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Meanwhile the peloton is 2:30 behind. They seem unlikely to being this back for a bunch finish.
Still the lead group maintain their lead of 25 seconds over the chasers, as they begin the category four Côte de Corronsac.
40KM TO GO
The Van der Poel group is slowly closing in on the leaders, now just 20 seconds behind.
We’ve entered the final phase of the race, with Wright leading the front group over the first of four categorised climbs in the final 45km. The first two-thirds of the race were fast and furious, and now the rider’s legs will be tested even more with some elevation gain.
KOM – COTE DE MONTGISCARD
Here’s Van der Poel and Van Aert – it’s great to see them riding together again, and resuming their old rivalry.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The Van der Poel group has made some inroads, taking about ten seconds to bring them to 30 seconds. But the leaders seem intent on making them work very hard for them to join.
Right now IPT are leading the peloton, possibly for sprinter Pascal Ackermann.
Still the chase group are 40 seconds adrift. But they have at least grown an advantage over the peloton, of 1:50. With such strong riders up the road, it’s going to be difficult for the sprinters’ teams to bring them back for a bunch finish.
50KM TO GO
Despite their strength, the Van der Poel / Van Aert group is struggling to make inroads on the leaders. They still have 45 seconds to make up.
Here was the move Vingegaard made, with Healy in the yellow jersey on his wheel. For once, Pogačar did not immediately react, although he did join up to them soon after along with the rest of the GC favourites, and they’ve all since gone back together.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
And in the peloton, Milan and Girmay sprint for the remaining points, the former finishing just ahead of the latter. That means Milan will take 4 points and Girmay 3, while ahead Van der Poel claimed 8.
Behind, Simmons and De Lie sprint for the minor placings, ahead of Van der Poel. Simmons is working in defence of Milan’s green jersey, but his rival Van der Poel doesn’t seem to be concerned with chasing them.
The leaders have gone over the intermediate sprint, with Abrahamsen taking the points.
The race has settled down a bit, and the situation is: the five riders out front continue to lead, 50 seconds ahead of the Van der Poel / Van Aert group, with the peloton 1:50 behind, now featuring all of the GC favourites.
60KM TO GO
The yellow jersey group and the GC riders in it have relaxed, and allowed themselves to go back into the peloton, which is swelling as riders from behind join it.
The Van der Poel and Van Aert group have a gap over the yellow jersey group.
Simmons has been joined by no less than Van Aert and Van der Poel, as well as Laurance and De Lie. That’s some group.
Simmons attacks from the yellow jersey group.
There are only about 20 in this yellow jersey group. None of the top GC contenders are missing from it, but Primož Roglič is in the peloton about 20 seconds behind.
Now Pogačar is there, with Evenepoel as well.
Visma are trying to capitalise on this chaos. Healy is alert, latching onto his wheel, but not Pogačar.
And now Vingegaard attacks, with Healy! This is madness.
He’s made what is now the small junction from the peloton to the Van Aert group.
Van der Poel attacks!
Van Aert is on the move. His acceleration has brought many of the riders in his group up to Pacher, Russo and Vermeeresch.
The peloton is bearing down on the two groups in between itself and the leaders.
We’re over halfway into the stage, and still things have not settled down. In fact, the peloton is starting to come back to the three leaders, bringing the gap down to 1:30.
70KM TO GO
That latest group of attackers have joined the group containing Van Aert. They’re still about 20 seconds behind Pacher, Russo and Vermeeresch, and 1:40 behind the leaders.
This is making for some bizarre racing. Do all these attackers believe they can make up the deficit of nearly two minutes to the leaders?
Still more attacks are coming from the peloton. A Movistar rider leads a group of 6 that are trying to go clear.
Up ahead though, things are serene. The five leaders have a big gap, and are riding together.
Van Aert is once again one of the main protagonists, driving on in one of those groups between the chasers and the peloton.
In between that Groupama group and the peloton are multiple groups still trying to get up the road. The race is in bits once again.
The two Groupama riders are Russo and Pacher, and they’re with Gianni Vermeersch, about 30 seconds ahead of the peloton.
These attackers have a lot of ground to make up, however. The five leaders are about two minutes up the road.
