Axel sixth on rapid breakaway day

Axel Laurance continued his Tour de France momentum with a strong outing and a sixth-place finish on stage 11.

The Frenchman crossed the line as part of a chasing breakaway group after a high speed day of racing around Toulouse.

After numerous breakaway attempts proved unsuccessful, Laurance was able to infiltrate a five-man counter attack and the stage ticked over into its second half. Previous Connor Swift had been amongst those that saw their moves reeled in by the bunch.

Also present in the group were the likes of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin - Deceuninck) and Wout Van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike). Up ahead a similar group of five combined well to maintain a slender advantage, and at the finish it was Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) who out-sprinted Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) to secure the win.

Carlos Rodriguez finished as part of the yellow jersey group, 3:28 back, with Ben Healy (EF Education - EasyPost) retaining the overall lead. Carlos remains 12th overall.