OFFICIAL Stage 11 Results: Stage and Chris Harper ABANDON!
Laurens De Jong
Hello, Vuelta a España Gamers!
STAGE Grade: B
I rate today’s stage a B. Five stars for surprises, not just because of the ending, but mostly because Team Visma | Lease-a-Bike took control. But the ending did ruin much of what would have been a great day of racing.
Route: 4/5 GC: 0/5 Tactics: 3/5 Sprint: 0/5 Surprises: 5/5
As soon as Team Visma | Lease-a-Bike responded in force to the first breakaway attempt of the day, I knew I had been colossally wrong about my prediction for today’s stage winner. If they were controlling the peloton, Visma could want only one of two things: a stage win for Jonas Vingegaard, or time gaps for him. Time gaps? That seemed unlikely.
A stage win seemed unlikely as well, until I was told that today is his son’s first birthday. Winning for a relative’s birthday, usually the rider’s mother, is also a time-honored tradition in cycling. Doesn’t always work, but Jonas today seemed to be going for it. He’s made his family an integral part of his cycling life, so why not.
Visma was controlling this race like a boss. Cycling is a team sport. I kept seeing insolated UAE Team Emirates – XRG riders, but the entire Visma team was together all the time. A true collective.
The same for Bahrain – Victorious today. I didn’t understand that, either, until the attack by Santiago Buitrago. He joined the unleashed Mikel Landa and if Landa had stayed fit, the two might have stayed away together for a potential stage win.
But Landa did not stay fit. I’ve not read if it’s his back or his stomach that caused issues, but he was gone — and Buitrago not long after that.
The biggest challenge to Vingegaard for a stage win would come from Tom Pidcock. After Visma had set up Vingegaard for success, it was a mighty acceleration on the steepest part of the final climb that dropped everyone except Vingegaard. In fact, Vingegaard also got dropped. Not once, but twice.
On a longer climb, say, l’Angliru, I bet Vingegaard would always come back. But on this climb, Pidcock had the better of him. How and why Vingegaard managed to get back to him on the descent is a question I can’t answer.
Pidcock is the faster sprinter, a stage win for him looked obvious. But then Vingegaard might have raced differently. At this point, he was more interested in whatever small time gap he could accumulate than the stage win. We’ll just never know.
What we do know is that Mads Pedersen is an ace rider. He was racing all day to earn points in the intermediate sprint. But it looked in vain. Buitrago and Landa were in the breakaway. They were chased by five riders. And there are points only for the top five in the intermediate sprints. Pedersen chose to do the impossible: he bridged from the peloton to the five chasers. Leaving the peloton was not the hard part, pedaling by yourself to chase that chase is the hard part. Pedersen, because he’s a boss, did that. Once in the chase group, nobody was going to oppose in the sprint for the 15 points. If he wins the points competition, this was the key moment in the 2025 Vuelta a España.
Just yesterday I wrote about the detour that exists for the caravan. That was the detour the riders used today to avoid the finish line. It’s a good thing yesterday’s stage wasn’t today, there would have been no detour possible.
I want to leave it at this. In these reports, I write about and analyze the racing. I enjoy writing about points of interest near the course, or cycling lore, or other objectively interesting tangents. I have opinions about what happened today, but I won’t enjoy writing about it. I want to enjoy the racing and perhaps we’ll return to racing on Thursday. I’m cautiously pessimistic.
Team Kate provides today nobody-else-picked-him spotlight rider: Louis Rouland.
I was thinking of Rouland today because it is Antonin Rolland’s birthday. He’s 101, and the oldest living man who has led a Grand Tour. In 1955, he was in the yellow jersey for twelve days. First three days, then one day not, then nine days again. Louison Bobet won that year, Rolland finished fifth. Bobet died in 1983, Rolland is still with us.
But okay, that was Rolland, not Rouland! They’re both French, Rouland is just eighty years younger. He’s never won a race as a pro cyclist. Third place in stage 2 of this year’s Tour de Wallonie arguably his best result. But he was also fourth overall in this year’s Tour de l’Ain. That three-stage race was won by Cian Uijtdebroeks, and Rolland beat the likes of Geoffrey Bouchard and Andrea Vendrame.
Today we saw him because for some reason, he was in the five-man breakaway that Mads Pedersen had to get into to defend his green jersey. Rouland was behind Pedersen for that sprint, although nobody cared.
As it happened, I thought: Brieuc Rolland? I wonder if he’s related. Because there’s also a French Rider with that name in the peloton. But nobody picked him, so I had to go with Rouland instead today. He finished DF today, just like everyone else. Did Finish. A result usually intended for races that happened a long time ago, where the actual finish order has been lost to history. But also races like today, that I wish were lost to history.
There is no Last Kilometer video today.
Watch the official La Vuelta highlights HERE.
Watch the extended NBC Sports highlights HERE.
Read the TNT Sports report HERE.
