Wout van Aert attacks on Mont Ventoux to win stage 11

The Belgian champion rode attacked his breakaway companions with 33km to go on the second ascent of the Giant of Provence

Wout van Aert attacks on Mont Ventoux to win stage 11

Raucous crowds cheered Wout van Aert to a frantic stage 11 win on the Tour de France on Wednesday after a double ascent of Mont Ventoux.

UAE Emirates leader Tadej Pogacar retained the overall lead by more than five minutes over his pursuers after a long, dare-devil descent to the finish line with EF Education Nippo's Colombian Rigoberto Uran and Ineos Grenadiers' Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz.

Jumbo-Visma's Van Aert crossed the summit of 'the Giant of Provence' alone in his Belgian champion's shirt on a baking day, and was greeted after his expert descent by a partisan pack at the finish line.

"There's loads of Belgians here," said an exultant Van Aert, who played to the crowds bending his ear to their acclamation.

On this iconic climb, where Tom Simpson died in 1967 and where Eddy Merckx, Marco Pantani and Chris Froome climbed to memorable wins, Van Aert's effort was magnificent, and he rode with a free spirit now his team leader Primoz Roglic is out injured.

"It's my best victory ever," said Van Aert, who finally reaped his reward, after his attacking riding helped light the Tour fuse on the opening stages.

Behind him his teammate Jonas Vingegaard climbed into the top three, crossing the line in the small group that included Pogacar, 1min 38sec after Van Aert.

Pogacar leads Uran of EF Education-Nippo by 5min 18sec, Dane Vingegaard is third 14 seconds further back and a second ahead of Carapaz, while Australian Ben O'Connor is fifth.

Colombian Nairo Quintana kept the polka-dot climber's points jersey while Mark Cavendish came home seven minutes inside the time cut to hold on to the green sprinter's jersey.

'ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE'

Vingegaard dropped Pogacar after a struggle over the final 3km of the last ascent, only for the Slovenian's group to catch up on the 25km descent.

"I couldn't follow him, the heat, Ineos, there was a lot going on," said a cool and relaxed looking Pogacar at the finish line where he immediately went to see the stage winner.

"We had some nice words for each other, I just wanted to say 'great ride mate'," said Pogacar.

With a vehicle ban on Ventoux, police searched the vast crowds ascending on foot for alcohol and handed out bin bags after 40 tonnes of rubbish were left behind last time the Tour climbed the mountain

The peloton pulled out of pretty Provence town of Sorgues to the summer sound of chirruping cicadas with the mercury rising to over 30 celsius and the multicoloured peloton shimmering in the southern French sunshine.

By the time the lead group emerged above the clouds on bleak Ventoux the peloton was scattered all the way down the 21km one-hour climb. The leaders cut stark figures as they struggled for dominance across the lunar landscape.

Pogacar resisted concerted pressure from Ineos to lead an elite quartet across the line, but only after a wobble on the upper reaches of the second Ventoux slog.

After his dash to the finish, Van Aert celebrated with sheer joy, his arms raised straight up in the air and standing high on his pedals.

"If you believe in it, anything is possible. Now I'll be helping Jonas in the overall and hopefully trying to win more stages," said Van Aert, who has promised to go shoulder-to-shoulder with Cavendish.

Thursday's stage 12 is a flat run to Nimes, where Cavendish will equal Merckx's all-time Tour de France stage win tally of 34 if he claims a fourth victory on the 2021 edition of the world's greatest bike race.

VIDEO: 2021 Tour de France Stage 11 Stage Highlights

2021 Tour de France Stage 11 Top 10

1 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 05:17:43
2 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 00:01:14
3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 00:01:14
4 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 00:01:38
5 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-Nippo 00:01:38
6 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers 00:01:38
7 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma 00:01:38
8 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech 00:01:56
9 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:01:56
10 Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar 0:03:02

2021 Tour de France  GC after Stage 11

1 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 19:44:38
2 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-Nippo 0:05:18
3 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma 0:05:32
4 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers 0:05:33
5 Ben O'Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team 0:05:58
6 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:06:16
7 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech 0:06:30
8 Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:07:11
9 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:09:29
10 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 0:10:28

 
Tag: tourdefrance
 
Jan 10 2024 - NEWS: Primož Roglic to lead BORA - hansgrohe at the Tour de France
Jan 10 2024 - NEWS: Remco Evenepoel sets his sights on the 2024 Tour de France
Dec 01 2023 - NEWS: Northern France to host first four stages of the 2025 Tour de France
Nov 14 2023 - NEWS: 2025 Tour de France to start in Lille
Oct 26 2023 - NEWS: 2024 Etape du Tour boasts 4,600m of climbing and mountain top finish
Oct 26 2023 - NEWS: 2024 Tour de France Femmes finishes atop Alpe d’Huez in thrilling finale
Oct 25 2023 - NEWS: 8 Must watch Stages of the 2024 Tour de France
Oct 23 2023 - NEWS: 2024 Tour de France Route: Here's what we know ahead of the Route Presentation
Sep 13 2023 - NEWS: 2024 Tour de France starts in Italy and ends in Nice
Sep 01 2023 - NEWS: How much Do Tour de France riders earn during the race?
Jul 28 2023 - NEWS: Vingegaard visits Van Aert after Tour de France victory
Jul 23 2023 - NEWS: Vingegaard celebrates second Tour de France title in Paris
Jul 22 2023 - NEWS: Tadej Pogacar comes away with Tour de France win after cracking on the Queen Stage
Jul 21 2023 - NEWS: Mohoric slays Asgreen in Tour de France Stage 19 Photo Finish
Jul 20 2023 - NEWS: Kasper Asgreen keeps the Peloton at Bay to win Stage 18 from the Breakaway
Jun 29 2024 - EVENT: 2024 Tour De France