January 1 - July 28, Tarbes, France, Road - WorldTour
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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 14 of the Tour de France. Today's stage is the first major Pyrenean test, running from Tarbes to the Col du Tourmalet.
We're half an hour away from the start of the stage now, with a 15-minute neutralised section to follow before the real racing starts.
Of course, the main theme of today is the same as yesterday – Team Ineos, more specifically Geraint Thomas vs race leader Julian Alaphilippe.
Alaphilippe has, of course, never been in this position before, and his best performance on the WorldTour stage featuring a 2000+ metre climb was... 47th on stage 17 to Saint-Lary-Soulan last year, 14 minutes down.
But before yesterday, Alaphilippe had never come close to winning mid-Grand Tour time trial, so we're in unknown territory here.
Before all that though, there'll be the fight for the break in the opening kilometres. Stage hunters and KOM points hunters alike will be battling to get away from the peloton as they exit Tarbes.
There's one KOM point on offer early on, the 1.4km, 6.5 per cent Côte de Lambatmale. That comes 16.5km into the stage.
After 60.5km, the riders will crest the Col du Soulour, 11.9km long at 7.7 per cent. The small roads through the forests and then open fields turn into a wider road on the fast descent to the valley, which eventually leads the riders to the base of the Tourmalet.
The Tourmalet is 19km long with a 7.4 per cent average gradient, with the final three kilometres the steepest. As well as the stage victory and time gains, the Souvenir Jacques Goddet is awarded at the top – a cash prize for the first rider up the Tourmalet, named after the second Tour director.
The Tourmalet (2115m) is the first of three stage finishes above 2000 metres during this Tour. Tignes (2119m) on stage 19 and Val Thorens (2363m) on stage 20 are the other two.
Other climbs above 2000 metres during this final week are: the Col de Vars (2104m), Col d'Izoard (2354m) and Col du Galibier (2622m), which all come on stage 18, and the Col d'Iseran (2751m) on stage 19.
The riders are just about to set off in Tarbes.
And off they go. They're in the neutralised section now.
Interviewed at the start about yesterday's time trial, Adam Yates said "it is what it is" three times and "today's another day" twice. Not giving much away, then.
The real depart has been delayed a little. The riders are still in the neutralised section now.
Another four kilometres have been added to the neutralised section, thanks to some sort of protest further down the road.
After yesterday's time trial, Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and obviously Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) have left the race. Both men crashed on the same corner, and Schachmann has suffered a broken hand.
There are no other non-starters today.
105km remaining from 117km
Sorry about the delay in updates. We've been having a few technical gremlins.
The race has started, shortened to 109km after the elongated neturalised section. Peter Sagan and Vincenzo Nibali are among the early attackers!
Sagan and Nibali now have 40 seconds on the peloton. Is this really going to be the main break of the day??
KOM leader Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and AG2R's Alexis Vuillermoz are chasing the old Liquigas pals Sagan and Nibali.
99km remaining from 117km
More riders are on the attack now. Nibali leaves Sagan behind on the first climb of the day to take a solitary KOM point.
15 riders are chasing the lead duo.
The groups have come together up front. We'll get a full list of riders shortly.
The break is two minutes up on the peloton now.
93km remaining from 117km
Here you go...
Vincenzo Nibali, Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Merida)
Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale)
Matthieu Ladagnous (Groupama-FDJ)
Carlos Verona (Movistar)
Luis León Sánchez (Astana)
Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates)
Lennard Kämna (Team Sunweb)
Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal)
Lilian Calmejane, Romain Sicard, Rein Taaramäe (Total Direct Énergie)
Ilnur Zakarin and Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin)
Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert)
Élie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic)
Simon Geschke (CCC Team) and Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis) are trying to chase on.
Guillaume Martin is the best-placed man on GC from the break. He's in 25th, just over nine minutes down.
Here's our latest news from the Tour – Dan Martin on his time trial effort yesterday.
Sagan will hope to hold on as best he can on the Soulour, and catch back on the descent to take the intermediate sprint in the valley.
Wellens is on the lookout for more mountain points, certainly on the Soulour, but maybe not on the Tourmalet with GC riders probably looking to compete for the stage win.
Nibali, Sánchez, Zakarin, Henao, Verona, Vuillermoz, Total and Martin will all be hoping for a stage win.
