No runner is immune to terrible failure and Tadej Pogacar lived the longest 5 km of his career today to the top of the Col du Granon, where he was stripped of the yellow jersey during a an unforgettable 11th stage.

The 23-year-old Slovenian was not untouchable, and his runner-up Jonas Vingegaard knew it. The Dane waited wisely for his moment while his greedy opponent spent cartridges to win the sixth and seventh stages.

The tipping point occurred 5 km from the summit of Granon.

Still far from the finish, Vingegaard tried a little innocently to widen a gap with the yellow jersey, still in the wheel of his teammate Rafal Majka.

Vingegaard must have known his opponent was already on a tightrope. Pogacar was unable to react and the Dane grabbed his star.

Before racing to his first stage victory, Vingegaard dropped Nairo Quintana, second on the stage, and Warren Barguil.

With this stunt, the new yellow jersey pushes all his pursuers to more than 2 minutes in the general classification.

The Jumbo-Visma, more powerful, had well tied up its plan.

"It's amazing, it's hard to find words to say what just happened. It's what I've always dreamed of," Vingegaard explained. Despite a day to forget, Pogacar, smiling, honorably congratulated the Dane after the finish.

" I do not know what happened. At the Col du Galibier, I still felt good. I suffered a lot of attacks from the Jumbos. Then, on the last climb, I just didn't have good legs. And I suffered until the end,” said the two-time Tour winner.

"It was a great day. We were prepared for that, we wanted to take the yellow jersey,” added Wout van Aert, green jersey and Vingegaard teammate.

Return of Bardet

Before the final explanation, the peloton had climbed two unique passes, the Telegraph and the Galibier.

On the Granon, Pogacar's failure marked the spirits, but other battles thrilled enthusiasts.

In order, the Nairo Quintana, Romain Bardet, Geraint Thomas, David Gaudu and Adam Yates will fight for the podium until Paris. Between 2nd place and 5th place overall, barely 21 seconds separate four men.

Vingegaard takes control of the race, but Bardet is now the heir at 2 min 16 s, just ahead of Pogacar.

The 31-year-old Frenchman, second in the 2016 Tour and polka dot jersey in 2019, is ready for war.

Bardet, however, refused to ignite on the eve of another terrible day in the Alps for France's national holiday.

The 21 turns

The triptych out of category of the Galibier, the Croix de Fer and the 21 bends of Alpe d'Huez will certainly do damage tomorrow. The last winner at the top of this mythical pass is Geraint Thomas, in 2018.

"It's been hard and tomorrow it's going to be even harder," Bardet said today.

For Tadej Pogacar, such a failure normally leaves some scars.

Its freshness at the start tomorrow in Briançon remains a mystery.

In 2006, a certain Floyd Landis had orchestrated a particular revival after a failure at La Toussuire.

Canadians Antoine Duchesne, Hugo Houle, Guillaume Boivin and Michael Woods survived the stage and crossed the line on time.