Tour de France: Soren Waerenskjold surprises everyone in Nevers. Tadej Pogacar remains in the yellow jersey
Soren Waerenskjold won the 11th stage of the Tour de France, which took the riders from Vichy, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, to Nevers, a city in Burgundy-Franche-Comté. The Norwegian rider from Uno-X Mobility beat Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) in a sprint finish, denying Kooij a second victory after his win in Pau. Nothing has changed in the general classification: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) remains comfortably in the yellow jersey after a stage that served as a significant transition to the more demanding stages of next weekend.
As for today’s finishing order behind winner Waerenskjold, the riders placed in order—in addition to Kooij—were Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Milan Fretin (Cofidis), Huub Artz (Lotto-Intermarché), Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team), Anthony Turgies (Totalenergies), Clement Russo (Groupama-FDJ United), Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), and Pascal Ackerman (Team Jayco AlUla), with the latter rounding out the day’s Top 10.
Stefano Oldani, in 14th place, was the top Italian in a sprint where he tried to set up his teammate, veteran Gaviria. In the general classification, however, the best Italian rider is Davide Piganzoli, thirteenth, 13’38” behind Pogacar, who is dominating this Tour and, after eleven stages, already holds a 3’36” lead over Jonas Vingegaard, captain of Team Visma-Lease a Bike—the same team as Piganzoli.
As for the other classifications, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) retains the green jersey as leader of the points classification, Tadej Pogacar leads the King of the Mountains (GPM) classification (the polka-dot jersey is worn in the race by the second-place rider in the standings, Vingegaard), while Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) wears the white jersey as the best young rider in a classification where Piganzoli is fifth, 9’16” behind.
Thursday brings another flat stage, starting from the Magny-Cours circuit (known for having hosted the French Formula 1 Grand Prix for several years) and finishing, after 179.1 kilometers, in Chalon-sur-Saône. The Italians have yet to make their mark: their last victory was on July 23, 2025, when Jonathan Milan (who is not competing in this edition) won in Valence.
