Stage 11

The road

At the start

The Granon, unvisited since 1986

The Col du Granon has been climbed once in Tour history, in 1986, the day Bernard Hinault wore yellow for the last time. Today it comes after the Lacets de Montvernier, the Télégraphe and the Galibier: 11.3 kilometres at 9.2 per cent to 2,413 metres, treeless, wind-scoured, without a flat metre in it. Tadej Pogačar leads Lennard Kämna by eleven seconds and Jonas Vingegaard by 39, with a team a man lighter.

How it was won

1. 169 km to go

   Jumbo open fire on the Télégraphe

   Jumbo-Visma turn the first Alpine giant into an ambush, Roglič and Vingegaard taking turns to jump clear. Pogačar covers every move himself, alone in yellow with his teammates already shed.

2. 246 km to go

   Over the Galibier at 4:30

   Barguil crests the roof of the Tour 55 seconds up on Geschke, riding the polka dots off his shoulders. Pogačar and Vingegaard come through together 4:30 back, still locked to one another, the day's real question unanswered.

3. 312 km to go

   The foot of the Granon

   Van Aert drags the gap down to 3:30 and swings off, and the hardest climb of the Tour begins: 11.3km at 9.2% to 2413 metres. Roglič goes first, then Majka takes over for Pogačar, and Jumbo lose three riders in a matter of minutes. Vingegaard is suddenly the isolated one.

4. 46 km to go

   Pogačar cracks

   Bardet springs clear and Vingegaard takes the invitation, six kilometres from the summit. Majka answers so hard that he gaps his own leader — and the yellow jersey does not come back. For the first time since 2020 Pogačar is pedalling squares, watching the Dane sail away up the bare mountainside while Thomas simply rides past him. The Tour turns inside out on this ramp.

5. 53 km to go

   Yellow changes hands on the road

   Three kilometres from the top Pogačar is 40 seconds down and his overall lead is gone. Yates catches him, then Gaudu, who rides away as though he were standing still.

6. 6At the line

   Vingegaard takes the Col du Granon

   Vingegaard flies alone through the crowds to win atop the Granon and pull on the yellow jersey. Pogačar limps in nearly three minutes down, the Tour de France prised out of his hands in a single afternoon.

The result