The yellow contenders completely collapsed on the climb to the Col de Granon on stage 11 of the Tour de France, but it was a complicated day for Ineos Grenadier.

Team leaders Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates outpaced yellow-jerseyed Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates), but finished the 152-km stage farther from yellow than when they left Albertville four hours earlier.

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) was about 3 minutes ahead of the Slovenian and 1 minute ahead of the rest of the field.

Ineos deputy Rod Ellingworth commented positively after the stage, noting that Thomas, who finished in 1 hour 38 minutes and remained in fourth place overall, and Yates, who finished 32 seconds behind and dropped to sixth place, were still in contention.

"What a day for bike racing. ' he said on the Ineos Grenadiers team bus at the foot of the Granon. 'It was a fantastic race. It's what everyone would have wanted." [It was a good day for the team and especially for Gelant's run. He's a smart guy. He fell to fourth overall, but I think he's in a strong position overall."

"Adam did well. He had some trouble in Telegraph, but he crawled back up. It was a good run. When I saw him come back later, he was struggling in the beginning of the stage. It was very good to see him give it his all on the final climb."

Granon is "just part" of a double header in the Alps, with Galibier, Croix de Fer, and Alpe d'Huez coming up on Thursday.

Ellingworth said Thomas, who is 2:26 behind Vingegaard and 10 seconds away from the second step of the podium, will be feeling strong after his result in Granon.

"There is still a long way to go and tomorrow will be difficult for everyone to recover. It's who can recover the most. There will be some athletes who will hurt their legs tomorrow."

"Gelant is a real stayer and will be in it for the long haul. I am happy with this result.

"I think tomorrow will be another big, big day. Jumbo is a strong team and I think they will control it pretty well. So I don't think we'll see the same kind of day." [Ellingworth also took time to assess Pogachar's performance on stage 11. Before Vingegaard's finishing blow at Granon, Jumbo-Visma took the fight to him early on the Galibier, causing a crack that almost no one expected.

He, too, said he had not expected the 23-year-old to fall so dramatically.

"I didn't expect Pogachar to be like that. I thought it would be a little bit later in the race. Like I've been saying all along, you never know. He's only human," Ellingworth said.

"But I didn't expect it to go like that. I knew Jumbo would go by sheer numbers on the climb. But it was a little surprising."

"There were a lot of attacks early on and I knew that would happen. I thought Pogachar was going to slim down the group, but he really isolated himself. But I think he was really isolated.