Tour de France 2008: Stage 14
January 1 - July 27, Nîmes, France, Road - GT
Welcome to stage 14 of this year's Tour, a 194.5 kilometre run from N
Today's stage is more likely to see a large break go clear, due to that profile.
There are two intermediate sprints en route to the finish, at Saint R
These are:
The skies are blue and clear today, with air temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius. It's a beautiful day for a bike race. 158 riders lined out with no non-starters.
Twenty kilometres into the stage, the gap was 1'05".
41km remaining from 194km
The leaders recently fought it out for the first intermediate sprint. Devolder got it ahead of Frischkorn and Eisel.
With the peloton gradually closing in, Gutierrez, Bonnet, Tankink and Casar scooted away from the break. The others were caught.
Apologies, to clarify: some of those who were in the break have gone back to the bunch. Right now, Oroz, Quinziato, Riblon, Haussler, Lelay, Sprick and Voeckler persist, as well as the four leaders.
Gregor Brown spoke to two from the Barloworld team at the start, namely manager Claudio Corti and Robert Hunter.
Barloworld has announced that it will withdraw its sponsorship from the team as a result of what happened at the race. Moises Due
Oroz is an unusual classics man for an Euskaltel rider. Cyclingnews checked out Oroz to see what drives the man to do all the monuments in cycling.
At the 50 kilometre point, the leaders - Casar, Gutierrez, Bonnet and Tankink - had a 15 seconds lead over the seven chasers, and a further 15 seconds over the peloton.
Correction: the seven chasers were joined by another group, not the peloton. However the main bunch soon got up to them. At Cavaillon, 56 kilometres after the start, the front quartet were approximately 25 seconds clear.
70km remaining from 194km
Once those chasers were recaptured, the peloton sat up. Gutierrez, Bonnet, Tankink and Casar have pulled clear again, and are now 3'35 ahead.
Robert Hunter has been doing an online diary on his website, www.robbiehunter.net. He wasn't too happy earlier this week, and is likely to use even stronger words when he learns that the team sponsors are pulling out.
81km remaining from 194km
Current gap for the break: four minutes and ten seconds. They are in the feed zone.
The fans are getting more creative here in southern France. They have built a tractor out of straw bales.
As a reward for not checking out the country side, which is what the peloton currently doing, the gap has gone up to almost six minutes.
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
Pinarello chairman hints at 'doubling up' with Ineos Grenadiers and Q36.5 sponsorship in 2026
Fausto Pinarello confirms Tom Pidcock will return to Pinarello road bikes, and strongly hints at renewal with Ineos Grenadiers -
After season disrupted by heart surgery, Australian youngster Cameron Rogers narrowly misses out on Tour of Holland prologue win
20-year-old beaten by just 0.28 of a second by Ethan Hayter in The Hague -
'I hope to be a GC rider' – Ineos Grenadiers teenager gets WorldTour career going with breakaway ride into Tour of Guangxi KOM jersey
19-year-old Peter Øxenberg moves into the polka-dot jersey in China during just his third WorldTour race
-
Campagnolo's new Super Record 13 'Ultra' groupset is evidence that luxury needn't make sense
Italian brand's flagship groupset gets even more carbon and titanium -
Merger request between Lotto and Intermarché 'presented to UCI', reports say
After October 15 deadline met, now confirmation of merger due by October 18 -
Veneto Women: Silvia Persico captures inaugural edition with solo victory
UAE Team ADQ dominate with three riders in top five
-
'It was clear Movistar was the team to go to' – Cian Uijtdebroeks nears end of chapter with Visma at Tour of Guangxi after breaking contract to pursue Grand Tours on new team
Belgian looks to end time at Dutch squad with GC challenge in China, having re-found best form in recent races -
'Democratization of the sport on the African continent' – Expanding online training to provide opportunities for 1,000 rising cyclists
Team Africa Rising spearheads 'Virtual Performance Centres' as means of amplifying road cycling growth after Kigali Road World Championships -
Paul Magnier does it again at Tour of Guangxi, launching to a second sprint victory on stage 2
Pavel Bittner takes second place after Magnier jumps from his wheel to claim a clear cut win