Tour de France: Pinot wins stage 14 atop Tourmalet

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) won stage 14 of the Tour de France atop the Col du Tourmalet, outsprinting a select GC group in the closing metres of the mythical climb to take his third career stage win at the race.

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) took second, six seconds back, to defend his yellow jersey and extend his lead over Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos), who cracked in the final kilometre, finishing 36 seconds down. Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) rounded out the podium just behind Alaphilippe.

It was a day of staggered GC surprises in the Pyrenees, as contenders dropped back throughout the day, starting with Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) on the Col du Soulour. Bardet would never return to the front, eventually losing 20 minutes.

Later, the lower slopes of the Tourmalet saw Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) drop, along with Yates once again, while further up Rigoberto Urán (EF Education First), Enric Mas (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) also shed time.

Just six men remained in the lead group heading onto the steepest slopes at the top of the Tourmalet, with the group thinned down first by the work of David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and then the Jumbo-Visma pair of Laurens De Plus and George Bennett. It was Pinot who benefitted, striking out in the final 500 metres and sealing victory with an unanswerable attack.

"When you’re a climber all wins at the Tour de France are beautiful, but to win on a monument like this, that’s what I love" Pinot said after the stage. "We were motivated. It was extraordinary [what Gaudu did] – that was the future. In a few years it will be him. I was angry. We will continue to fight. The Tour isn’t finished yet."

Alaphilippe now astoundingly leads by an increased 34 seconds from Thomas, who lies 2:02 down in the GC. Kruijwsijk is third, at 2:14. Both Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) extended their points and mountain classification leads after making the early break. Meanwhile, Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) retakes the white jersey after Mas finished 2:46 down on the Colombian.

How it unfolded

Stage 14 would see the first major high-mountain test of the Tour de France, as the peloton took on a 117.5km stage from Tarbes to the mythical Col du Tourmalet, the first of seven mountains that top 2000 metres in this Tour.

Before that came the fourth-category Côte de Labatmale (1.4km at 6.7 per cent), 18km into the day, and the first-category Col du Soulour (11.9km at 7.8 per cent), which topped out after 60.5km. The Tourmalet was the first HC climb of the Tour, averaging 7.4 per cent for its 18.9km.

The 'real' start to the stage was delayed after protests early on the route, meaning the neutralised section was extended for reasons of rider safety. As a result, the flag was dropped 109km from the top of the Tourmalet.

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Peter Sagan were the first attackers of the day, big names fit for a big stage. Nibali led over the Labatmale to pick up a solitary KOM point, but the pair were soon joined by 15 chasers, making it a 17-strong breakaway group.

Wellens, resplendent in his polka dot jersey, was there, hunting for more points. Other riders to make the catch were Nibali's teammate Matej Mohorič, plus Luis León Sánchez (Astana), Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates), Ilnur Zakarin, Marco Haller (both Katusha-Alpecin), Carlos Verona (Movistar), Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R La Mondiale), Matthieu Ladagnous (Groupama-FDJ), Lennard Kämna (Team Sunweb), Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Élie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic) and the Total Direct Énergie trio of Lilian Calmejane, Romain Sicard and Rein Taaramäe.

It was Groupama-FDJ who controlled the peloton behind, with team leader Pinot, one of the strongest climbers in the race, riding high after a strong time trial on stage 13. The French team didn't give much leeway to the break, holding the gap to a maximum of three minutes early in the stage.

Midway up the Col du Soulour, Luke Rowe (Team Ineos) and then Andrey Amador and Marc Soler (both Movistar) upped the pace in the peloton, thinning the group down 60km from the finish. Up front, the break split as the strongest climbers pushed on.

Bardet was the first big name dropped from the peloton, 4km from the top of the Soulour. Moments later, Adam Yates joined him, a couple of surprising events so early in the stage.

Two kilometres from the top of the climb, Wellens and Nibali attacked the reduced break, with only Gesbert able to follow until he too dropped at the top of the climb, with Wellens taking maximum mountain classification points over the top.

The peloton swelled in the valley as riders from the break dropped back and Yates caught back on. Up front, Gesbert made it three at the head of the race, while at the intermediate sprint, Sagan took ninth behind the two breakaway groups to add seven points to his green jersey lead.

With 30km to race, the lead groups merged, but with the peloton just 40 seconds down many of the riders were soon caught. Sicard pushed on alone to hit the Tourmalet first, though Gesbert, who was also fighting on, quickly caught and passed him on the lower slopes.

Despite rejoining the leaders, Adam Yates dropped once again 14km from the summit, while Dan Martin followed soon after as Movistar continued their work. Gesbert's adventure came to an end 10.5km out, leaving the rest of the climb for the GC battle.

As Gesbert was caught, Quintana provided the main surprise of the day so far, dropping out the rear of the lead group while his team was bizarrely still working on the front. Movistar quickly stopped, with Soler dropping back to help the Colombian, but the damage was done. French champion Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) was the first big name to attack soon after.

22-year-old David Gaudu upped the pace with Pinot on his wheel with 8km to go, catching Barguil 5.5km out, and piling on the pressure in the group. Further back, Quintana haemorrhaged time, while moments later Porte and Mas were next big names to fall away.

Gaudu' phenomenal work – including a tester attack – dropped Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Barguil 4km out, before Laurens De Plus and George Bennett took over for Jumbo-Visma. Astana leader Fuglsang was next to pop, 1.5km out, but it was a few hundred metres later that the real bomb was dropped.

Having hung near the back of the group for some time, reigning champion Thomas cracked heading under the flamme rouge as Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) powered on. After a short impasse in the closing kilometre, Pinot took it up, leading the way in the closing 500 metres. Nobody could get near the Frenchman on the steep run to the line, and it was he who took the honours atop the Tour's most-used climb.

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