Tour de France gallery: Sunweb’s aggression pays off again on stage 14
Sunweb has ridden a great Tour de France. Marc Hirschi has attacked relentlessly on debut, taking three podium finishes including a win. The team’s ridden fantastic lead-outs for sprinter Cees Bol. And now, as of stage 14, the team has a second aggressive stage win.
The final kilometres were a masterclass in how to counterattack. Tiesj Benoot went first. When he was caught Hirschi went. When Hirschi was caught Soren Kragh Andersen tried his hand. With a monster attack at 3.2 km to go the Dane got a gap and benefited from a lack of cohesion in the chase group behind. He went on to win the stage by 15 seconds, holding off a bunch of sprinters in the process.
Here’s how our photographers saw stage 14 of the Tour de France, Sunweb’s second stage victory of the race.
- Stefan Kung had the company of Edward Theuns for a while but eventually the Swiss was leading the race solo.
- Early climbs saw green jersey leader Sam Bennett distanced. Despite a concerned chase from his team, the Bora-Hansgrohe-led peloton was able to push further ahead, giving Peter Sagan a chance to snare more points for green.
- Caleb Ewan finished nearly 29 minutes down having been split off early too.
- There were two short climbs in the final 15 km. Benoot got away on the first of those climbs but was caught before the second.
- Thomas De Gendt tried his luck on the final climb …
- … as did Julian Alaphilippe with Egan Bernal in tow.
- At least they’re wearing masks?
- Fans try to catch a glimpse of the finish.
- Kragh Andersen made his move with a little over 3 km to race.
- No one in the reduced group behind seemed willing to commit to the chase …
- …which allowed Kragh Andersen to extend his lead …
- … and take his first Grand Tour stage win.
- Luka Mezgec led the chase group home for Mitchelton-Scott.
- A team plan executed perfectly.
- Bennett rolled in roughly 20 minutes down on the stage but will hold onto green.
- Stefan Kung collected the combativity prize for his solo break.
- Another day in yellow for Primoz Roglic.