Key events
150km to go: Simon Yates, like his brother Adam yesterday, if far earlier in the race, is trying to bridge to the break. The peloton is 1’ 30” behind Simon Yates and his fellow chasers. Ben Healy is alongside him, and full of attack.
155km to go: This is the break that enters Marignac and has a first-category climb up 10km or so to the Col du Mente ahead that will almost instantly split the pack. And does so. Rui Costa is one of those to blow out early. As is Girmay, who will be back in the grupetto before too long.
Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers). Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Nans Peters (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Nico Denz, Jai Hindley and Bob Jungels (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Rui Costa (EF Education-EasyPost), Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech)
Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Enric Mas, Alex Aranburu, Davide Formolo and Gregor Mulhberger (Movistar), Louis Meintjes and Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty), Magnus Cort and Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) Mathieu Burgaudeau and Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies)
Girmay in green takes 20 sprint points
160km to go: Meintjes leads Girmay to the sprint, and Michael Matthews has a dig, then pulls back to say Girmay cut him up but he was nowhere near catching him. There’s some cross words exchanged.
165km to go: The gap is a minute to the yellow jersey group. No Philipsen. Girmay could end up closing off the green jersey by winning the imminent sprint.
Should say, of the new breed, a fan of Orla in the studio and Adam Blythe, good Sheffield accent plus all over the detail. Peter Kennaugh is good on that, too. Need more Chris Boardman, too.
170km to go: Into Luchon, they go, and something of a breakaway is formed. Girmay is in there ahead of that sprint.
Gary Naylor gets in touch: “Who are your preferred voices behind the mics? I find Ned Boulting a little too keen to sell the drama when the pictures speak for themselves, but I still go with ITV because David Millar knows his stuff and has a beautiful voice. Also, Gary Imlach is unimprovable, the best sports anchor for a decade or more. On Eurosport, they also suffer from speaking too much, but the revolving cast never find the chemistry the best teams need when there are hours to fill – not sure how you fit Robbie McEwan and Sean Kelly into the same studio.”
I go as far back as Richard Keys being the main man, but Gary Imlach is the pro’s pro. Like Ned a lot – a gent – and David Millar is great, as you say. As I have a Discovery sub I tend to watch Eurosport, and while I lament David Duffield – and used to think David Harmon was good – I don’t mind a Carlton Kirbygasm, and Rob Hatch is Mr Dependable. Jonathan Harris-Bass is a former colleague, a very droll man. Always good to hear him and his recipes. I should save a word for Richard Moore, so sadly missed, who brought us the excellent Cycling Podcast, with Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie. As for Sean Kelly, I love his verbal tics – “the general classement” and “the Tour of France”. And you can’t argue with him as a cyclist. That golden era is still the one I go back to.
180km to go: Next comes a descent. There’s a grupetto already formed, Cavendish included. Bardet, Lazkano and Gaudu are the breakaway trio. There’s a sprint at the bottom that should interest Girmay. Here’s the polka points just won, and what comes ahead. The gap to the yellow jersey group is just 10 seconds.
⛰️ Les ascensions du jour :
1️⃣ Col de Peyresourde, 10 pts
1️⃣ Col de Menté, 10 pts
1️⃣ Col de Portet-d’Aspet, 10 pts
1️⃣ Col d’Agnes, 10 pts
🅷🅲 Plateau de Beille, 20 pts
＝ 𝟲𝟬 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 à prendre ⚪️🔴Il s’agit du total le plus élevé du #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/Hku4nhV6wB
— Maillot à Pois E.Leclerc (@maillotapois) July 14, 2024
David Gaudu takes 1o mountain points
191km to go: It’s an eight percent climb, with Jakob Fuglsang, the veteran, to the fore, with Team Ineos’s Lauren Le Plus. Geraint Thomas is dropping off the front. Healy, Saturday’s hero, is looking strong again. Wout Poels, the former super domestique, is off the back, too Abrahamsen, who wore the polka dot jersey for two weeks, is being spat off the back. Biniam Garmay looks far stronger. Simon Yates leads an attack down the left-hand side of the road, Bardet goes up to the front in chase of polka points. Lazkano and Gaudu – from Saturday’s escape – go clear. Gaudu is the stronger, and takes the points at the peak.
195km to go: Neilson Powless is the first to make a move up the type of climb your car would be in second gear and screaming. Arnaud DeMare and Mark Cavendish are among the sprinters already spat out the back. Romain Bardet is up the front, so is Ben Healy, and so is Jai Hindley. Adam Yates is keeping watch at the front of the yellow jersey group.
Away they go up the Col de Peyresourde!
What a brutal climb to start the day. Not much fun for those who barely made the time limit on Saturday – that includes Mark Cavendish. Monsieur Prudhome waves them away up the hill, and it’s French riders to the fore on this 7km climb.
More on Dorito-gate
The Professional Cyclists’ Association (CPA) said it will take legal action against a spectator who threw potato chips at UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogacar and Visma-Lease A Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard during the Tour de France stage 14.
