Key events<\/p>\n
147km to go: Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling), Le Berre (TotalEnergies), Oliveira (Movistar Team) and Charmig (Uno X Mobility) are up the road with just 5sec, now 10sec. This might be the break \u2026<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.22 EDT<\/p>\n 148km to go: It\u2019s a 54.2km average speed. Spicy. The bunch is strung out, and there will be plenty of burning in the legs of the riders.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.20 EDT<\/p>\n 150km to go: The terrain is undulating. Certainly not flat, no matter what the route guide says. Alaphilippe tries again, chasing a Movistar rider and AN Other who have a little gap.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.19 EDT<\/p>\n 151km to go: A five-man group broke away briefly including Van der Poel and Magnus Cort (Uno X Mobility). Now it\u2019s all back together.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 152km to go: \u201cAre they trying to make if difficult for Merlier?\u201d asks Sean Kelly on commentary of these early attacks from Van der Poel for Alpecin-Premier Tech.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 154km to go: There is quite a bit of water on the road, an unfamiliar sight after the furnace conditions of the first week or so.<\/p>\n Van der Poel attacks from the front of the bunch again, and gets a gap, with Valentin Paret-Peintre on his wheel.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 155km to go: A big, sweeping right-hander is treated with due respect by the riders in the wet conditions. Now Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) is up there.<\/p>\n Adam Blythe wonders what on earth was said in the Alpecin-Premier Tech team meeting for Van der Poel to attack? I fancy there is tension between Van der Poel and Philipsen, but it\u2019s only a hunch.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 157km to go: Riders from any number of teams are battling at the front. Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana Team) is up there. Will Lidl-Trek stamp their authority on this before the intermediate?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 158km to go: It is seriously strung out at the front. Lots of riders fancy a breakaway day. There is rain in the air, and on the ground. It\u2019s 25km to race until the intermediate sprint.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Racing on stage 11!<\/p>\n Attacks from the off. Mathieu van der Poel is up there. Baptiste Veistroffer is also in amongst it again.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cFirstly, it is really depressing that people boo Tadej,\u201d emails Andrew. \u201cWould these people boo Einstein or Mozart. He is likely one of the two or three best riders of all time and yet somehow he gets booed for that?<\/p>\n \u201cSecondly Tadej still has some way to go to equal Merckx\u2019s TdF record. Eddy Merckx won the Tour de France<\/a> five times (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1974). Merckx\u2019s average winning margin was about 11 minutes 50 seconds.<\/p>\n \u201cThirdly why do the tour organisers still use helicopters to film the race when a modern drone camera is just as good and fly much closer to the riders and a lot cheaper, and can stay in the air longer?\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.07 EDT<\/p>\n Did Tom Pidcock sleep well after crashing yesterday?<\/p>\n \u201cReally good. I slept well. But it was a late night, with these stupidly late starts, dinner at 10pm.\u201d<\/p>\n Will he watch England v Argentina in the World Cup semi-final later?<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll watch it, for sure: Hopefully it doesn\u2019t go to penalties. I\u2019m already a big football fan, but I enjoy watching the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n And back to cycling: does he want to be a GC rider or keep going for stages?<\/p>\n \u201cI prefer going for stages, but I think this GC thing is something I want to crack one time in my career \u2026 in my position I can still go for stages.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom Pidcock. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.03 EDT<\/p>\n Stage 11 neutralised start<\/p>\n The riders are out on the road. A cycling race is not far away …<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.57 EDT<\/p>\n Christoph Roodhooft, Jasper Philipsen\u2019s boss at Alpecin-Premier Tech, tells Hannah Walker on TNT Sports that his sprinter is \u201cfeeling better \u2026 but that doesn\u2019t mean he will win today.\u201d<\/p>\n Is there any thought of letting Mathieu van der Poel sprint, instead of Philipsen, given the latter\u2019s apparent lack of form?<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.55 EDT<\/p>\n With no awareness of how heat affected the body, some riders ate salted codfish while training, to attune their systems to dehydration; as late as the 1980s, cycling magazines showed pictures of competitors stuffing cabbage leaves down the backs of their racing hats to keep the sun off the nape of the neck.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Thoughts on today\u2019s stage? Or anything Tour de France related? Email<\/a> me.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The temperate is forecast to peak at 33C in Nevers. Another hot day, but not the full-on heatwave the riders had to deal with last week.<\/p>\n Tour de France riders shelter from the sun. Photograph: Mosa\u2019ab Elshamy\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Tim Merlier made the time cut by three minutes yesterday.<\/p>\n Tim Merlier. Photograph: Dario Belingheri\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.42 EDT<\/p>\n There are two categorised climbs today: the C\u00f4te de Billonni\u00e8re is a category-four, coming soon after the sprint point: 1.1km long with an average gradient of 5.8%. The C\u00f4te de Billy-Chevannes is a cheeky 1.5km hill, that comes with 37.9km of racing remaining: average gradient 5%.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.33 EDT<\/p>\n Points classification: top 10 before stage 11<\/p>\n Today\u2019s intermediate sprint arrives after 27.8km, at Saint-Pour\u00e7ain-sur-Sioule. Pedersen\u2019s lead is looking increasingly intimidating for Girmay, Merlier, Philipsen and the rest of the fast men. Lidl-Trek are bound to try and control early doors today and lead Pedersen out for that intermediate.<\/p>\n 1. Pedersen 293pts Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.28 EDT<\/p>\n GC top 10 before stage 11<\/p>\n Isaac Del Toro dropping from third to seventh was the downside for UAE yesterday. But their main man extending his overall lead to 3min 36sec was the real quiz.<\/p>\n 1) Pogacar 36hr 15min 02sec Pogacar and team on stage 10. Photograph: AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.27 EDT<\/p>\n Tadej Pogacar extended his lead in the Tour de France<\/a> with another imperious solo victory on the 10th stage to Le Lioran, in the Massif Central. The Slovenian now leads the Tour by more than a three and a half minutes from longtime rival Jonas Vingegaard, who wilted and lost more time to the other podium contenders.<\/p>\n Over a stage with seven categorised climbs, including the first category Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol and Col de Pertus in the final hour of racing, Pogacar again asserted himself over the peloton with a trademark attack on the penultimate climb.<\/p>\n His latest victory, however, was met with some boos from the roadside crowd, something not seen since the domineering days of Team Sky and Chris Froome, almost a decade ago.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n
2. Girmay 239pts
3. Merlier 213pts
4. Philipsen 205pts
5. Kanter 192pts
6. Kooij 110pts
7. Pogacar 107pts
8. Waersenskjold 89pts
9. Del Toro 80pts
10. Turgis 79pts<\/p>\n
2) Vingegaard +3min 36sec
3) Evenepoel +4min 06sec
4) Ayuso +4min 22sec
5) Seixas +4min 35sec
6) Lipowitz +4min 44sec
7) Del Toro +5min 08sec
8) Skjelmose +5min 45sec
9) Martinez +6min 34sec
10) Pidcock +11min 49sec<\/p>\n