Soren Waerenskjold caught the big guns by surprise with a long-range sprint to win the fastest-ever stage of the Tour de France.<\/p>\n
Racing in his fourth Tour, the 26-year-old Norwegian claimed his first stage win and just the second for his team, Uno-X Mobility.<\/p>\n
Overall race leader Tadej Pogacar remains three minutes and 36 seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard in the general classification standings.<\/p>\n
The peloton completed stage 11 at an average speed of 50.9km per hour, beating the previous record of 50.3kph from 1999.<\/p>\n
A sprint finish was expected on Wednesday, a flat 161.3km route from Vichy to Nevers, and Cees Bol made the first move as the peloton rolled into the final 500m after catching the day’s breakaway.<\/p>\n
But team-mate Olav Kooij did not follow and as the riders hesitated, Waerenskjold sneaked through a gap beside the barriers to launch a counter-attack with 400m remaining.<\/p>\n
He charged past Bol, before Kooij and Jasper Philipsen set off in pursuit, but they had left themselves too much to do as Waerenskjold won by almost a bike’s length from Kooij.<\/p>\n
Philipsen crossed the line third but was relegated for moving in the sprint, with Milan Fretin promoted to the podium.<\/p>\n