everyone in their train apart from their sprinter, and QuickStep showed why they do things the way they do, calmly taking control at the perfect moment. 

AG2R continue their work, putting the polka-dots of Benoit Cosnefroy on the front. They must believe in the chances of Clement Venturini today. The Frenchman prefers a messier, punchier sprint. 

Matthieu Ladagnous wins the combativity award

That was an easy one for the race officials, who have called it 16km from the finish.

Phew. There I was wondering whether QuickStep's daily incongruous cultural tweet was going to come at all today....

Cosnefroy pulls off now and is dropped by the peloton. His work is done. Still it's Jumbo on the left, Sunweb on the right, QuickStep through the middle. 

Here's a look at the profile of the run-in. Note that climb (at 3-4%) which lasts for around a kilometre but flattens out with 2km to go. 

It's a long straight final 1.5km but it remains to be seen how much that incline shakes up the lead-outs. 

10km to go

Into the final 10,000 metres now and the race heads through the town of Biard. This is where the road narrows and becomes more technical. Lotto Soudal take the front of the bunch as it goes single file now. 

Roglic is being kept right up at the front of the bunch, as Jumbo take no risks on this treacherous part of the run-in. 

8km to go

Ineos have the same idea and now they take to the front of the bunch. 

Alaphilippe sits up. QuickStep will be without him for the lead-out.

QuickStep come back to the front with Asgreen. Bennett is up there in third wheel with 6.8km to go.

And now CCC make their presence felt. It's Michael Schar and they'll be looking to tee up Matteo Trentin.

Attack! 

It's a Bora rider who clips off the front

It's Postlberger, who pulled off something similar at the Giro a few years back, I seem to remember. Asgreen is on the case

Asgreen gets a gap, rather than chasing it down! And he's with Jungels!!

5km to go

The two QuickStep men, Bennett's teammates, are making their way over to Postlberger! This puts the pressure on Lotto and Sunweb. 

Asgreen and Jungels reach Postlberger with 4.5km to go. This has really thrown the cat among the pigeons. 

8 second gap with 4km to go!

Interesting tactics from QuickStep

Viviani's Cofidis are keen to chase, along with Lotto. It's down to six seconds with 3.1km to go

Asgreen delivers a huge turn and pulls off with 3km to go. Jungels puts in a big acceleration, with Postlberger in the wheel. 

On the climb now and Jungels grits his teeth. Postlberger is in the wheel and not budging. Jungels springs from the saddle as the gradient bites.

NTT are chasing now for Boasson Hagen.

2.1km to go

Jungels and Postlberger are caught as the road flattens out!

NTT lead, and now Lotto Soudal are on the front, with Ewan second wheel behind De Buyst. 

Through the final left-hander into the final 1.5km straight. Van Avermaet takes it up now

1km to go! B&B come through to lead out!

Bennett is on Coquard's wheel.

Stuyven takes it up but it's too early. Bennett biding his time

Van Aert sprints on the right! 

But here comes Bennett! And Ewan! 

Ewan just takes it! I think!

That was really close but the Australian just pips Bennett. Sagan was third, just ahead of Van Aert, who he gave a little shoulder barge there when coming past....

Sagan actually pipped Bennett for second there with his bike throw, but you feel the commissaires might want to look at that barge on Van Aert. 

Meanwhile, Ewan soaks up his second win of this Tour, and the fifth of his career. 

There's the finish line shot

Let's hear from the stage winner, Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal)

"It was very, very hectic. I was really close to the front with three and then one kilometre to go, I was more forward than I wanted to be, especially with a headwind finish. I dropped back into the bunch but from there it was quite crazy. I knew from the first stage that I won that I had to stay calm and wait for the right time and right gap to open it did in the end. 

"I had a real desire to win today after yesterday. I was quite disappointed with that sprint. I’m happy to repay my teammates with the win. I didn’t really know I’d won, I saluted just in case. I did a big throw and you’re basically looking down at the road, so you don't see if you win or not. Sometimes you can feel it and I felt quite close.

"I’m super happy with two stage wins; one takes the pressure off and after the first one, you want a second. Now I want another, especially in Paris. I hope to get through the mountains alright and have another sprint in Paris."

Sagan has been referred to the commissaires and the video referees are currently reviewing footage of that sprint. 

Peter Sagan relegated

It's official. The referees have decided Sagan performed a dangerous maneuver and have taken action, relegating him to last place in the peloton. He hasn't been disqualified, like he was in 2017, but he loses his placing and with it a significant amount of ground in the green jersey standings. 

Van Aert had already made his feelings known towards Sagan on the line...

Here's a replay of the sprint. It's at 1:20 when Sagan comes up alongside Van Aert.

Interviewed by France Télévisions behind the podium, Ewan was shown a replay of the sprint and asked to comment on the Sagan incident. 

"Wow. Yeah, I mean, you know, in the end, we’re all really in the heat of the moment and it’s a Tour de France stage on the line. You’re not always thinking about safety, all you’re thinking about is getting to the line first. I’m sure Peter when he did that he meant no harm. Ok, it looks quite bad on TV and maybe he shouldn’t have done it but I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm by it."

Here's our story on the matter

Tour de France: Peter Sagan punished for sprint shoulder charge

Let's hear from the man who animated the stage all on his own for so long, Matthieu Ladagnous (Groupama-FDJ)

"I saw a stage where we had nothing to play for. We don’t have a sprinter and we don’t have the GC to think about anymore. Yesterday Stefan [Kung] went in the break, and today I had a go. I was hoping some other guys would come with me but I found myself all alone. I rode. The wind was against me but I tried to do my best and I enjoyed myself all the same. I think it’s the only breakaway I’ve done on my own, so I made the most of it."

After a little regulation wrangling, officials have docked Sagan the 30 points he would have gained for second place, plus a quarter of the stage winner's 50 points (12.5 rounded up to 13). After gaining 13 at the intermediate sprint, that means Sagan is back where he started the day, on 175. He's still in second place, but Bennett has now opened a sizeable gap on 243. 

Sagan has some favourable terrain this week with some hillier stages in the Massif Central that could weed out the pure sprinters and where he could target intermediates, but the odds are against him regaining the green jersey he has practically owned for the best part of a decade. 

This was the photo finish

All the initial post-stage reaction in one place...

Tour de France 2020 stage 11 - finish line quotes

We have reaction from Van Aert to the Sagan incident. 

"I was so shocked and angry I didn’t use a very nice word, and afterwards I tried to say to him that it isn’t done like that and I didn’t like what he was doing," Van Aert revealed. "The only thing that came back was strong words so it was hard to have a conversation."

Story with full reaction from the Belgian on the way very soon. 

Full results, report and photos can be found at the following link

Tour de France: Caleb Ewan wins stage 11 as Peter Sagan is relegated for dangerous sprint