Tour de France (open in new tab) Stage 11 will be remembered primarily for its sprint finish and the polemics that resulted from the tactics that Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe) set up on Wout Van Aert (open in new tab) (Jumbo Visma).

Despite a mostly quiet day, there were a few other notable events. Sam Bennett (Detunink-Quick Step) tightened his grip on the green jersey in the aftermath of Sagan's points deduction, while Grupama-FDJ's Mathieu Ladanyus (open in new tab) made a desperate escape early on and Astana's Ion Izaguirre (open in new tab) left the race due to a crash.

Sagan's relegation was a big story, but let's approach it from a different angle here.

Read the news short on stage 11 of the Tour de France.

Peter Sagan's (Bora-Hansgrohe) demotion from the race officials after stage 11 of the Tour de France for a dangerous sprint quickly spread throughout the cycling world and sparked a series of reactions on social media.

Sagan took part in the final sprint to Poitiers, crossing the finish line in second place behind stage winner Caleb Yuan (Lotto-Soudal). Sagan was then relegated to the back of the pack. This was because officials confirmed video footage of Sagan pushing Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) out of the way and bumping his shoulder to make room for him to cross the finish line.

Officials determined that his sprint violated UCI Road Race Rule 2.12.007, paragraph 5.1 (open in new tab) and relegated Sagan to 85th place on the stage, with the points earned at the finish (30) and stage winner Yuan's points (rounded up 12.5 13) and deducted a quarter of the points.

After the finish, Van Aert and Sagan exchanged heated words. Van Aert said that he and Jumbo Visma teammate and overall leader Primosz Roglic later agreed with the official's decision to demote Sagan.

While some in the cycling community agreed with the ruling, others disagreed, saying sprinters should not be punished for using their skills.

Taylor Finney, a retired professional athlete, expressed support for the extreme scenarios and skills sprinters use when bunch sprinting, but also expressed concern about the obvious dangers in sprinting and balancing his reaction.

"It's dangerous. So is badassery. Sprinters are the most insane (and I mean this in both senses) extreme sport athletes in the world, and I respect them.

Brian Cookson, former president of the UCI, did not appreciate Sagan's move, stating on Twitter, "Unfortunately, that move by Peter Sagan was outrageously dangerous."

26-year-old French sprinter Hugo Hofstetter (Israel Startup Nation) finished stage 11 in eighth place after a skirmish at the finish in Poitiers.

"With all due respect to you, if I hadn't broken [the brake], at this moment me and some others would be in the hospital right now. I'm very disappointed," Hofstetter wrote, revealing that he doesn't use Twitter much.

Trek-Segafredo's Quinn Simmons, the 19-year-old junior road race world champion who finished second overall at last week's Tour of Hungary, took to Twitter for a different angle on the Tour de France situation.

"This sport certainly does a good job of hurting itself. Not to punish. Sagan showed skill, Van Art showed character. It is not to punish them."

For the second day in a row, a rider from Groupama-FDJ (open in new tab) went on the attack and won not a stage win, but the most daring effort award. Stefan Küng took two chances on stage 10 and Matthieu Ladagnous on the break on stage 11.

The 35-year-old Frenchman described his solo attack as lonely, but said his team had nothing to lose. He had moved to the front just four minutes after Chatelayon-Poulagne and remained in the lead for more than 117 kilometers.

"It was a stage where I had nothing to lose. There are no sprinters and I'm not thinking about GC anymore. Yesterday Stéphane (Kung) was in the breakaway and today it was me," Ladagnus said on French television after the 167.5km stage.

"I thought the other riders would come with me, but I found myself alone. I ran. The wind was against me, but I did the best I could. I think this is the only run I ran by myself.

Astana ProTeam (open in new tab) leader Miguel Angel Lopez finished stage 11 safely in the main group, holding ninth place overall, but two of his teammates were involved in a crash that sent one of them, Ion Izaguirre, to a local hospital.

Alexey Lutsenko crashed at the start roundabout and Ilnur Zakarin (CCC Team) and Cyril Gauthier (B&B Hotels - Vital Concepts) were also involved. All were able to re-enter the race and continue.

Izaguirre was involved in a terrible crash in the last 30 km. Immediately after the crash, the 31-year-old Spanish rider was transferred to a hospital in Poitiers for medical checks.

"It was not our day when Alexey Lutsenko and Ion Izaguirre both crashed. Alexey only suffered minor injuries, but Ion had a really bad crash. We all wish him well," said team manager Dmitry Fofonov.

"As far as the stage is concerned, our main goal today was to protect Miguel Angel Lopez, and we achieved that perfectly.

The team posted an update on Izaguirre on Twitter, saying, "Our rider has been diagnosed with a fractured right clavicle and a fractured right third metacarpal. He also received multiple stitches to his jaw and cheek. Ion will spend tonight in the hospital under medical supervision."