Carlos Rodriguez won the Tour de France’s 14th stage while Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard dueled with one Pogacar attack stymied by motorbikes in the way.
Rodriguez prevailed by five seconds over Pogacar, the 2020 and 2021 Tour winner, and Vingegaard, the 2022 Tour winner. Vingegaard increased his overall lead over Pogacar from nine seconds to 10 seconds due to time bonuses on the day.
Vingegaard and Pogacar went over the fifth and final climb alone — a beyond-category ascent — and were caught by Rodriguez on the seven-mile descent.
Spain’s Rodriguez moved from fourth place to third place, moving one second ahead of Australian Jai Hindley, who was dropped on the last climb.
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Pogacar and Vingegaard dropped all of the other contenders on the last climb.
Then Pogacar attacked Vingegaard with 9.7 miles left on the stage and 2.2 miles left to the summit. Vingegaard fell a few seconds behind but clawed back, then Pogacar attacked again with about 500 meters to the summit but had to slow down because two Tour-accredited motorbikes were in the way.
“It was one wasted bullet after already such big climbs to do one sprint for nothing,” Pogacar told ITV. “It’s a bit of a shame, but I don’t think it’s going to change the final outcome.”
Shortly after, Vingegaard sprinted to the top to get a three-second time bonus edge on Pogacar. Pogacar outsprinted Vingegaard to the stage finish to get another two seconds back.
“We saw a lot today. We learned a lot today,” Pogacar said, saying he has three or four stages ahead where he can gain time back. “Now we go ahead with a positive mind into the next stages.”
The stage was delayed about 30 minutes after an early 13-rider crash.
The Tour continues Sunday with stage 15, the last of three consecutive mountain stages and the last summit finish of the Tour, which ends in Paris on July 23.
“Today was a good day. I’m still in the yellow jersey, and I’m enjoying every day I have in it,” Vingegaard said. “It’ll be an exciting fight all the way to Paris.”