80KM TO GO
And now suddenly everyone is at it again, with a host of attacks being made.
Hold the press, it’s not over yet! Some Groupama-FDJ riders have instigated more attacks.
Wright and Burgaudeau have joined up to Abrahamsen, Ballerini and Schmid, so we have a leading group of five riders.
Riders are dropping off for comfort breaks. It does indeed appear as if the attacks have stopped and the break will be allowed to build a gap.
This could be it – the pace has slowed in the peloton, and nobody is attacking.
That duo is five seconds ahead of the peloton, and 20 seconds behind the leaders.
90KM TO GO
Fred Wright and Mathieu Burgaudeau are the latest to try an attack out of the bunch.
The pace has been relentless in the peloton all day, with Wout van Aert one of the main protagonists, either trying to get up the road himself, or shutting down moves.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The peloton is all stretched out, but nobody has managed to go clear. Still Abrahamsen, Ballerini and Schmid lead, by 20 seconds.
Panic over – the split has been undone.
There’s a split in the peloton. Milan has missed it and is leading the chase.
The pace slows in the peloton, which allows Bruno Armirail to attack from it.
That increase in pace has also brought the leading trio back to just 20 seconds. After all they’re work, they too might be caught.
We have a big coming together again, as both the second and third groups are brought back by the peloton, now being powered along by Van Aert.
The second group has closed to about 30 seconds from the leading trio; the third group is 10 seconds behind them, and the peloton another 20 seconds adrift. The elastic hasn’t snapped between any of the groups yet.
100KM TO GO
While all this action is taking place behind them, Ballerini, Abrahamsen and Schmid continue to set a pace and lead the race.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The four-man chase group featuring Benjamin Thomas is now close to the 2nd group on the road than the peloton.
Another group has formed between the Tronchon group and the peloton, featuring Connor Swift, Benjamin Thomas, Mühlberger and Meurisse.
So, we still have the three leaders of Abrahamsen, Ballerini and Schmid out front, with a five-man chase group 56 seconds behind, and the peloton 1:27 behind.
110KM TO GO
Tronchon and Berthet were the two Decathlon riders, and had TotalEnergies’ Vercher with them. They’ve caught Delettre and Haller.
Multiple more riders have attacks too. It’s all kicked off again!
And as we speak, another attack has been launched! A pair of Decathlon riders have gone clear with another rider.
Things have calmed down in the peloton a bit now. There haven’t been any gaps opened by anyone since Haller jumped out to join Delettre, and now the attacks have ceased – but they haven’t sat up yet.
A quintessential Tour de France scene from the race today.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Marco Haller has joined Delettre, and together they’re trying to ride up to the leaders.
The trio at the front is 45 second ahead of the peloton, with Delettre in between, less than ten seconds ahead of the latter.
120KM TO GO
Vauquelin has sat up, but Delettre continues to ride.
Meanwhile out the front of the peloton, Kévin Vauquelin is on the attack, going clear with Alexandre Delettre.
The two pelotons have come back together.
EF have a long line of riders trying to pace the Healy group back to the front peloton. They’re not too far behind, only about 15 seconds or so, so no need to panic.
They’ve been brought back now though.
There are plenty of strong riders in this Van Aert group, including many classics specialists – Stuyven, Wright and Mohoric among them.
We have a front peloton and a back peloton with Healy in it, while Van Aert and Simmons have been joined by about ten more riders in a breakaway group chasing the leading trio.
There have been some splits in the peloton on that climb – and Healy was caught out.
The three leaders still have a good lead, of about one minute.
130KM TO GO
Up ahead, Abrahamsen take the one point on offer in the mountains classification.
KOM – COTE DE CASTELNAU-D’ESTRETEFONDS
Quinnn Simmons it the latest rider to try, and has Van Aert and a Cofidis rider with him as they go over the top of the climb.
Van Aert is brought back, and the peloton is back all togegher.
Van Aert passes them and goes clear alone.
Alaphilippe has managed to get a small gap, with Campanaerts on his wheel. And now Campanaert’s teammate Van Aert is coming up to them.
Riders are using the climb to accelerate and try and jump out of the bunch, with a Movistar rider leading it, but there are no splits yet.