Ladagnous and Verona can possibly provide help to their GC men later on.
69km remaining from 117km
Taaramäe has a puncture, changes bike, and fights back to the break.
68km remaining from 117km
The break hit the Col du Soulour now.
66km remaining from 117km
The pace is telling in the peloton as sprinters drop off the back. Trentin, Viviani, Kristoff, Richeze are among the men out the back on the Soulour.
64km remaining from 117km
2:15 for the break now. They're 8.5km from the top of the climb.
Luke Rowe (Ineos) and Kasper Asgreen (Deceunick-QuickStep) are up at the front of the peloton with FDJ.
Haller and Taaramäe have been dropped from the break on the climb.
Sagan is comfortable in the group.
62km remaining from 117km
Movistar move to the front of the peloton. The pace is up. Does this mean race on, 62km out?
Marc Soler and Andrey Amador are the two men up front for Movistar.
Ladagnous and Henao also dropped from the break.
The break has split, 5km from the top of the Soulour. Zakarin, Wellens, Verona, Nibali, Sánchez and Kämna are up front.
61km remaining from 117km
There are maybe 40 riders left in the peloton now.
Numerous riders are out the back of the peloton, scattered all over the road.
60km remaining from 117km
Romain Bardet is dropped! Wow. He wasn't going well but this is quite unexpected, four kilometres from the top of the Soulour.
Here's our expert analysis on the race as it stands after the Pau time trial.
Calmejane and Sicard have made it back to the lead break group.
Adam Yates is suffering too! He's dropped three kilometres from the top.
This is brutal stuff already.
59km remaining from 117km
Henao is brought back by the peloton. A bit of a surprise given that he's a good climber.
Wellens and Nibali attack the break.
The front of the race is totally blown apart now. Nibali and Wellens lead, while Zakarin is among the lead chasers.
Bardet is well down now, as Brad Wiggins flies past him on the Eurosport moto.
57km remaining from 117km
Zakarin and Kämna chase Wellens, Nibali and Gesbert.
Zakarin is 12 seconds down and closing. The remainder of the break is scattered down the mountain. Sagan is 45 seconds down on the leaders.
The peloton is 1:30 back, while Bardet is a further 1:45 down.
Fabio Aru drops from the peloton.
56km remaining from 117km
Zakarin can't make it across. Wellens and Nibali drop Gesbert in the final kilometre of the Soulour as the Belgian takes the points over the top.
Zakarin is 30 seconds down.
So it's Nibali vs Zakarin on the descent. If he couldn't make it back on the climb, I can't imagine the descent is going to go much better for the Russian.
Mas and Mollema were among the riders at the rear of the peloton near the top, just hanging on.
Bardet is two minutes down on the Movistar-led peloton now. No check on Yates at the moment.
Bardet has three teamates with him in a pretty large group as they crest the top of the climb.
Points on the Soulour...
Wellens – 10
Nibali – 8
Gesbert – 6
Zakarin – 4
Sicard – 2
Verona – 1
Here's the latest edition of the Cyclingnews Podcast. There's discussion of Julian Alaphilippe's TT win and of Rohan Dennis' future after his bizarre withdrawal from the Tour, plus we hear from Geraint Thomas and more.
The peloton have caught much of the break now, including Sagan. Still, an opportunity for the Slovak to snag some points at the intermediate sprint – he wouldn't have been in the peloton at this point if he didn't get in the break earlier.
Up front, Gesbert is with Nibali and Wellens.
Movistar still lead the peloton, 1:20 down on the leaders. Bardet is now 4:20 back.
40km remaining from 117km
Adam Yates is almost back with the peloton now, though if he was in trouble on the Soulour, it'll be even tougher for him on the Tourmalet.
Here's a shot of Wellens in the break from a little earlier on.
35km remaining from 117km
More riders are chasing back on in the valley. The Yates group is just about back, as is Jonathan Castroviejo (Team Ineos).
Sicard, Calmejane and Sanchez are with Zakarin in the chase now. They're 15 seconds down on the leaders, while the peloton lies 50 seconds back.
32km remaining from 117km
Kämna is in the Zakarin group too. The leaders are approaching the intermediate sprint.
