Søren Wærenskjold wins record breaking sprint on stage 11 – Tour de France

Tour de France 2026

Stage 11

Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) held off all the big-name sprinters with a long-range sprint to win stage 11 of the Tour de France and deliver a second-ever stage win for his Scandinavian team.

After a bit of a sprint team stand-off in the final 5km, the sprint kicked off properly with 2km to go, and it was Decathlon CMA CGM’s whose lead-out efforts almost turned into a late flyer for Cees Bol in the final few hundred metres, which Wærenskjold followed and came past and amazingly held off the charging sprint field.

It was very tight on the line, with Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) second and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) crossing the line in third after a late wobble in the frenetic sprint. Philipsen was relegated after the finish, with Milan Fretin (Cofidis) moving onto the podium, but then officials reversed the penalty and reinstated the Alpecin rider to his original placing.

A breakaway of four riders had been away for almost all of the day, but the three survivors were caught with 6km to go as things came back together for the expected sprint.

With all the GC riders finished safely in the bunch, there were no major changes to the overall, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) continuing in the yellow jersey for another day.

Having Anthon Charmig in the day’s breakaway was surely a big benefit for Uno-X, as they did not have to do the work all day that teams like Soudal-QuickStep and Alpecin did, which left him with a stronger lead-out for the finale, to go along with his opportunistic move and clear strength.

“I thought I was too far back, and then it opened up on the right hand side, which it usually doesn’t do,” Wærenskjold explained. “It was a bit the same feeling as my first big win in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, also then I was too far back and then suddenly at the front. It’s unbelievable.

“It means everything. It’s my biggest win so far. Like I said when I came here, I knew that there are two or three guys who are faster than me but if I’m lucky and I have a good sprint, like today, then it’s possible,” he continued.

“Sometimes I have really good confidence and I believe in myself, but there’s many times where I feel super tired and like it’s impossible to win here, so it’s crazy that it happened today. Also after the crash I felt really shit in the start but my body got hoing and I felt better in the final with adrenaline and everything.”

Uno-X have had a whirlwind race so far, taking the yellow jersey with Torstein Træen but then losing him to a crash just two days later, but they have now added a win in 2026 to Jonas Abrahamsen’s breakaway triumph in 2025.

“To finish it off for the team – we’ve had some quite highs and lows in this race – it’s incredible to take this win,” Wærenskjold said. “I just have to let it sink in, and then I will probably be more happy than I look now, but it’s a big surprise for myself.”

Stage 11 from Vichy to Nevers was almost entirely pan-flat with less than 2.5km of climbing, so it was a nailed-on sprint day, but that didn’t stop riders from wanting to go in the break. And in fact, in contrast to the very easy break formations we’ve seen in other flat stages, there was a fairly active battle to get away as big teams tried to police who was allowed in the day’s escape.

Thankfully it didn’t take too long, though, and the ‘right’ move managed to get away after around 11km, formed of local man Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) and Mathis Le Berre (TotalEnergies). Former breakaway hero Liam Slock (Lotto Intermarché) chased for a while but gave up when it was clear he was not going to make the junction.

Le Berre won the intermediate sprint after 28km, with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) best of the bunch to secure the maximum remaining points behind. Charmig won the singular KoM point available atop the Côte de Billonnière, with the break holding a fairly tight lead of only 1:30.

After the first climb, it was status quo for much of the middle part of the day, with nothing of particular note happening for most of the next 60km. Heading towards the final 50km, the pace in the peloton started to increase with Soudal-QuickStep, Decathlon CMA CGM and XDS Astana sharing the duties to bring the gap down to a minute with 45km to go.

Hitting the second and final categorised climb, which was only 1.4km long, Alaphilippe began to struggle quickly and was dropped from the break with 38km to go as Charmig won the point again. Losing Alaphilippe, who was probably not contributing much strength to the break, was possibly actually a help for the break, who managed to grow their gap back out to 1:10, whilst NSN had to join the chase behind.

