Tour de France 2025: Tadej Pogacar thankful to avoid major injury but left ‘angry’ with Stage 11 crash – ‘My skin is tough’

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According to UAE Emirates-XRG team manager Mauro Gianetti, Tadej Pogacar was “angry” after a Stage 11 crash nearly ended his hopes of a fourth Tour de France crown. On one of the most chaotic days of the 2025 Tour, Pogacar was thrown off his bike with 4.1km to go but escaped without any serious injuries. He also did not lose any time in the GC battle after the peloton waited for him to rejoin.

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Video credit: TNT Sports

Tour de France favourite Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG) was left "angry" after crashing through no fault of his own towards the end of a dramatic Stage 11.

Following the first rest day of the 2025 edition, the Tour restarted with a bang on the 156.8 kilometre route through Toulouse, which nearly saw the end of Pogacar’s quest for a fourth yellow jersey.

With less than 5km to go, Pogacar’s front wheel was clipped by the back wheel of Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), throwing him to the ground and seemingly on a collision course with the nearby pavement.

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However, he escaped without any major injuries.

Explaining the incident, Pogacar said: "Unfortunately, one rider decided to follow from the left to the right side of the road, and I don't know, he didn't see me, and he just completely cut me off, my front wheel.

"Luckily, I just have a little bit of skin off. I was scared when I saw the sidewalk that I was going with my head directly to the sidewalk, but luckily my skin is tough and stopped me before the sidewalk."

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His UAE team manager Mauro Gianetti added: "A crash causes a lot of worry, but when you crash, it could be an easy crash or a big crash. Fortunately, that one, even though it was at quite high speed, was not so damaging. So if Tadej feels OK, that's good news.

"[He is] angry with the way the crash [happened], with the fact he will need to live with this and the day before Hautacam, but he's OK. Physically, it's not a problem."

Not only is Pogacar fit to race on, but he also didn’t lose any time in the general classification. Although his crash occurred outside of the 3km safety zone, the bunch he was in – which included main Tour rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and current GC leader Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) – slowed up to allow him to rejoin.

"Thanks to the peloton in front, they actually waited," Pogacar added. "Obviously, the race was more or less over back there, but still, they could take time – maybe not take too much time – but I would need to go really deep to come back like this.

"Really big respect to everybody in front. Thanks for your support, guys."

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