photo credits @ Le Tour
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) dominated stage 14 of the Tour de France today, extending his lead in the yellow jersey with a devastating attack.
Indeed, the Slovenian rider delivered a searing acceleration along the final climb, quickly distancing his Danish and Belgian rivals that would later lead to a 1’57” advantage over Vingegaard in the general classification, who climbed above Evenepoel on a day where his title defense faded.
Meanwhile, Nils Politt set a considerate tempo at the front of the peloton for almost 70 kilometers including the entire ascent of the Col du Tourmalet, before Marc Soler took over and slashed the gap to a breakaway that had been whittled down to five riders.
Ireland’s Ben Healy (EF Education – EasyPost) proved the strongest in that lead group at the foot of the Pla d’Adet and initially appeared on course for the stage win, Pogacar quickly burning through his domestiques before sending Yates to chase Healy.
Race Highlights
Following the withdrawals of Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech) due to illness, 157 riders started stage 14 of the 2024 Tour de France, which would cover 151.9 km between Pau and Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet). The start was frantic yet again and after a hard crash in the last kilometre of yesterday’s finish in Pau, Amaury Capiot (Arkea-B&B Hotels) was forced to abandon early on the stage. Passing through Lourdes (km 37.6), Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Cedric Beullens and Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-dstny) managed to break away from the peloton.
Counter attackers
Later, Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team), Kevin Vauquelin, Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X) joined them to form an eight-man breakaway, after which followed a 15-man counterattacking group including Chris Juul-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Marco Haller (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ ), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Rui Costa, Ben Healy, Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Louis Meintjes, Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) and Fabian Grellier (TotalEnergies).
Fierce fight for the green jersey
Both groups had permission to go clear from the peloton, which was controlled by UAE Team Emirates. Only 30” separated the two front groups as they passed through Esquieze-Sere (IS, km 70.2), which the peloton reached 4’10” behind the leaders. Coquard beat De Lie in the intermediate sprint, before Girmay outpaced Philipsen in the second group in the fight for ninth. The four of them then sat up as the climb to the Col du Tourmalet – Souvenir Jacques Goddet (HC, km 89.6) began. That left 17 breakaway riders to attack the climb to the Tourmalet, with Vauquelin and Costa among the climbers who fell out of the group as the steep ramps and the pace took their toll. Then, with the summit in their sights Gaudu and Lazkano accelerated away from the group and it was the impressive Spanish Tour de France debutant Lazkano who was first to the top, 12” ahead of Gaudu and 25” in front of Armirail.
The peloton accelerates
2’55” was the gap between the leaders of the race and an accelerating peloton at the foot of the Hourquette d’Ancizan (Cat. 2, km 123.4), with the breakaway reduced to five men on the climb: Kwiatkowski, Gaudu, Healy, Lazkano and Meintjes. This time it was Gaudu who got the better Lazkano at the top, with the peloton arriving 1’15” after them, having shaved off more than a minute and a half on the ascent.
Exciting finish in Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet)
The five remaining breakaway riders began the punishing 10.6 km climb of Saint-Lary-Soulan – Pla d’Adet (HC, km 151.9, 7.9% average gradient) together, with Healy going solo early on the final ascent. Yates attacked 7km from the finish to chase down Healy, before Pogacar himself attacked with 5km remaining, joining Yates as they accelerated past the Irishman. Pogacar went on to finish the job powerfully, with Vingegaard and Evenepoel chasing him hard to the line, limiting the damage as much as they could.
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