Søren Wærenskjold claimed his first Tour de France stage win in the eleventh stage, a 161.3-kilometre run from Vichy to Nevers, crossing the line ahead of Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Premier Tech). For the Uno-X Mobility Norwegian it was immediate redemption: just 24 hours earlier he had finished at the back of the bunch on the Le Lioran mountain stage.
The flat stage, raced on roads soaked by rain from the morning, took shape with an early attack from Mathieu van der Poel that was quickly shut down. The decisive move was made by Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), Mathis Le Berre (TotalEnergies), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) and Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility), held at around 1:30 by the sprinters' teams. Some 40 kilometres from the finish a crash in the feed zone brought down Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural) and Georg Zimmermann (Lotto–Intermarché); all three remounted, although the German needed medical attention before getting back on his bike.
The escapees were caught around six kilometres out, but the peloton then eased on the narrow roads. In a chaotic finale Wærenskjold launched from distance and held off the favourites: Kooij finished second, Philipsen third, with Axel Fretin fourth, Huub Artz fifth and Biniam Girmay sixth.