The Tour de France headed into the Alps on Saturday for Stage 14. A mass crash in the peloton forced a neutralization of the race early on and several riders were unable to finish.
When the race restarted, however, Team Jumbo-Visma pushed the pace in the peloton and made it difficult for everyone pedaling through the mountains. This ensured that a large breakaway was caught on the penultimate climb before the Col de Joux Plane.
Durangoan Sepp Kuss and Jumbo-Visma teammate Wout Van Aert helped overall leader Jonas Vingegaard while UAE Team Emirates had Adam Yates Yates helping Tadej Pogacar. Vingegaard started the stage with a nine-second lead over Pogacar in the general classification.
Van Aert and Kuss took the lead for a few kilometers before Yates put Pogacar in the lead. Vingegaard kept his own pace and came back after a good effort. After that, the pace was much slower until the summit. Vingegaard then surprised Pogacar in the climb’s final meters to take some bonus seconds.
Carlos Rodriguez of INEOS Grenadiers flew by the riders and ended up winning the stage. Pogacar attacked with 3.7 kilometers to go, but Vingegaard caught back up to him. The Dane eventually lost out to Pogacar in the final sprint, but still finished one second ahead of his opponent, thanks to the bonification seconds, and now leads the GC by 10 seconds.
“He is incredibly explosive,” Vingegaard said about Pogacar. “I couldn’t follow his attack and ride at my own pace. Luckily, I was able to come back. Our level is incredibly close, and that makes it a great fight. We are both super strong.”
Rodriguez moved into podium position in the GC with the stage win and was third, 4:43 back, after the stage. Rodriguez is also second in the youth category, trailing Pogacar by 4:33.
Yates crossed fourth. Kuss finished fifth on the stage, 57 seconds after Rodriguez, to climb four spots in the GC to sixth overall (+8:15).
Vingegaard also took over as the king of the mountain with 26 points on the day, taking the polka-dot jersey from American Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost).
Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin Deceuninck still has a huge lead in the points race, despite not adding to his total on Stage 14.
In the team race, Jumbo-Visma moved from third to second and now trails INEOS Grenadiers by 7:25.
“The team rode an excellent stage,” said Jumbo-Visma sports director Grischa Niermann. “We wanted to make it a grueling race, and we succeeded. Of course, we hoped to get rid of Pogacar on the final climb, but he and Jonas were evenly matched. If they continue to race at this level, it will be a battle of seconds to Paris. The positive thing for us is that Jonas managed to get the bonus seconds. Satisfaction prevails today, but there are still some tough days ahead.”
