Tour de France stage 14 Live - Mende uphill finish perfect for attacks

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 14 of the Tour de France.

In Saint-Etienne the sun is out and temperatures are high as riders sign-on before stage 14. 

As always, we'll have all the action from the stage. 

UAE Team Emirates is the latest team to sign-on, with Tadej Pogacar smiling and waving to the crowd. 

Will he try an attack on the final steep climb to the finish above Mende?  

Pogacar spoke briefly on the sign-on podium.

"It's not a climb to gain a lot of time but I'll give my best as always," he said, perhaps hiding his intentions. 

"The Pyrenees are the big target," he added.  

The riders are lining up at the start line. They will soon roll out. 

Now the jersey wearers take their place on the front row of the grid. 

Jonas Vingegaard is in yellow, Wout van Aert in green, Simon Geschke in polka-dot and Tadej Pogacar in the best young rider's white jersey. 

Stage 13 winner Mads Pedersen also has a place up front.

This is today's stage. 

C'est Parti. 

The riders are on their way. 

It is 25C at the start but expected to be much hotter along the route across central France.

There is a slight tailwind for much of the stage but the attacks will be the big driving force today. 

We're expecting  attacks to get into the break of the day.

The Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont comes after just 14.2km is an ideal place for the attacks to go clear. 

Indeed, the stage is up and down all day. There are only 8km of flat roads during the whole 192.5km stage.  

Everyone looks serious in the peloton. There's tension and determination about getting in the break.

It's interesting to see Caleb Ewan talking to the race judges after being fined for motor-pacing yesterday. He is giving his version of what happened.

Click below for the full story. 

Ewan, Alpecin-Deceuninck fined for drafting after Tour de France crash

2Km to the official start.

Here we go! 

The flag drops and the stage is underway. 

Attack! 

The first to surge away is by B&B Hotels but more are joining the move. 

The road descends for a moment and that adds speed to racing.

190km to go

There are a dozen or so riders in the attack but more are coming.

Bauke Mollema is there and typical of the riders expected to go on the attack today. 

There 18 riders in the attack and they have a 30-second gap already. 

Is this the move of the day? 

185km to go

The riders are still in the suburbs of Saint-Etienne but the Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont come very soon. 

This is the stage profile.

The Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont is 7.7km long at 3.9%. Perfect to make your rivals hurt and get away from the peloton.  

The peloton is chasing, with Jumbo on the front to keep the pace high. 

Why?  

Well, Tadej Pogacar is on the move. 

He is in a group of counter attackers, forcing Jumbo to work early in the stage. 

Dani Martinez attacks ands crosses to the attack. 

Van Aert is with Vingegaard after they chased Pogacar.

The group is reforming but Pogacar goes again! 

Pogacar attacks for a 3rd time!!

Pogacar has dragged the strongest riders up to the break. 

The race is on! 

Vingegaard has marked Pogacar and the other GC have come up to them. 

Is that it from Pogacar? Or will there be more attacks? 

As the riders reach the top of the Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont, Neilson Powless (EF) and Chris Juul Jensen (BikeExchange-Jayco) are away but the peloton is chasing them. 

The two have just a 12-second lead. 

Roglic is in a chase group that is 30-seconds down on the Vingegaard peloton.

Froome is also suffering, with Caleb Ewan  already 3:00 behind. His race could be over.

The attacks keep coming but Vingegaard is wisely sat on van Aert's wheel.  

The Roglic group is 1:00 down. If the attacks keep coming, he might not get back up front. 

The Jumbo-Visma team seems to be scattered across different groups.

170km to go

The riders are on a rolling plateau for 50km or so and that will make it difficult for Ewan and any chasers. 

The Australian sprinter is already 5:00 down.   

The Roglic group is at 1:15. 

Did he crash early? Or is he just suffering due to the fast start?  

Matej Mohoric is attacking from the front group after Powless and  Juul Jensen were caught. 

Several teammates of the yellow jersey are missing up front: They are Roglic, Benoot, Van Hooydonck.

That means Vingegaard has just Kuss, Kruijswijk, van Aert and Laporte with him. 

The Roglic group is 1:40 behind. 

