Tour de France 2024: discover the profile and timetables of the 11th stage where Pogacar and Evenepoel could attack in Cantal

A battle between leaders could take place today. MAXPPP – BERNARD PAPON/POOL

The 11th stage of the Tour de France, between Evaux-les-Bains and Lioran (211 km), Wednesday July 10, could be conducive to offensives from the leaders. 

Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel have a new opportunity to bite the calves of Jonas Vingegaard, Wednesday, during the eleventh stage of the Tour de France which promises sparks in the Cantal mountains where Romain Bardet will be at the & ;#39;honor.

With its 4,350 meters of positive altitude difference in 211 kilometers, it's a real little mountain stage that awaits the peloton between Evaux-les-Bains and the Lioran ski resort, even before crossing the Pyrenees and the Alps. "We're really getting to the heart of the matter. It's not high mountains but there are ways to have fun and attack with short but steep passes. Puy Mary is steep, Perthus behind it is steep, Néronne too is , explains Thierry Gouvenou, the architect of the course who loves these days in the "intermediate massifs" of the Massif Central, Jura and Vosges.

On Wednesday, in the center-west of the Massif Central, the peloton will chain four climbs listed in the last fifty kilometers with the Cols de Néronne (3.8 km at 9.1%), Pas de Peyrol (5.4 km at 8 .1%), Perthus (4.4 km at 7.9%) and Font de Cère (3.3 km at 5.8%), all planted between 1,200 and 1,600 m altitude.

We will be in magnificent landscapes, sometimes sub-alpine, especially in the Pas de Peyrol leading to Puy Mary, a remnant of the largest stratovolcano in Europe, where the Colombian Daniel Martinez set out to explore the world. was imposed in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic. The stage offers no respite and the winding roads, without much visibility, make controlling the race very difficult.

"In the middle of nowhere"

On paper, it's an authentic cut-throat that will inevitably please Pogacar and Evenepoel, the yellow jersey and his runner-up for 33 seconds. The two dynamiters of the peloton, who love this kind of explosive ramps that are not too long and not too high, could be tempted to once again test the resistance of Vingegaard (third at 1:15), like Sunday on the white paths of Troyes. Especially since the Dane is more comfortable on the long high altitude passes scheduled for the end of the Tour.

"This is a stage where the fight for the general classification can arise", underlines Remco Evenepoel who dreams of following in the footsteps of his Belgian compatriot Greg Van Avermaet who won alone in 2016 in Lioran to take the yellow jersey. "It would be nice to do as well as him. I'll call him to find out how the road is. We wanted to do reconnaissance but as the stage is in the middle of nowhere, it was difficult to get there, explains the leader of Soudal-Quick Step.

A Bardet bend

It's also a special stage for Romain Bardet who, on his Auvergne lands, will have a "turn" in his name in the Pas de Peyrol, like Thibaut Pinot last year in the Vosges. The climber from Brioude, who is competing in his last Tour de France at the age of 33, wants to make the most of it, having already succeeded in his race after raising his arms in Rimini. "I will pass the Pas de Peyrol in the lead or let go. There will be no in-between, he announces.