Team Sam had selected Chris Harper. He had not scored any points, he wasn’t going to score any points the rest of the race. I must assume they selected Harper because he’s Australian. I have no idea why he abandoned. I watched an hour of SBS coverage and they didn’t say anything. Anyway, he’s gone now.
With no stage results today, we have one of the weirdest points results since this game started, back in 2019. I decided to just let the results stand as is — no rider scored any points from the stage. As a result, from first to thirteenth we have just a 26 points spread. Spoiler alert: there are no changes in the standings, except Team Grace is no longer tied for sixth place.
Team Charles took the victory today. Today, all the points were from classifications, so Team Charles won that category as well.
Closely behind them were everyone else: Team Ansel, Team Tadej, Team Dominic tied with Team Samuel, Team Grace, Team Hugo tied with Team Josh, Team Amalia, Team Sam, Team Will, Team Liz, and Team Sylvia.
Let’s hope that we’ll have a start and a finish in stage 12 on Thursday. By the way, I misspoke the other day: l’Angliru is on Friday, not tomorrow. Labor Day Monday threw me off. But okay, Thursday’s race is Spanish flat with two categorized climbs. I can’t think of any reason why the peloton would thwart a breakaway attempt — but I don’t know every rider’s wife’s, mother’s, or children’s birthdays. So who knows.
I was robbed of a chance for Marco Frigo to win the stage today. I’ll just put him in again. My favorite to win stage 12 of the 2025 Vuelta a España: Marco Frigo.
Standings after stage 11:
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Hugo* |
1889 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Ansel* |
1879 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Charles* |
1852 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Dominic* |
1775 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Josh* |
1764 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Tadej* |
1738 |
6 |
0 |
|
7 |
Team Grace* |
1734 |
6 |
-1 |
|
8 |
Team Amalia* |
1717 |
8 |
0 |
|
9 |
Team Samuel* |
1672 |
9 |
0 |
|
10 |
Team Sam* |
1302 |
10 |
0 |
|
11 |
Team Will* |
1228 |
11 |
0 |
|
12 |
Team Liz* |
1161 |
12 |
0 |
|
13 |
Team Sylvia* |
1114 |
13 |
0 |
Standings after stage 11 (including adults):
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Kari |
1975 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Kent |
1945 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Craig |
1925 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Hugo* |
1889 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Ansel* |
1879 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Adam |
1852 |
6 |
0 |
|
Team Charles* |
1852 |
7 |
1 |
|
|
8 |
Team Feng |
1838 |
8 |
0 |
|
9 |
Team Mitchinson |
1826 |
9 |
0 |
|
10 |
Team Corsa |
1806 |
10 |
0 |
|
11 |
Team Chuck |
1782 |
11 |
0 |
|
12 |
Team Amelia |
1775 |
12 |
0 |
|
Team Dominic* |
1775 |
13 |
1 |
|
|
14 |
Team Josh* |
1764 |
14 |
0 |
|
15 |
Team Tadej* |
1738 |
15 |
0 |
|
16 |
Team Grace* |
1734 |
15 |
-1 |
|
17 |
Team Amalia* |
1717 |
17 |
0 |
|
18 |
Team Laurens |
1680 |
18 |
0 |
|
19 |
Team Samuel* |
1672 |
19 |
0 |
|
20 |
Team Corey |
1634 |
20 |
0 |
|
21 |
Team Rob |
1616 |
21 |
0 |
|
22 |
Team Joe |
1565 |
22 |
0 |
|
23 |
Team Wes |
1539 |
23 |
0 |
|
24 |
Team Julie |
1488 |
24 |
0 |
|
25 |
Team Jonwaine |
1461 |
25 |
0 |
|
26 |
Team John |
1442 |
26 |
0 |
|
27 |
Team Sam* |
1302 |