Of Course the speed and attacks mean that Pogacar does not have any teammates either. But he does not too bothered about that.  

165km to go

It will be hard for the Roglic group to close the gap because there are more attacks up front. 

Juul Jensen tries again and Rigoberto Uran also tries, as do a dozen others. 

The speed is so high that riders have little time to eat and drink. 

There are only 50 or so riders in the front peloton. 

The Roglic group is 1:50 back, with Ewan at 7:00. 

Van Aert keeps chasing surges in the peloton to drag Vingegaard back up to safety. 

The Roglic group is at 2:00.  

The race is only 5km from the Côte de Châtaignier climb and so the race will stay aggressive. 

Pinot and Bardet are in the Vingegaard group but they're at the back and seem to be suffering.

Up front Caruso surges away again. After struggling in the GC, the Italian is going for a stage win. 

The Côte de Châtaignier is 2.6km long at 7.3%. 

Is that Pogacar's next launch pad?

Vingegaard is at the back of the front group.

UAE are again upping the pace. 

Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels) is off the front but everyone is hurting. 

Vlasov is suffering. 

That indicates how hard the racing is at the moment. 

Vingegaard is back with his Jumbo teammates but he only has van Aert and Kruijswijk alongside him. 

At the summit, Bonnamour is brought back and Quinn Simmons surges to beat Simon Geschke for the maximum KOM points. 

There are 18 riders up front and on the attack.  

The peloton seems to be letting the attackers go clear. 

Pinot is the attack. 

Soler too for UAE, Bettiol and Uran EF, Jakob Fuglsang of Israel too, plus Dani Martinez of Ineos. 

Meanwhile the Roglic group is at 3:30. 

But if the peloton eases to let the break go clear, then they could, perhaps get back on if they chase hard. 

Van Aert and Vingegaard are on the front and slowing the pace. 

The break has 1:30. They've been given their freedom.

Now the break will have to work hard to stay away and then fight for the stage victory. 

Louis Meintjes, 14th overall at 15:46, is the highest ranked of the 18 breakaway riders. 

Jumbo-Visma will let him go and try to force other teams with riders in the top ten chase him.

If Meintjes can pull back 7:00 then he can move up to 8th overall. 

The 23 leading riders have covered 43.2km in the super first hour. 

The Vingegaard groups is already at 3:30 after easing up and taking on bidons.  

These are the 23 riders in the attack. It is a quality group.  

Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Daniel Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers), Benoît Cosnefroy (Ag2r-Citröen), Felix Grossschartner, Lennard Kämna and Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious), Stefan Küng and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert), Alberto Bettiol, Neilson Powless and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost), Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal), Bauke Mollema and Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), Jakob Fuglsang, Krists Neilands and Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Caleb Ewan is still riding and still chasing. He is 12:00 back.

The slow in pace in the peloton allows the Roglic group close the gap and get back on. The Jumbo riders bring up drinks and ice for Vingegaard. 

The team will no doubt be asking what happened. The simple answer is that it was a fast and aggressive 50km in the early hills. 

140km to go

Michael Matthews is first to the intermediate sprint. He scores 20 points but had to fight to get into the move.  

A split in the attack forces Mollema, Simmons and Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar) to chase. 

138km to go

The gap to the peloton is quickly up to 6:00. 

We now have a race in the race for the stage victory. Later we will surely see attacks in the GC group too.  

135km to go

The riders are cutting south-east via the Massif Central today. That means heat, rolling roads, swifts and swallows and aggressive racing. 

Meanwhile, in other news, Olivia Ray, who was removed from the roster of Human Powered Health earlier this year, has said in an interview with a New Zealand newspaper that she took performance enhancing substances while racing professionally in the United States last year. 

Click below for the full story. 

New Zealand champion Olivia Ray says she took performance enhancing drugs

130km to go

Jumbo-Visma are riding on the front of the peloton but the gap is up 7:00.

In the 23-rider attack, Fuglsang kicks-off more attacks to try to shake-out the attack. 

Israel perhaps wants isolate and hurt some of the big rivals for the stage win. They don't want to allow any passengers to sit on.

125km to go

The 23-rider attack is back together, as Jumbo peg the gap to around 7:00.

