Stage 11 of the Tour de France produced late chaos in Toulouse as Tadej Pogacar hit the deck inside the final 6km, an anti‑Israel protester disrupted the finish, and Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen sprinted to his first Grand Tour stage victory. Abrahamsen outsprinted breakaway companion Mauro Schmid after a long, aggressive day. Just ahead of their arrival, a man in a white T‑shirt emblazoned with “Israel out of the Tour” breached the barriers and ran onto the finishing straight before being rugby‑tackled by race official Stephane Boury. He was taken into custody and is expected to face public‑order charges.
The incident underscored heightened tensions around the presence of the Israel‑Premier Tech squad, which has operated under an armed police detail since the race rolled out of Lille on 5 July. The team reiterated that while it respects peaceful free expression, any action that interferes with racing or endangers riders is unacceptable, and said it is working in full coordination with the organiser’s security protocols.
Pogacar’s scare came when contact near the front of the peloton sent him sliding on his left side toward a kerb. He remounted quickly but struggled to reset a dropped chain and briefly risked a time loss. In a notable show of sportsmanship, the group of overall contenders up the road—including race leader Ben Healy plus Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard—eased to allow the defending champion to regain contact. Pogacar finished bloodied on his arm with road rash on hip and shoulder yet appeared mostly intact. “I’m a bit beaten up… we’ve had worse,” he said, offering gratitude to rivals for waiting.
The Slovenian has already seen key lieutenant João Almeida abandon after a previous crash, thinning his support for the mountains. Team manager Mauro Gianetti described Pogacar as “angry” but fortunate the high‑speed spill caused limited damage. Still, any hidden soreness could surface immediately: Stage 12 brings the race’s first high‑altitude test at Hautacam in the Hautes‑Pyrénées, a climb etched in recent Tour lore after a decisive Vingegaard attack in 2022. Whether Pogacar rebounds, and how aggressively Visma‑Lease a Bike chooses to probe his condition, will be the defining questions on Thursday. A bruised but largely unscathed Pogacar keeps his overall hopes alive, yet repeated knocks and shrinking team depth invite pressure. Rivals know that the day after a crash can reveal hidden stiffness; expect early tempo, probing accelerations, and tactical ambushes on Hautacam’s ramps. Tomorrow.
