What a lovely amuse-bouche of a stage. It was classically boring for the most part, which felt refreshing after several straight stages of end-to-end crashes and/or breathless attacks. Then we were treated to one of the closest sprints you may ever see. Here's the aerial shot at the line:

Caleb Ewan, on the far left, crossed the finish first by a whisker over Peter Sagan (white) in second, Sam Bennett (green) in third and Wout van Aert (yellow) in fourth. Bennett gave Ewan a fistbump as they coasted across the line, repaying the love that Ewan showed him when he won his first Tour stage Tuesday. Van Aert, meanwhile, showed Sagan a ... less welcoming gesture.

You'll notice that Sagan crossed the line second, but is nowhere in the top 10. Well saddle up because we've got DRAMA. Van Aert was the first rider to start his finishing move, zooming up the righthand barriers with just over 200 meters to go to take the lead. Sagan maneuvered onto his wheel and began an admittedly impressive sprint to surge past Van Aert's right shoulder. In doing so, however, he boxed himself in, and gave Van Aert a not-so-gentle headbutt/shoulder shove to create space for himself.

Here's the aerial view of the sprint; the whole thing is exciting to watch on its own. And here's a good head-on view of the touche-pas.

The contact was clearly Sagan's fault -- Van Aert held his line perfectly -- despite his "who me?" gesticulations as he coasted past the line. Van Aert was unsympathetic (after the stage, he said "I was really scared"), as were race commissaires, who relegated Sagan to last place in the bunch and docked him 13 points. As a result, Bennett was technically the second place finisher on the stage, giving him a now commanding lead for the green jersey: 243 points to Sagan's 175.

The events at the finish were set in motion by Bora-Hansgrohe's Lukas Postlberger, who tried to catch the sprint teams napping by going solo for the lask six kilometers. Deceuninck-Quick Step's Bob Jungels and Kasper Asgreen followed his wheel, creating a STRONG three-man breakaway for the stage win that doubled as support for Sagan (Bora) and Bennett (Deceuninck).

The effort died with 1.5k to go, but not before it winnowed leadout riders, in particular leaving Ewan with just one teammate. But no matter. For the second time this Tour, Ewan attacked from deep on the road and swung around Bennett's left shoulder to pip him at the line.

Thank god they're friendly.

And the rest of the stage?

The usual: Lots of tractors and hay bale art, a doomed break and some sad departures.

Here's an art sampling:

As for the break, today's winner of the Most Combative prize and LOTS of airtime was Mathieu Ladagnous, a 35-year-old rider from Groupama-FDJ who hails from Pau and has largely spent his career as a quiet Classics specialist. He was caught with 43 kilometers to go after spending more than 120k all alone, barreling into a headwind.

At times, I wonder why the hell anyone bothers with Inevitably Doomed Breakaways anymore. But then I consider the fact that riders like Ladagnous might not have many more chances like this. His results haven't been what they used to be. And who knows if he'll make a Tour team again. Why not put yourself on TV for friends and family and bask on a sunny day?

There are worse things. Stage 11 also featured two-mid stage abandonments, almost back to back. The first was poor Gregor Muhlberger, who rode off the back of the race in absolute misery, appearing ill. He finally gave up with about 40 kilometers to go, hanging his head as he sat on the hood of his team car. The second was Ion Izagirre, who got tangled up in a crash with 29.5k to go, and had to be shuttled to a hospital.

Maybe it's no wonder why riders attack against endless odds when their race can end so quickly.

FUN

There was a crash in the peloton before the stage even started.

Today's Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle animal of the day is this precocious otter (muskrat?) friend.

Stage 15 includes a small road tribute to Kraftwerk's Florian Schneider, who passed away in April. (And had no connection to cycling that I can find.)

A 3D artist's rendering of drawings of bicycles from memory. I would proudly own this bike:

Even indecent people have the decency to put on a mask:

I'm still impressed by the ridiculous non-margin between Bennett and Sagan:

Ban the selfie stick:

The standings

STAGE 11

1. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) -- 4hr 00min 01sec
2. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step) -- "
3. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) -- "
4. Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) -- "
5. Clement Venturini (AG2R La Mondiale) -- "
6. Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) -- "
7. Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) -- “
8. Hugo Hofstetter (Israel Start-Up Nation) -- "
9. Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) -- "
10. Ryan Gibbons (NTT) -- "

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) — 46hr 15min 24sec
2. Egan Bernal (Ineos) — +21sec
3. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) — +28sec
4. Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale_ -- +30sec
5. Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) — +32sec
6. Rigoberto Uran (Education First) -- "
7. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) -- +44sec
8. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) — +1min 02sec
9. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) – +1min 15sec
10. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren) -- +1min 42sec

GREEN JERSEY

1. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) — 243 points
2. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) — 175
3. Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) -- 157
4. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) -- 155
5. Matteo Trentin (CCC) — 140

POLKA DOT JERSEY

1. Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale) — 36 points
2. Nans Peters (AG2R-La Mondiale) -- 31
3. Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) -- 26
4. Ilnur Zakarin (CCC) -- 25
5. Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) -- 24

Stage 12 preview -- 218km from Chauvigny to Sarran Corrèze

Stage 12 will begin at noon local, 6 a.m. ET. For those watching from the United States, coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. on NBCSN. (Here’s NBC’s complete broadcast schedule).

Don’t get that channel? You’ll need to pay, sadly. I really like the NBC Sports Gold Cycling Pass, which gives you a commercial-free stream as well as some handy race-tracking whatzits. The much cheaper option, however, is Peacock Premium, which costs $4.99 per month and will reportedly get you access to live coverage of every stage, though presumably with ads and without the whatzits.

If you can’t watch live and want access to replays, it appears Gold is your only way to go.

Stage 12 shouldn't matter much in the grand scheme of the Tour, but it could be a lot of fun as a one-day Classic-lite in the midst of the Grande Boucle. The profile isn't conducive to big time gaps, but it's long -- at 218 kilometers, it's the longest stage of the Tour, in fact -- and the bumpy profile could be won by a wide range of riders, from sprinters to puncheurs to feistier climbers.

Expect battles at the outset as riders fight to get in the breakaway that ultimately gets let go. The peloton, presuming it contains the major yellow jersey contenders, will be most concerned with keeping the gap manageable, as well as patrolling any second- and third-tier GC riders who might get funny ideas about going solo.

The list of potential stage winners could look very similar to Stage 6's breakaway, which consisted of a motley crew: Nicolas Roche, eventual stage winner Alexey Lutsenko, Neilson Powless, Greg van Avermaet, Daniel Oss, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Remi Cavagna and Jesus Herrada.

Powless is especially worth watching. He has been involved in every breakaway that has gone the distance so far, finishing fourth on Stage 6 and fifth on Stage 8. He is a young, attacking American rider who also happens to be the first ever tribally recognized Native American participant in the Tour. He's really hungry for a win, and Education First has been happy to turn him loose as long as it feels that team leader Rigoberto Uran is protected.

Stage 12 should be long and meaty, not unlike a meal centered on Corrèze specialty Tête de veau.