Wellens leads the first group over the sprint ahead of Gesbert and Nibali. The Zakarin group follows a few seconds behind.
40 seconds back, Sagan takes ninth and seven extra points for his green jersey tally.
30km from the finish for the leaders now. So 11km from the base of the Tourmalet.
Egan Bernal spoke before the race today, saying he suffered a lot in the time trial yesterday, and that he wouldn't get carried away in the mountains today.
"Today is a special stage for us, Colombians, because it’s our national day, but we can’t let ourselves carried away by our emotions. This is the Tour de France, a very long race in which the 21 days count. We are in a good situation and we have to race smartly."
The lead groups have merged.
Bardet's group, pretty much an autobus at this point, passes through the sprint point.
27km remaining from 117km
Sicard has attacked the break.
Jonathan Castroviejo was catching back to the peloton not long ago, and here you can view him – as well as the other national TT champions – in action in Pau yesterday.
A bit of a futile move from Sicard, but Total may as well try something, seeing as they have two men in the lead group.
23km remaining from 117km
Nibali, Wellens and Kämna are caught by the peloton.
We haven't seen Gesbert, Sánchez, Zakarin and Calmejane getting caught, but it looks like it's just Sicard out front now.
21km remaining from 117km
The gap has gone out a bit now. Sicard has 1:20 on the peloton.
19km remaining from 117km
Gesbert and Calmejane are still in between Sicard and the peloton.
Sicard hits the base of the Tourmalet!
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) holds the Strava record on the Tourmalet from Sainte-Marie-de-Campin. Will anyone beat his time of 50:35? The biggest question of the day, for sure.
17km remaining from 117km
Nibali, Sagan, Wellens, Zakarin are dropped from the peloton. They've already done what they could today.
Gesbert attacks Calmejane.
16km remaining from 117km
Gesbert is closing in on Sicard, though their time out front is certainly limited. The peloton trails by a minute.
Movistar are still working at the front of the peloton.
Gesbert pushes on alone, dropping Sicard.
Lutsenko and Sánchez drop the from the peloton. Fuglsang loses a few helpers.
Maybe 30 riders remain in the peloton.
50 seconds between the peloton and Gesbert.
14km remaining from 117km
Yates is dropped from the peloton again.
Jack Haig and Simon Yates are with him, along with Patrick Konrad, who had a mechanical.
Gesbert remains 35 seconds up on the peloton.
13km remaining from 117km
Martin is at the back of the peloton. He doesn't look great.
Martin is losing a few metres now.
Alaphilippe is up towards the front of the peloton, behind Movistar, Ineos and Jumbo.
Martin and Guillaume Martin are struggling at the rear of the group.
12km remaining from 117km
Swiss champion Reichenbach is also out the back.
Pello Bilbao is also dropped, while Castroviejo holds on.
Yates is a minute down on the peloton now. It looks like it's over for the Brit. Bardet was over four minutes down at last check – he's well out of the picture at this point.
If you're scrambling around for how to tune in to these final kilometres of stage 14, fear no more as we have everything you need to watch the Tour de France live.
Movistar still have four men on the front, plus Quintana. Amador, Valverde, Landa and Soler are up there.
Quintana is right at the back of the group though. Huh...
Amador's work is done. He drops back.
Gesbert is caught. It's all about the GC men now.
10km remaining from 117km
Kreuziger pops off the back. He's 19th overall, just over six minutes down. Aru joins him too.
And Quintana is in trouble!
Quintana is definitively dropped.
9km remaining from 117km
Barguil attacks!
Movistar stopped riding.
Barguil attacked right from the back of the group then. Surely a bit of wasted energy to make his way past them all.
8km remaining from 117km
Ineos are leading the peloton now.
12 seconds between Barguil and the peloton, while Quintana is another 13 back.
Yates is over two minutes down.
Marc Soler is back with Quintana.
Alaphilippe is at the rear of the GC group.
7km remaining from 117km
Gaudu launches at the front with Pinot on his wheel!
Fuglsang and Landa chase.
Alaphilippe, Mas and Kangert are at the rear of the group.
Mollema is dropped, along with Kangert.
19 seconds between the GC group and Barguil. Quintana is 55 seconds down on the Frenchman. Yates is 2:45 back, while Bardet is a mere ten minutes back.
