Stage Winner: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
GC Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
Stage 14 of the Tour de France brought one of the most famed climbs in the race on the Col du Tourmalet. A mid-race 10-rider breakaway held for the first two major climbs, but in a wild final four kilometers, race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) timed a brilliant attack with teammate Adam Yates to take the win and further his gap.
Before the stage started, there were already dramatic announcements: Ineos Grenadiers' Tom Pidcock wouldn't be starting the race, due to COVID-like symptoms. Israel-Premier Tech's Guillaume Boivin also abandoned with COVID. And of course, fans know that yesterday, Primož Roglič of Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe abandoned after a crash on the stage before. And only a couple of kilometers in, Amaury Capiot (Arkea BB Hotels) abandoned in tears after struggling.
The pace of stage 14 started fast and stayed fast, despite the climbs—including the famed Col du Tourmalet. Even in the first kilometers, several attacks were attempted but were brought back to the hard-charging peloton. By 25 kilometers in, nearly a dozen attacks had been made and closed—even GC leader Tadej Pogačar was spending time helping chase down attacks and breakaway attempts.
A small group including Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) managed to get daylight between themselves and the peloton, but counterattacks quickly formed behind, and a group of eight eventually formed at the front with a 15 second gap at 51 kilometers into the race. It included Van der Poel as well as Cédric Beullens and Arnaud de Lie of Lotto-dstny, Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team), Kévin Vauquelin, Raúl García Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Magnus Cort Nielsen (One-X). Behind them, the chase group had broken into three main groups, including a group of 15 led by green jersey holder Binian Girmay (Intermarché–Wanty), then two groups nearly 2 minutes back.
The riders hit the Tourmalet climb—the brutal 19 kilometers with a 7.4 percent gradient. The steep gradient allowed the two lead groups to merge together, with 18 riders off the front including Van der Poel, Ben Healy, Magnus Cort Nielson and Michal Kwiatkowski. No riders from UAE Team Emirates or Visma-Lease a Bike were represented, and Pogačar remained in the peloton four minutes behind, with his teammates setting the pace along with Visma-Lease a Bike's Wout van Aert. The group containing Girmay sat two minutes down on the peloton.
Halfway up the climb, the group off the front whittled down to 10, with EF Education-Easypost's Sean Quinn setting the pace. Behind them, INEOS-Grenadiers Geraint Thomas dropped from the chase group—presumably causing the other riders to breath a sigh of relief (or take a few extra deep breaths, if they'd been riding close to him).
Thomas created a stir this morning when it was reported that he was racing while positive for COVID—though reports were mixed. He apparently said in an interview that he had a runny nose and headache and was being monitored by a team doctor but hadn't tested positive, though his teammate Pidcock dropped out this morning due to COVID symptoms. Another outlet reported Thomas saying he had in fact tested positive. And mid-way through the race, commentators reported that Thomas had tested positive for COVID. It's fairly safe to assume that he does have COVID—which raised the question for other riders around rider safety and why he was allowed to start the stage, given the chance of potentially infecting other riders while in close contact.
As riders surged to the top of the Tourmalet, it was Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team) and David Gaudu (Groupama–FDJ) who hit the top first, with Lazkano the first over the top. Behind him, Quinn led the rest of the chasers 30 seconds behind.
As the peloton hit the summit, the three GC contenders Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) all seemed comfortable and unworried.
Lazkano and Gaudo were caught by the breakaway group, and the 10-man breakaway now containing them along with Healy, Cort, Kwiatkowski, Van der Poel, Quinn, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan), Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty) and Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R). Behind them, UAE Team Emirates' Nils Politt still led the peloton, maintaining the three minute gap with 36 kilometers to go.
Van der Poel was unable to hold the pace on the Hourquette d’Ancizan climb and dropped back as Quinn also began to fall behind leaving teammate Healy alone. Cort was the next to fall off the pace.
In the peloton, UAE and Visma led the peloton at a pace that slowly brought down the gap to the race leaders, though Politt fell behind after doing plenty of work on the Tourmalet. Less than 30 riders remained in the main peloton.
Gaudo narrowly outsprinted Lazkano at the top of Hourquette d’Ancizan, while behind them, the peloton tightened the gap to just over a minute.
At the beginning of the final climb, Pla d'Adet, Healy went on the attack with Gaudo on his wheel, the peloton only 1'08" behind in the final 10 kilometers of the race. The two began to work together to distance themselves from the breakaway and from the peloton.
Healy dropped Gaudo, growing his gap to the Frenchman to 42 seconds as the peloton caught the rest of the breakaway, absorbing them and dropping the gap to a minute with seven kilometers to go. UAE's Adam Yates went on the attack—apparently part of Pogačar's plan for the stage—going on the hunt for Healy. By five kilometers to go, Yates had closed the gap to a mere 13 seconds, and the peloton remained 42 seconds behind.
And then, Pogačar attacked, Vingegaard and Evenepoel both trying to go with the GC leader but unable to close the gap. In less than a minute, he'd caught Yates, who just caught Healy in a perfectly timed attack and onslaught. Pogačar and Yates continued up the road as Healy fell behind. Vingegaard and Evenepoel quickly passed him as well, chasing as best they could. Pogačar looked utterly composed and comfortable as he sprinted around Yates with four kilometers to go.
Vingegaard shed Evenepoel but couldn't seem to close the 10-second gap to Pogačar, though he refused to give up. Behind them, Evenepoel tried to stay as close to Vingegaard as possible to hang on to his second place in the GC standings, and behind him, Ineos-Grenadiers' Chris Rodriguez and Yates followed.
Pogačar pushed hard to the finish, hoping to add valuable seconds to his GC overall time. He handily took the win, followed by Vingegaard 39 seconds later. Evenepoel was able to hold on for third 1:10 behind Pogačar but dropped to third in the GC behind Vingegaard.
“It was instinct… Adam attacked, Visma had to try to maintain the gap and I saw that if I bridged, I could grow the gap,” Pogačar said. “My plan was to sprint for the final and maybe take some seconds.”
Molly writes about cycling, nutrition and training with an emphasis on bringing more women into sport. She's the author of nine books including the Shred Girls series and is the founder of Strong Girl Publishing. She co-hosts The Consummate Athlete Podcast and spends most of her free time biking and running on trails, occasionally joined by her mini-dachshund.
