Video - Kooij cock-up helps Uno-X's Wærenskjold to dream Tour win

Olav Kooij let his own lead-out man, Cees Bol, go with 400m remaining, then let Søren Wærenskjold go, before running out of road to get the Norwegian on the line at the end of Tour de France stage 11 into Nevers

Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) may have won plenty of races already, but he took his biggest today at the Tour de France after Decathlon CMA CGM Team messed up its lead-out, giving its Norwegian rival a significant helping hand.

The honours came down to a bunch sprint into Nevers after the Tour's fast ever road race stage. Decathlon CMA CGM's Olav Kooij was among those fancied to win, after already taking stage 5.

Kooij's team mate, Cees Bol, hit he front with a huge turn of power with 400m to go, though Kooij was not on his wheel - unwilling to go commit so far from the line.

The seated effort by Bol was so powerful he opened a small gap on the front of the peloton, where the lead riders stalled for a moment, all fearful of going too early.

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But Wærenskjold then responded with an initial seated effort of his own. And though Kooij was on his wheel, he let him go without responding, just like he had done with Bol.

When Wærenskjold got up the back wheel of the Dutch rider Bol, he slung shot out of his slipstream and sprinted for the line.

The other sprinters were now galloping at maximum effort after him, but they'd given themselves too much to do. Just ahead, Wærenskjold was able to impressively sustained his effort.

And though Kooij and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) very nearly pipped Wærenskjold on the line, they ran out of road and had to be content with 2nd and 3rd.

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It was Wærenskjold's first ever Grand Tour stage win and his first victory of the season, though given his past record his winning was a surprise rather than a huge shock.

He was already 2nd on this Tour in a bunch sprint, just behind Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick Step) on stage 7 into Bordeaux. He also took six wins last year, including Omloop Nieuwsblad (1.UWT) in a bunch sprint, as well as two stages and the overall at Lidl Deutschland Tour (2.Pro).

The 26-year-old's win today adds to an incredible Tour debut for his team, which has already held the yellow jersey for two days with Torstein Træen. He later cashed on the Col du Tourmalet descent on stage 6 and was forced out of the race.

Ireland's Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), who says he has been praying for cooler temperatures on this Tour, finished in 160th today exactly one minute down on the stage winner.

There is no change in the overall, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) still leading by 3:36 from Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) after 166km of racing today.

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