6km remaining from 117km
The GC group, led by Gaudu and Pinot, are closing in on Barguil.
Alaphilippe is just behind Thomas in the peloton now. They're both pretty far back in the group though.
Barguil is brought back.
5km remaining from 117km
Porte has been dropped now. Enric Mas is struggling at the back of the group too.
Valverde and Poels are now at the rear of the group. Poels drops off.
5km remaining from 117km
It's Thomas then Alaphilippe and Valverde at the rear of the GC group now. Maybe around 10-15 men left.
Gaudu is still working at the front. A great job by the Frenchman so far.
4km remaining from 117km
Gaudu pushes on once again! There's daylight between him and the rest.
Valverde and Barguil drop.
Jumbo take it up on the front.
They catch Gaudu, his job is done.
Three left for Jumbo, two for Ineos in the front group.
3km remaining from 117km
Mas and Porte are 40 seconds down, Quintana is at 1:50, Yates 3:45.
Buchmann is also in the lead group. Forgot to add him to our situation bar on the right there.
3km remaining from 117km
Barguil makes it back to the group.
Jumbo are keeping it steady up front with De Plus, who drops off.
Ten men left now. Bennett takes it up.
2km remaining from 117km
Once Bennett pulls off, it'll be every man for himself.
Alaphilippe, Fuglsang and Barguil are at the back of the group.
2km remaining from 117km
2km to race now. Still it's Bennett on the front.
1km remaining from 117km
Barguil and Fuglsang are dropped!
Uran is dropped too.
Bennett is still leading this group. Thomas is at the back.
1km remaining from 117km
Buchmann takes it up!
Bernal and Pinot follow. Thomas is dropped!
Kruijswijk, Alapahilippe and Landa are up there.
0km remaining from 117km
Buchmann pushes on again. Pinot and Bernal quick to follow.
Uran passes Thomas. The Welshman has truly cracked.
Alaphilippe looks perfectly fine in this group. Unbelievable.
Pinot leads into the closing metres!
Bernal and Alaphilippe chase.
Pinot wins on the Tourmalet!
Alaphilippe beats Kruijswijk for second. Bernal, Buchmann and Landa follow.
Uran 30 seconds down. Thomas 36.
Almost a minute for Fuglsang and Valverde.
Porte loses two minutes.
Quintana finishes over three minutes down.
So Alaphilippe extends his general classification lead today. Obviously...
A good day for France today. Sicard, Gesbert and Barguil on the attack for much of the day. Gaudu working his socks off for Pinot, who won the stage, and Alaphilippe somehow extending his GC lead.
Stage result
1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 3:10:20 2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:06 3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:06 4 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:08 5 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos 0:00:08 6 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:14 7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First 0:00:30 8 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:36 9 Warren Barguil (Fra) Arkéa Samsic 0:00:38 10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:53
General Classification after stage 14
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 56:11:29 2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:02:02 3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:14 4 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos 0:03:00 5 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:12 6 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:12 7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First 0:04:24 8 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:05:22 9 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:27 10 Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:05:38
Here's a shot of Pinot celebrating his victory.
"The Tour isn't finished yet," said Pinot after the stage. "We will continue to fight."
He also hailed Gaudu, saying that his teammate was "the future".
Geraint Thomas after the finish...
"From the start I didn't feel great. I was hoping I'd come around a bit and obviously on the last climb it was just a matter of staying there as long as possible. I knew they'd kick at the end and I just tried to ride at my own pace and not go with them and die and lose more time."
Jumbo superdomestique Laurens De Plus was confident about his team going forward.
"It's crazy. Even if we don't have the yellow jersey, it's like we're living the yellow dream. It's crazy, this Tour de France for our team so far. We have so much confidence and with a leader like Steven Kruijswijk we know he never cracks. It's a wonderful Tour for us so far."
'I was really surprised Geraint Thomas cracked' says George Bennett, as team leader Steven Kruijswijk takes third on the stage, consolidating third overall
Ineos forced to pick up the pieces after their worst day in the mountains in years.
"I just didn’t feel quite on it from the start. I was quite weak. In the end, I knew I just had to pace it. I didn’t really attempt to follow when they kicked," says Thomas.
