• The 11th stage of the Tour de France between Sorgues and Malaucène saw the peloton climb Mont Ventoux twice. 

  • This double ascent hurt many riders, including the yellow Pogacar jersey. 

From our special correspondent in Malaucène,

It promised to be difficult, it hurt.

The 11th stage of the Tour de France between Sorgues and Malaucène (Vaucluse) was marked by the double ascent of Mont Ventoux.

And the giant of Provence caused damage.

Julian Alaphilippe made a very strong impression, passing the summit first, and making a superb descent in which he was flashed at almost 100 km / h.

But it was without counting this second ascent which was fatal to him.

He was caught up by the yellow jersey group even before reaching the Reynard chalet, before being largely left behind at the end of the climb as he seemed to be at a standstill.

No wonder when we remember that the Frenchman wondered about this famous double ascent the day before.

Slight failure of Pogacar

More surprisingly, the slight weakness of Pogacar, untouchable until then. The young Vinedegaard placed an attack in the steepest part of Ventoux, widening up to 30 seconds with the yellow jersey at the top. “It's interesting, Pogacar has shown from the start that he has a leg above everyone. Everyone expected him to attack 4 km from the summit and to take 1 minute off his opponents, that was not the case. It was he who lost at the top, ”analyzed Julien Jurdie, sporting director of AG2R the world. Even if the time lost at the top was finally recovered on the descent to Malaucène.

Julien Jurdie's rider, Ben O'Connor, second in the general classification before the start of this stage, suffered the full brunt of Ventoux's double ration.

“At the foot of Mont Ventoux, the sensations were excellent.

We were really confident, the message was "Ben is great".

We thought we were going to have a nice final.

The kilometers went by, it was still correct and suddenly, legs failed.

And there, there were 10 km left, the scenario was reversed, we thought it was going to be long to the top.

We even expected a worse scenario, ”explained the sporting director.

Ben O'Connor finally slips to 5th place, with nearly six minutes on the yellow jersey.

"This is the course, you have to adapt"

And let's not talk about David Gaudu, victim of a huge failure, and vomiting on arrival.

"The double ascent?

If we're in front it's a good idea, if we're behind it's a bad idea.

This is the course, it's like that, you have to adapt.

Whether you climb it twice, or the Ventoux, and another big pass… It makes for beautiful pictures.

The course is as it is, you have to overcome the difficulties.

We did not succeed today, that's how it is, ”Marc Madiot was satisfied.

The only one to have finally swallowed this double ascent of Ventoux without too much difficulty is the Belgian Wout Van Aert, impressive during the second ascent, the most difficult.

He won this 11th stage with more than a minute ahead of the second, the French Kenny Elissonde.

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