Soren Waerenskjold wins 2026 Tour de France Stage 11 Breakaway

Last to First in 24 Hours: Wærenskjold Wins the Fastest Stage in Tour de France History

Søren Wærenskjold was struggling near the back of the field in Le Lioran yesterday. Today, he won a Tour de France stage, the fastest one ever raced, at an average of 50.9 km/h. Behind him, Jasper Philipsen lost a podium, got it back four hours later, and the green jersey race just got a lot more interesting.

The fastest stage in Tour history — and Wærenskjold’s turnaround

Stage 11 was never supposed to belong to Søren Wærenskjold. The Uno-X Mobility sprinter had spent Stage 10 off the back on the climbs into Le Lioran, and the 161.3-kilometre run from Vichy to Nevers was billed as a straight fight between Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen and Olav Kooij. Instead, it turned into the fastest stage in the race’s history, and Wærenskjold turned near-last into first inside a single day.

The speed came from the front, not just the finish. Mathieu van der Poel opened the racing with an early attack despite Alpecin-Premier Tech holding Philipsen as a genuine sprint threat, and by the time the day’s real breakaway formed, Julian Alaphilippe, Mathis Le Berre, Nelson Oliveira and Anthon Charmig, the peloton behind refused to let it breathe. NSN Cycling Team, Soudal Quick-Step and XDS Astana Team held the gap near 90 seconds for their sprinters, and the pace never eased. By the finish, Wærenskjold’s win came in a time of 3:10:06, enough to beat the record Mario Cipollini set back in 1999.

The finale was chaos by design. Decathlon CMA CGM lit the pace with two kilometres to go for Kooij, NSN moved up for Biniam Girmay, and Alpecin assembled around Philipsen, before a surprise early dig from Cees Bol scrambled everyone’s timing. Merlier, boxed in, never found room to start his sprint. Wærenskjold, needing no second invitation, launched long and simply refused to be caught, holding off Kooij and Philipsen to the line. Full time gaps and results are on our Stage 11 results page.

Stage 11 at a glance:

  • Winner: Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) — his first Tour de France stage win, a day after finishing near the back of the field in Le Lioran
  • Podium: Olav Kooij 2nd, Jasper Philipsen 3rd (after his relegation was overturned)
  • Record: fastest stage in Tour de France history — 50.9 km/h average, surpassing Mario Cipollini’s 1999 mark
  • Crash: Ben O’Connor, Abel Balderstone and Georg Zimmermann went down in a feed-zone incident; all three continued, Zimmermann after treatment
  • GC: unchanged — Pogačar still leads Vingegaard by 3:36
  • Green jersey: Biniam Girmay closes to within 45 points of Mads Pedersen; Philipsen jumps to 3rd

The relegation that wasn’t: Philipsen’s rollercoaster afternoon

Philipsen crossed the line third, only for the race jury to strip him of it within the hour. The ruling cited contact with Pavel Bittner during the fight for position in the closing metres — a costly call for a rider who started the day fourth in the points classification, 62 points off Pedersen’s lead, and finally had a result worth defending.

Alpecin-Premier Tech didn’t accept it quietly. Team manager Christoph Roodhooft pushed the jury to review the footage again, arguing Philipsen had been caught up in two separate incidents rather than caused either of them. Hours later, the jury reversed itself and handed the podium back, an unusual admission mid-Tour, and one Roodhooft called important not just for the points but for how the other sprinters in the bunch were treated.

It’s the third relegation of Philipsen’s career in a little over two years, following incidents at the 2023 and 2024 Tours and the 2025 UAE Tour. This time, for once, it didn’t stick, and it left him third in Nevers, still without a stage win of his own after 11 days of racing.

The green jersey race just got tighter

Pedersen still leads on 317 points, but the gap behind him moved more on Stage 11 than it had in days. Girmay’s podium miss cost him a shot at real ground, but he still closed to 45 points — the smallest margin of the race so far. Philipsen’s reinstated podium lifted him above Merlier into third, while Wærenskjold’s win jumped him from outside the top 10 straight into 7th. Full standings for green, white and polka dot are on our jersey battles breakdown.

Stage 12 preview: another shot in Chalon-sur-Saône

The sprinters get almost no rest. Stage 12 runs 179.1 kilometres from the Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours to Chalon-sur-Saône, crossing three fourth-category climbs before a final ascent that crests 19.7 kilometres from the line, close enough to invite an attack, far enough away that it shouldn’t decide the stage. Expect another bunch sprint, just a more tired one: Stage 11’s relentless pace has left lead-out trains, not sprinters, as the thing most likely to be missing on Thursday. See Stage 12 route, timing schedules & full preview.

Stage 12 favourites:

  • Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) — already has a stage win banked and finished 2nd in Nevers
  • Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) — still the Tour’s benchmark sprinter, but his lead-out is fraying
  • Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) — arrives as a marked man for the first time
  • Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) — third again, still hunting his first win of this Tour
  • Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) — the closest green jersey challenger, still needs a stage win to match it

For the GC riders, Stage 12 is about survival rather than tactics. UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s job is simply to keep Pogačar out of trouble until the final protected kilometres and let the sprint teams fight it out.

Who won Stage 11 of the Tour de France 2026?

Søren Wærenskjold won Stage 11 into Nevers, holding off Olav Kooij and Jasper Philipsen in a chaotic bunch sprint. It was his first Tour de France stage victory, coming just a day after he finished near the back of the field on Stage 10 in Le Lioran.

Why was Jasper Philipsen relegated and then reinstated on Stage 11?

Philipsen was initially relegated from third place for contact with Pavel Bittner during the sprint. Alpecin-Premier Tech appealed the decision, and after reviewing the footage again, the race jury reversed its ruling hours later and restored Philipsen’s podium finish.

Stage 12 rolls out of Nevers Magny-Cours tomorrow afternoon. Follow it live on our live stage tracker, or check the full route and climb profile before the racing starts.

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