The riders are on the first catergorised climb of the day – the Côte de Castelnau-d’Estrétefonds, which rises for 1.5km at 5.9%.
Oliveira and Gachignard have been brought back into the peloton, and once more Abrahamsen, Ballerini and Schmid are the only riders out of the peloton.
Oliveira and Gachignard are still out there, while behind a PicnicPost-NL rider sparks the next flurry of attacks.
The three riders at the front of the race.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Nelson Oliveira and Thomas Gachignard have jumped clear of the peloton and have a gap.
Abrahamsen, Ballerini and Schmid are for now the only riders ahead of the peloton, and have a lead of 45 seconds.
140KM TO GO
Lidl-Trek have been especially lively today, with Milan, Nys and Skujiņš all having a go.
Stannard has been brought back.
Still the attacks come from the peloton, but they’re now almost a minute behind the three leaders.
Robert Stannard has succeeded in going clear from the peloton, and is chasing the leading trio, about 20 seconds behind.
Either way, Milan and that small group of attackers haven’t managed to go clear.
Interestingly, Jonathan Milan is trying to get up the road. You’d have thought he’d sit in the peloton and hope for a bunch sprint, but perhaps he wants to seal the green jersey points in the intermediate sprint coming up halfway into the stage? Or maybe he believes the finale is too hard for him to survive in the event of a bunch finish?
This is far from done. Still many riders are trying to attack out of the peloton.
The Van Aert group (which also included, among others, Demare and Benjamin Thomas) have been brought back by the peloton, while the leading trio have a lead of about 15 seconds.
150KM TO GO
Van Aert is in a group of about ten between the three leaders and the peloton.
Many more attackers are flying out of the peloton – including Wout van Aert.
Davide Ballerini and Mauro Schmid are the two riders with Abrahamsen.
Three riders attack straight away, including Jonas Abrahamsen.
And they’re off!
OFFICIAL START
The peloton continues to ride behind the car, but the official start is imminent now.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Here were three of the day’s jersey winners at the start – Evenepoel in white, Milan in green, and Healy in yellow.
(Image credit: Alamy)
It’s a lengthy neutralised zone today. The riders still aren’t due to start officially racing for another ten minutes.
The first half of the stage is flatter than the second half. Four of the day’s five categorised climbs are concentrated in the last 50 of the day’s 157 kilometres. That should aid any rouleurs who want to get into the break.
The lumpy terrain means we’re set for a competitive battle to get up the road once the flag drops. Lots of riders will believe the sprinters can be denied today by the breakaway.
Neutralised start
The current temperature on the ground in Toulouse is 27 degrees celsius.
Not long now until the riders roll out from today’s start venue, which is alongside the Stadium de Toulouse.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
In the King of the Mountains competition, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) will be safe in the polka dot jersey for another day at least. He leads the classification with 27 points, 11 clear of Ben Healy.
In the battle for the green jersey, there are 70 points on offer throughout today’s stage.
Or could Arnaud De Lie clinch the biggest win of his career so far?
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
A big grin on this man’s face at the start in Toulouse today. Could he help Kaden Groves claim stage victory this afternoon?
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
While you wait for the action to get underway, why not take a look at the latest in-depth feature on Cyclingnews.
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We’ve also got a first glimpse at EF and Cannondale’s yellow bike for Healy. Unsurprisingly, they’ve gone all out for it!
With the neutralised start less than an hour away, the pre-stage team presentation and rider sign-on are underway.
In case you needed a reminder, here are the overall standings heading into the second week of racing at the 2025 Tour de France.
It’s unlikely – but never off the cards – that there will be any GC action today.
Today also marks Ben Healy’s first day in the Tour de France’s leader’s jersey.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
For a deeper look at what’s coming up on today’s stage, including the categorised climbs and intermediate sprint locations, check out our stage 11 preview here.
Wondering what the riders got up to on their day off? Well, Tadej Pogačar went for a gentle coffee ride and then ate a burger, of course!
(Image credit: Getty Images)
After yesterday’s rest day, we’re expecting some recharged riders in the Tour de France peloton today.
(Image credit: ASO)
Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage for stage 11 of the 2025 Tour de France!