Tour de France: Soren Kragh Andersen wins stage 14

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Søren Kragh Andersen capped another collective effort from Sunweb to win stage 14 of the Tour de France into Lyon. The Dane attacked with just over 3km remaining to win his team’s second stage of the race, with Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) taking second and Simone Consoni (Cofidis) finishing third.

Peter Sagan (Bora-hansroghe) finished fourth to reignite his challenge for the green jersey as Primož Roglič (Jumbo Visma) retained his lead in the yellow jersey.

Sunweb started their assault on the penultimate climb with Tiesj Benoot attacking first and creating a small but effective gap on an already reduced peloton. The Belgian was brought back on the descent with Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) going clear on the final climb of the Côte de la Croix-Rousse. 

Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quickstep) also went clear with just over 5km to but when they were caught Sunweb fired off previous stage winner Marc Hirschi with 3.8km to go. With so many team leaders isolated the likes of Greg Van Avermaet and Sagan were forced to cover moves and when the three-time world champion neutralized one attack and the pace briefly slowed Kragh Andersen executed a perfectly timed attack with just over 3km to go.

The Dane quickly built up a winning margin in the technical run-in and not for the first time in this year’s race Sunweb demonstrated their ability to translate numbers into win.

"I have no words, I feel emotional. I dreamed about this but it’s hard to say that you’re good enough before you’ve done it, but I’m just amazed and full of emotions," the Dane said at the finish.

"I had really good legs the whole day but you never know how good the other guys are. My legs felt good the whole day and when the moment came… it took a long time in the Tour for me to have confidence in myself, but I knew that if I was suffering then they were also suffering. I just went for it then.

"Of course, it gives the whole team motivation [from Marc Hirschi's win] and we believe in ourselves. When you see this young guy doing these amazing things, I’m also inspired and I believe a bit more in myself.

How it unfolded

On a day that should have seen a break decide the finish of stage 14 of the Tour de France, the undercurrent within this race to decide the green jersey took centre stage as Peter Sagan’s team once more put up a resolute fight in what many believe had become an unwinnable battle. 

There was a break of sorts, with Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) eventually pushing clear and building up a near six-minute lead but with Bora defiantly sticking with their talismanic leader in his quest for another green jersey there was little chance in the bunch enjoying a relative rest day.

The terrain was perfect for Sagan, to be fair, who put yesterday’s breakaway hero Max Schachmann on the front over the fourth cat climb of the Côte du château d'Aulteribe, and while Sam Bennett gamely hung on in green for as long as possible he was forced to relent before the summit and let the Bora duo go. Sagan duly took 15 points at the intermediate sprint that came just after the descent but with Bennett taking 10 points a few minutes later, it was clear that Sagan’s possible comeback in the competition would be arduous. For all that effort, he only drew back five points on Bennett’s substantial lead. 

Yet the three-time world champion wouldn’t give up. On the second category Col du Béal he once more called on Bora – a team that came into this race with a fierce GC contingent – to move to the front and lift the pace. It felt like a GC race as the Bora train lined out the bunch with Jumbo Visma and Ineos Grenadiers in their coattails. Up head, Kung and Theuns saw their advantage with the FDJ ride eventually pushing clear before the summit with his lead shredded to around three minutes and Theuns soon caught.

Bora’s pace-setting cut Bennett adrift just before the summit but with the Côte de Courreau just around the corner 30 seconds quickly expanded to almost two minutes as his Belgian team failed to stem the tide.

On the long descent, Bora were joined by CCC and their help eventually lead to Bennett sitting up, while Kung was caught with 80km remaining.

Race reset

With Bennett dispatched and not coming back the race began to settle into a more regular rhythm. CCC and Bora remained at the front of the peloton as the race entered the final 40km. Jumbo Visma, Trek-Segafredo and Ineos moved up just ahead of the two final fourth category climbs before Roglič’s squad took complete control through Tony Martin, Wout Van Aert and Robert Gesink in the lead into the Côte de la Duchère as the road narrowed. 

Ineos made a play just as the road kicked up with Luke Rowe bringing Bernal close to the front but the GC contenders were always going to fight for space with the stage hunters. 

Tiesj Benoot (Sunweb) created a gap on the lower slopes and created a gap with 11km to go. Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) made a move but the peloton was back together with 7..4km to go.

Richie Porte survived a late scare and was forced to take Kenny Ellisonde’s bike after a mechanical just before the final attacks on the Côte de la Croix-Rousse.