Charging solo up the last stretch of Pla d’Adet, Pogacar had to dodge a fan who leaped out to hurl a bag of chips at the Slovenian race leader.
The spectator did the same thing to Denmark’s Vingegaard, who came through moments later.
“The CPA will take legal action against this guy with pleasure due to what he did to both Pogacar and Vingegaard,” CPA President Adam Hansen wrote in a post on X on Saturday. “This is disrespectful and will not be tolerated.”
Vingegaard finished 39 seconds behind Pogacar, while Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel, who was second in the general classification before stage 14, finished 70 seconds behind, meaning he slips to third overall behind the Dane.
“There was quite a bit of booing and someone was throwing chips, I heard also they threw the chips at Tadej and that’s strange to do,” Vingegaard said after the stage. “Just stay off the road. I don’t understand why you go to a bike race and boo at people.” Reuters
😡 In a world where you can be anything, don’t be this stupid guy.
😡 Dans un monde où vous pouvez être qui vous voulez, ne soyez pas cet idiot. pic.twitter.com/oLTkNsXlNK
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 13, 2024
Today’s stage is steep. Look at that start. Loudenville is being traversed for the depart fictif.
Evenepoel seems to be looking backwards towards Carlos Rodriguez of Team Ineos. He still has the time trial to come, too.
“The podium could have been decided today”
Remco Evenepoel says he was disappointed that Jonas Vingegaard didn’t ride with him and Tadej Pogačar, but that he understands why he didn’t 🤍🇧🇪#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/mmDoZdQIQn
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 7, 2024
News on the Dorito chucker.
The spectator who threw a packet of chips at Tadej Pogacar yesterday was taken into police custody for aggravated violence according to Le Parisien. He will be interviewed by the gendarmes today after a night in the sobering up cell.
Le spectateur qui a jeté hier un paquet de chips sur Tadej Pogacar a été placé en garde à vue pour violences aggravées selon le Parisien. Il sera entendu par les gendarmes aujourd’hui après une nuit en cellule de dégrisement. #TDF2024https://t.co/WKTUBGaaSb
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) July 14, 2024
General classification at start of stage 15
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1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 56:42:39
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2. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Team Visma – Lease a Bike +1:57
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3. Remco Evenepoel (BEL) Soudal – Quick-Step +2:22
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4. João Almeida (POR) UAE Team Emirates +6:01
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5. Carlos Rodríguez (ESP) INEOS Grenadiers +6:09
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6. Mikel Landa (ESP) Soudal – Quick-Step +7:17
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7. Adam Yates (GBR) UAE Team Emirates +8:32
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8. Giulio Ciccone (ITA) Lidl – Trek +9:09
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9. Derek Gee (CAN) Israel – Premier Tech +9:33
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10. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Team Visma – Lease a Bike +10:35
Jeremy Whittle reported from Saturday’s summit finish.
Pogacar admitted after the stage that he was indebted to his British teammate Adam Yates, whose lone attack, seven kilometres from the finish, paved the way for the Slovenian’s explosive effort.
“It was a little bit of improvisation,” Yates said after the stage. “I was ready to do the pace, as usual, and Tadej told me to attack. I was like, ‘What?!’”
Yates revealed that Pogacar’s tactics are sometimes even a mystery to his teammates. “With Tadej, I’ve got no idea sometimes. This morning, he said: ‘You can win if you go full gas.’ You never know.”
The Netflix cameras will have garnered plenty of material from Saturday. More of the same.
Over the years, the great double acts have all made a deep mark on cycling’s consciousness. French bike racing has never got over Poulidor and Anquetil, whose rivalry reached its zenith 60 years and two days ago. The Italy of the 1940s and 50s was bitterly divided between the tifosi of Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. A single Tour de France, 1986, created a narrative of conflict between Hinault and Greg LeMond which remains a bone of contention to this day. In Belgium, the cold war between Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck lasted for most of the early 1970s, centred on the great one-day Classics. This year, the sport is embracing what has the makings of the finest soap opera of them all: Pogacar and Vingegaard.
William Fotheringham’s stage 15 guide
More Pyrenean nastiness; anyone who is struggling will dread the start straight up the Col de Peyresourde. Three early first category climbs soften the legs, the Col d’Agnès will create an initial selection before a climax up the 15km “Plateau of the Bees”. It’s Bastille Day, so the French climbers will be buzzing: a final flourish for Romain Bardet or Warren Barguil, perhaps, or a breakthrough for Romain Grégoire or Lenny Martinez. More likely, a foreigner will win.
Preamble
Following the shock and awe of Tadej Pogacar on Stage 14, what about the follow-up? Jonas Vingegaard didn’t quite crack but he lost 43 seconds to a rider going up the final climb in record time. More of the same today? Perhaps so. The climbs are steeper which may better favour Vingegaard’s staying power. But expect more wildcat attacks if Team UAE are feeling up to it. And a few Frenchmen breaking for the border and a stage win on this Bastille day of all days.