27 |
0 |
|
28 |
Team JB |
1236 |
28 |
0 |
|
29 |
Team Will* |
1228 |
29 |
0 |
|
30 |
Team Liz* |
1161 |
30 |
0 |
|
31 |
Team Doug |
1151 |
31 |
0 |
|
32 |
Team Sylvia* |
1114 |
32 |
0 |
|
33 |
Team Kate |
570 |
33 |
0 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 11:
|
Name |
STAGE RESULTS |
PINK JERSEY |
PURPLE JERSEY |
BLUE JERSEY |
WHITE JERSEY |
POINTS/CLASS |
TOTAL |
PREVIOUS |
CUM. TOTAL |
|
Team Amalia* |
0 |
43 |
6 |
0 |
5 |
54 |
54 |
1663 |
1717 |
|
Team Ansel* |
0 |
45 |
11 |
8 |
0 |
64 |
64 |
1815 |
1879 |
|
Team Charles* |
0 |
47 |
11 |
3 |
5 |
66 |
66 |
1786 |
1852 |
|
Team Dominic* |
0 |
42 |
11 |
3 |
5 |
61 |
61 |
1714 |
1775 |
|
Team Grace* |
0 |
45 |
6 |
8 |
0 |
59 |
59 |
1675 |
1734 |
|
Team Hugo* |
0 |
39 |
11 |
8 |
0 |
58 |
58 |
1831 |
1889 |
|
Team Josh* |
0 |
39 |
11 |
8 |
0 |
58 |
58 |
1706 |
1764 |
|
Team Liz* |
0 |
25 |
8 |
8 |
0 |
41 |
41 |
1120 |
1161 |
|
Team Sam* |
0 |
32 |
10 |
8 |
0 |
50 |
50 |
1252 |
1302 |
|
Team Samuel* |
0 |
42 |
14 |
5 |
0 |
61 |
61 |
1611 |
1672 |
|
Team Sylvia* |
0 |
29 |
3 |
8 |
0 |
40 |
40 |
1074 |
1114 |
|
Team Tadej* |
0 |
40 |
11 |
3 |
9 |
63 |
63 |
1675 |
1738 |
|
Team Will* |
0 |
42 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
48 |
48 |
1180 |
1228 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 11 (including adults):
|
0 |
42 |
6 |
3 |
5 |
56 |
56 |
1796 |
1852 |
|
|
Team Amalia* |
0 |
43 |
6 |
0 |
5 |
54 |
54 |
1663 |
1717 |
|
Team Amelia |
0 |
35 |
11 |
8 |
5 |
59 |
59 |
1716 |
1775 |
|
Team Ansel* |
0 |
45 |
11 |
8 |
0 |
64 |
64 |
1815 |
1879 |
|
Team Charles* |
0 |
47 |
11 |
3 |
5 |
66 |
66 |
1786 |
1852 |
|
Team Chuck |
0 |
38 |
10 |
8 |
5 |
61 |
61 |
1721 |
1782 |
|
Team Corey |
0 |
39 |
4 |
8 |
0 |
51 |
51 |
1583 |
1634 |
|
Team Corsa |
0 |
45 |
11 |
3 |
0 |
59 |
59 |
1747 |
1806 |
|
Team Craig |
0 |
42 |
11 |
3 |
9 |
65 |
65 |
1860 |
1925 |
|
Team Dominic* |
0 |
42 |
11 |
3 |
5 |
61 |
61 |
1714 |
1775 |
|
Team Doug |
0 |
29 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
39 |
39 |
1112 |
1151 |
|
Team Feng |
0 |
45 |
11 |
3 |
0 |
59 |
59 |
1779 |
1838 |
|
Team Grace* |
0 |
45 |
6 |
8 |
0 |
59 |
59 |
1675 |
1734 |
|
Team Hugo* |
0 |
39 |
11 |
8 |
0 |
58 |
58 |
1831 |
1889 |
|
Team JB |
0 |
39 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
43 |
43 |
1193 |
1236 |
|
Team Joe |
0 |
33 |
11 |
5 |
0 |
49 |
49 |
1516 |
1565 |
|
Team John |
0 |
32 |
14 |
3 |
0 |
49 |
49 |
1393 |
1442 |
|
Team Jonwaine |
0 |
33 |
10 |
8 |
0 |
51 |
51 |
1410 |
1461 |
|
Team Josh* |
0 |
39 |
11 |
8 |
0 |
58 |
58 |
1706 |
1764 |
|
Team Julie |
0 |
34 |
14 |
5 |
5 |
58 |
58 |
1430 |
1488 |
|
Team Kari |
0 |
48 |
11 |
4 |
9 |
72 |
72 |
1903 |
1975 |
|
Team Kate |
0 |
17 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
18 |
18 |
552 |
570 |
|
Team Kent |
0 |
43 |
11 |
8 |
9 |
71 |
71 |
1874 |
1945 |
|
Team Laurens |
0 |
35 |
11 |
3 |
5 |
54 |
54 |
1626 |
1680 |
|
Team Liz* |
0 |
25 |
8 |
8 |
0 |
41 |
41 |
1120 |
1161 |
|
Team Mitchinson |
0 |
45 |
11 |
8 |
0 |
64 |
64 |
1762 |
1826 |
|
Team Rob |
0 |
34 |
11 |
3 |
4 |
52 |
52 |
1564 |
1616 |
|
Team Sam* |
0 |
32 |
10 |
8 |
0 |
50 |
50 |
1252 |
1302 |
|
Team Samuel* |
0 |
42 |
14 |
5 |
0 |
61 |
61 |
1611 |
1672 |
|
Team Sylvia* |
0 |
29 |
3 |
8 |
0 |
40 |
40 |
1074 |
1114 |
|
Team Tadej* |
0 |
40 |
11 |
3 |
9 |
63 |
63 |
1675 |
1738 |
|
Team Wes |
0 |
35 |
6 |
8 |
0 |
49 |
49 |
1490 |
1539 |
|
Team Will* |
0 |
42 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
48 |
48 |
1180 |
1228 |
-Laurens.