Tour de France 2025 live: Stage 11 route and updates today as Ben Healy takes up the yellow jersey in Toulouse

15km to go: “Consistency of effort and cohesion” is what the front group need, Robbie McEwen says on TNT Sports comms, to hold off the big names in the chasing group. Sean Kelly adds that van Aert’s dig there has actually cost the pursuers some time as they look around at each other and slow down at the top of that climb.

This leading five have done a phenomenal job and still seem to be rotating well. They’re now onto the penultimate climb, the Cote de Vieille-Toulouse, 1.3km at 6.8%. The gap is now around 25 seconds.

21km to go: Groupama-FDJ have knocked things off and it now feels certain that today’s stage winner is coming from one of our first 10 riders on the road.

So far the quintet of Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno X-Mobility), and Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) are holding off the chase group of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-Caps), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers). Those five are some 25 seconds off the pace but there are still two major climbs to go.

Lawrence Ostlere picked Wout van Aert for the stage today, so has a one in 10 chance of getting it right… the Belgian puts the hammer down on an uncategorised rise and shaves a couple more seconds off.

28km to go: Groupama-FDJ have hit the front now in what looks like an absolutely doomed effort to set things up for their man Romain Gregoire, and they have brought the gap down to 2’15”, but they’re up against Van der Poel and van Aert in the chasing group.

Lotto-Caps come over the radio for a lovely bit of motivation for their sprinter Arnaud de Lie. At 23 the man is hugely talented but has been beset by illness, injury and bad luck in recent years. “You’re with champions, you’re a champion, and you’re going to get a top result today, for your wife too and your family,” his sports director tells him.

His group has narrowed the gap to the leaders to 20 seconds now.

35km to go: Fred Wright has taken the KOM point at the top of Corronsac and the gap has stabilised to the chasing group led by Van der Poel and Van Aert at around 30 seconds, with this first quintet doing brilliantly to hold them off.

Back in the peloton Israel-Premier Tech have come to the front, perhaps miffed that this doesn’t look like it’s coming down to a sprint.

Out the back, a grupetto has been spat out, including Jonathan Milan, Paul Penhoet, and Tim Merlier. The furious pace has not slowed at all.

40km to go: “The Tour has no mercy for anybody,” Soudal Quick-Step’s sports director tells his riders over the radio. Today’s stage has been ridden at around 53km/h so far and is on its way to being a new fastest stage of the Tour, ever, so that feels a fitting message.

Fred Wright takes the point atop the Cote de Montgiscard. Next up is the Cote de Corronsac, a 900m wall at an average of 6.9%.

Of the leading ten riders most of the firepower is concentrated in the second group, who are still 30 seconds or so behind. They count Arnaud de Lie among their number. The sprinter may struggle over these climbs but if he’s still got the legs at the finish, he’s the fastest man on paper.

45km to go: There’s plenty of chatter on TNT Sports about someone attacking while the likes of Pogacar and van der Poel were having a nature break, breaking the gentlemen’s agreement that that’s simply not done. But possibly as a result of the endless adverts on TNT, no-one actually knows who the offender was. I’ll keep you posted if I find out.

The leading group are now onto the next categorised climb, the Cote de Montgiscard, which kicks off the second phase of this race: plenty of back-to-back punchy climbs. This one is 1.7km at an average of 5.3%

58km to go: Abrahamsen opens up the sprint for the points at Labastide-Beauvoir and just about holds off Ballerini, with their remaining three companions rolling over behind them.

The Van der Poel group is 51 seconds off the pace, with the peloton now more two minutes back. This quintet have also been working well together but now Simmons hops off the front for more points, surprising and holding off Arnaud de Lie, an actual sprinter.

The peloton have fanned out across the road and that officially means the pace has knocked off. They’re now at 2’30” back and the gap is growing by the second… the green jersey Milan leads a sprint for the last few points, easily taking three ahead of Biniam Girmay, who picks up two.

62km to go: It’s all kicked off again: the yellow jersey of Ben Healy himself has accelerated, with some rivals for the jersey chasing him down, and off the back of that, a heavyweight group of attackers has just launched, consisting of Quinn Simmons, Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Axel Laurance, and Arnaud de Lie.

Sean Kelly notes that the decision of some riders to attack while riders were mid-nature break, including Pogacar, is going to cause “a lot of tension” in the peloton and have serious ramifications not just for this Tour, but for racing in general, breaking a serious unwritten rule on the bike.

3km to the intermediate sprint.

69km to go: On the TNT Sports race motorbike, Romain Bardet says the wind has picked up and the stage has been just as breathless as it looks. He admits he’s happy to be on the motorbike rather than in the bunch – “it’s much easier”.

Van Aert is in one of these small attacking groups which are still going, along with Quinn Simmons, who has just as much pep in his step after the rest day as before. The peloton has brought the quintet back to within 1’29”.

76km to go: False alarm – Pogacar has been off the back, presumably going for a loo break, and is shepherded back onto the front by a UAE lieutenant.

The peloton now sits two minutes back, but there are a couple more groups dotted about the road between the leading quintet and the bunch. Yes, that’s a quintet now: Wright and Burgaudeau have bridged the gap.