EF Education-EasyPost raced through the fastest stage in Tour de France history and got to the finish safe and sound.

Stage 11, a flat run from Vichy to Nevers, was always going to end in a sprint and, after the massive effort that the guys put in yesterday in the Massif Central, their mission today was to stay on the wheels and spin out their legs. We knew that today was going to be fast, but not this fast. At 50.91 km/hr, today's stage broke the record for fastest average speed for a Tour de France stage. It took skill and guts to hold the wheel, when the peloton was strung out in one long line on the very edge of the road, hurtling across the fields of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, but our guys held their nerve and made it to the final kilometers safely.

They took no risks in the high-speed technical finish and are now ready to attack Stage 12, which starts on the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours and ends in Chalon-sur-Saône.

"The sprinters' teams blocked things in the last five kilometers. I was already up there anyway. Once it opened up, there weren't that many riders left to pass. I think the sprinters' teams were just figuring out who was going to do the work at the beginning, so it made for an interesting start. It didn't really go like the other days, where the break went pretty quickly. Today it took a bit more time to establish. That's how it is. We'll try again tomorrow." – Kasper Asgreen

"Some people might say it was an easy day, but it wasn't really. We averaged over 50 km/hr, so it was still a very fast day. The start was actually quite interesting because Alpecin wanted to get a rider into the breakaway, which isn't something you would normally expect from them. In the end, though, I'm glad we didn't have anyone in the break. It was an easy one to control, and most importantly, everybody finished safe and sound.

"Our working theory is that the traditional breakaway stages are becoming fewer and fewer. Because of that, teams are starting to look for opportunities on stages where you wouldn't normally expect attacks. We've already seen that happen on a few stages, and I think tomorrow could be another interesting example of that." – Charly Wegelius, sports director

The peloton smashed the record for fastest-ever Tour de France road stage today. The previous record had stood since 1999, when the race averaged 50.356 km/hr between Laval and Blois. The pace was hot from the moment the commissaire's flag dropped just outside of Vichy and never let up, as the peloton sped through the fields on the route to Nevers. At the finish, the average speed on our squad's Wahoos read 50.9 km/hr.

Today’s side quest is not yet finished. Chef Owen is racing to finish dinner service and do all the washing up before his beloved England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina. He’s on pace to break a speed record for doing the dishes before he sits down to watch the match. There is going to be a very happy or very sad face cooking up the riders’ omelets tomorrow morning.

Owen and Chris put on their bakers' hats this morning to make the squad a lemon and blueberry cake to enjoy after the stage. Sweet and slightly tangy, it's a great source of easy-to-digest carbs for them to top up their stores post-race.

Ingredients:

250 g brioche flour

3 to 5 g baking powder (about ¾ to 1 tsp), depending on how much raising agent is already in the flour

250 g butter

250 g caster sugar

4 eggs

50 g ground almonds

Zest of 3 lemons

40 ml lemon juice

200 g blueberries

Pinch of salt (if the flour isn't already salted)

This will give you a lighter crumb without risking the cake rising too quickly and collapsing.

Method:

Heat the oven to 170 C.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Mix in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla.

Sift together the brioche flour, baking powder, and salt, then fold into the mixture with the ground almonds.

Toss the blueberries in a little flour and gently fold them through.

Bake:

Loaf tin: 60 to 70 minutes.

20-centimeter round tin: 50 to 60 minutes.

While warm, brush or spoon over a lemon syrup (75 g sugar + 75 ml lemon juice, warmed until dissolved).

Chasse patate literally means chasing potatoes. It is used in bike racing to describe a failed attempt to bridge across to the lead group, which leaves the chasers in between the peloton and the front of the race, wasting effort for nothing. A patate is a potato, but in French it can be used to describe someone or something foolish, which is how riders feel when they get stuck in a chasse patate.