French sporting fans had plenty to celebrate on stage 14 of the Tour de France. Frenchman Thibaut Pinot soared to the stage victory atop the Tourmalet, while his compatriot Julian Alaphilippe finished second and added to his overall lead ahead of defending champion Geraint Thomas.
“Since the start of the Tour I’ve been targeting this stage, this is the one I wanted, the mythical Tourmalet,” said Pinot, who moved up to sixth overall. “We are going into the third week now, people will be tired, but this is where I feel best.”
The challenging mountain stage was a battle of attrition over the 111-kilometer journey from Tarbes to the Tourmalet summit finish. The early break, which included big names like Vincenzo Nibali and Peter Sagan, was only given enough breathing room to hunt mountain points and intermediate sprints. A high pace in the peloton proved too much for Romain Bardet on the Col du Soulor midway through the day. Shortly thereafter, Adam Yates was also dropped on the first-category climb, caught back on, and was then dropped for good.
The last remnants of the break were reeled in on the final climb, putting the stage win in play for the GC group. Groupama-FDJ joined Jumbo-Visma and Movistar on the slopes of the Tourmalet in setting a high tempo. Several big names were dropped before the finale, including Nairo Quintana, Richie Porte, Dan Martin, and Jakob Fuglsang, with Thomas and Rigoberto Urán losing touch late on the climb.
We hope you enjoy these photos from this epic stage as much as we do.
See here for the full stage report.
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- Sir Bradley Wiggins, here as a commentator for Eurosport, at the race start in Tarbes. His badge says “expert”…
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- How many victories for Team Deceuninck-Quickstep is that already?
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- Hot days = ice packs for the riders.
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- Nibali is yet to impact the race in a meaningful way.
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- Nibali, nicknamed the “Shark of Messina”
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- Nairo Quintana’s yellow jersey dreams faded on the slopes of the Tourmalet on Saturday. The two-time overall runner-up was dropped from the GC group well before the summit finish of stage 14 of the Tour de France, unable to stay with a hard tempo set by his own Movistar team.
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- Groupama-FDJ joined Jumbo-Visma and Movistar on the slopes of the Tourmalet in setting a high tempo. Several big names were dropped before the finale, including Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), Dan Martin (UAE-Team Emirates), and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), with Thomas and Rigoberto Urán losing touch late on the climb.
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- Rigoberto Urán losing touch late on the climb.
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- Race leaders coming up the Tourmalet.
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- Richie Porte lost 2:05 on the stage and is now 6:49 down on the general classification.
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- Enric Mas fighting his way up the Tourmalet. Photo: ©kramon
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- Lilian Calmejane (FRA/Total – Direct Energie) cheering with the crowd up the Tourmalet.
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- Defending Tour champion Geraint Thomas (GBR/Ineos) was dropped late in the climb and lost 30 seconds to Alaphilippe putting him over two minutes down on GC. But it’s still a long way to Paris.
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- Lots of people on top of the Tourmalet.
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- Pinot on his way to winning on the Col du Tourmalet on stage 14.
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- Pinot held on take the stage victory six seconds ahead of Alaphilippe, with Kruijswijk in third.
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- Stage winner Thibaut Pinot .
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- Pinot winning on the Tourmalet on stage 14.
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- Bora-Hansgrohe’s Emanuel Buchmann crossed the line in fourth on the same time as fifth-placed Egan Bernal, whose Ineos teammate Thomas was 36 seconds down on the day.
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- Geraint Thomas finishing 36 seconds back.
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- Current world champion Alejandro Valverde finished 58 seconds behind the winner and dropped Nairo Quintanna while he was at it. “Nairo was not at his best, but we didn’t know. He didn’t say anything,” Valverde said after the race.
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- Yellow jersey Julian Alaphilippe congratulates fellow countryman Thibaut Pinot.
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- The groupetto led by most of the AG2R La Mondiale team.
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- Steven Kruijswijk gave it his all for a remarkable ride and sits 2:14 down on GC.
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- Sir Bradley Wiggins has been on the motorbike giving some insightful and humorous commentary.
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- The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and Eddy Merckx were present as guests.
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- Yellow Jersey Julian Alaphilippe congratulated on podium by Macron.
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