SERRE CHEVALIER, France (Reuters) – Jonas Vingegaard won the 11th stage of the Tour de France, a 151.7-km gruelling Alpine trek from Albertville, to snatch the overall leader’s yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar on Wednesday.
Last year’s runner-up Vingegaard attacked 4.9km from the finish to drop the defending champion, who had been attacked relentlessly by the Dane’s Jumbo-Visma team all day long.
Vingegaard never looked back on his way to an iconic victory at top of the Col du Granon, a punishing 11.3-km climb at an average gradient of 9.2%.
Colombian Nairo Quintana took second place, 59 seconds behind, with France’s Romain Bardet finishing third, one minute and 10 seconds off the pace.
Pogacar, who started the day 39 seconds ahead of Vingegaard in the overall rankings, crossed the line in seventh place, 2:51 behind the winner, his face a mask of exhaustion.
Overall, Vingegaard leads Bardet by 2:16 and third-placed Pogacar by 2:22.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