With 32km to go, a crash in the back of the bunch in a bottle hand-up zone saw Georg Zimmermann (Lotto Intermarche), Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) crash, with Zimmermann worst off but he got back riding eventually.

Despite the peloton holding the break close all day, it did not prove easy to reel the three leaders back in, and their lead was still 50 seconds with 25km to go, but finally falling more consistently at this point, so there wasn’t much reason to hold out hope of a surprise.

The slightly tricky run-in towards Nevers didn’t help the break, as the constant road furniture only served to sap speed from the trio. With 10km to go, the gap was 20 seconds as the peloton had the leaders well in sight now, and despite them pushing and pushing, they were swept up with 6km to go.

The catch ushered in a brief calming as the peloton headed onto a narrow road and the sprint teams took a moment to regroup, and this standoff lasted for a good few kilometres until the sprint kicked in properly with 2.2km to go, initiated by NSN, Uno-X and Decathlon CMA CGM.

The final kilometre of the stage was hectic with lead-outs unable to stay organised and largely all the sprinters fighting for themselves through the sweeping final turn, which resulted in Kooij’s lead-out rider Cees Bol flying off the front with a few hundred metres to go. It was a risky move to jump across to Bol, but Wærenskjold went for it, and despite it looking like there was too much road to go, the Norwegian rider impressively held off the bunch to seal his first Tour stage victory.

With the other sprinters coming up super fast behind him, Kooij, Philipsen and Fretin just ran out of road before the line and had to settle the final podium, whilst Merlier struggled in the messy sprint and finished way down in 16th.

At 179.1 kilometres, Thursday’s stage 12 of the Tour de France between Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours and Chalon-sur-Saône looks set to favour the sprinters once again. Or will the Côte de Montagny-lès-Buxy, some 20 kilometres from the finish, spoil the party for the fast men?

The Circuit of Magny-Cours is best known as the place where David Coulthard famously raised his middle finger at Michael Schumacher during the 2000 Formula 1 Grand Prix, frustrated by the German’s driving tactics. Four years later, Schumacher had the last laugh, beating Fernando Alonso at the same circuit thanks to an audacious four-stop pit strategy.

This time, however, there will be no roaring F1 engines at Magny-Cours, but rather the whirr of the world’s best cyclists. Just as in March 2025, when the team time trial of Paris–Nice started here. Team Visma | Lease a Bike turned out on top, thay day.

From the circuit, the riders head east. As in the previous stage, the peloton crosses the Loire at Decize, before continuing via Montceau-les-Mines and the southern edge of the Morvan Natural Park to the Côte de Montagny-lès-Buxy. Could this 2.6-kilometre climb at 3.9% help the breakaway stay clear of the chasing peloton?

Probably not. A struggling sprinter or two may lose contact on the climb, but they’ll still have nearly 20 kilometres to regain contact with the speeding bunch.

From the Côte de Montagny-lès-Buxy, the riders descend into the valley of the Saône before the finish line awaits in the streets of Chalon.

Dylan Groenewegen is the last Tour de France stage winner in Chalon-sur-Saône. The Dutchman outgunned Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan in 2019. Other past winners include Thierry Marie (1988), Rik Van Linden (1975), Jean Stablinski (1961) and Brian Robinson (1959).

Stage 11 result:

1. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, in 3:10:06
2. Olav Kooij (Ned) Decathlon CMA CGM, ”
3. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, ”
4. Milan Fretin (Bel) Cofidis. ”
5. Huub Artz (Ned) Lotto Intermarché, ”
6. Biniam Girmay (Eri) NSN, ”
7. Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies, ”
8. Clément Russo (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, ”
9. Fernando Gaviria (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, ”
10. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Jayco-AlUla, ”

General Classification:

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 39:25:08
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:36
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:06
4. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +4:22
5. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:35
6. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:44
7. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +5:08
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+5:45
9. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +6:34
10. Tom Pidcock (Gbr), Pinarello Q36.5, +11:49