These are the 23 riders in the attack. It will be fascinating to see who attacks later. 

Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Daniel Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers), Benoît Cosnefroy (Ag2r-Citröen), Felix Grossschartner, Lennard Kämna and Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious), Stefan Küng and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert), Alberto Bettiol, Neilson Powless and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost), Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal), Bauke Mollema and Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), Jakob Fuglsang, Krists Neilands and Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM). 

The peloton reach a feed zone and Jumbo again grab musettes full of drinks and ice. 

Others teams feed, slowing the pace.

120km to go

Indeed the break extends its lead to 8:00. 

115km to go

The peloton is at 8:25. The gap to the break could be in double figures at the finish, lifting  Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert) into the top ten.  

105km to go

Jumbo lines out the peloton but the gap continues to climb. 

It is above 9:00 and still rising. 

Caleb Ewan is bravely fighting to stay in the Tour. 

He is 17:50 back but has three Lotto teammates with him. They are Tim Wellens, Frederik Frison and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg.

They will have to ensure that they finish inside the time limit so that Ewan can try to win the expected sprint stage to Carcassonne on Sunday and then perhaps on the Champs Elysees in Paris.

100km to go

The riders are close to the centre of France and the middle of the stage.  

As van Aerts drops back to his Jumbo team car the gap to the break is up to 10:00. 

The race is deep into the Massif Central and so climbing into slightly cooler air.

This middle section of the race is relatively quiet but important. It' is about eating and drinking and saving energy on the climbs for the finale of the stage.

The Côte de Grandrieu and the Côte de la Fage come in the last 50km and offer a perfect place to attack from the break and perhaps even for Pogacar to attack Vingegaard. 

The Côte de la Fage is followed by as fast descent to the final 3km, 10% climb up to the Mende airport finish. 

85km to go

It's 26C out on the road but the riders keep taking on cold drinks and ice.

This is the 23-rider break of the day, with Krists Neilands of Israel on the front.

Thibaut Pinot is also in the move, which should make the finale of the stage very interesting.

The 192.5km stage cuts south-east through the very centre of central France.

Both the attackers and the peloton asre on the long, gradual Le Bouchet-Saint-Nicolas climb. 

It's not a categorised climb but is hurting everyone. 

We get a rare shot of Caleb Ewan riding with 3 teammates some 19 minutes behind the peloton. 

The broom wagon is just behind the Lotto team car, hovering like a vulture if Ewan decides to quit. 

He refuses to give in and the 4 riders are putting up a fight for survival. We can only hope they finish inside the time limit.  

This was the moment Ewan crashed on Friday. 

70km to go

Up front the riders in the attack are taking turns to drop back to their team cars for food, cold drink and ice.

They lead the peloton by 10:40 but have little time to enjoy the views of the hills and gorges. 

65km to go

The riders in the peloton are lined-out behind Jumbo-Visma. 

They're riding at 41km/h despite the rolling roads and twisting roads.

After three hours of racing, the average speed is 42.6km/h which indicates just how fast the start was.

The Côte de Grandrieu is hurting the attackers, with Bauke Mollema at the back with Trek teammate Quinn Simmons.

57km to go

The attackers  lead the peloton by 11:00.  

Poor Caleb Ewan and his teammates are at 21:00. It will be a battle to finish inside the time limit.

Simon Geschke (Cofidis) surges to try to win the KOM. 

He beats Simmons to the top of the Cat 3 Côte de Grandrieu climb.  

Geschke added 2 points to his KOM total.   

He has 43 points, just ahead of Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert) on 39 points. 

There are more points awarded on the Cat 2 Côte de la Fage and then on the finish atop Mende.

Here we go! 

Matthews goes on the attack solo. 

There are still 50km to go but the Australia wants to take on the race and get into a smaller group. 

Matthews leads by 20 seconds, with a tailwind helping him go clear.

Here come the counter-attacks. 

Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal) dances away on a climb, with Simmons, Woods and others chasing him.

The 23-rider attack is splitting as Kron pushes on. 

Stefan Kung is trying to drag a group and his teammate Pinot up to the attacks.

Meanwhile, the peloton reaches the top of the Côte de Grandrieu some 11:40 behind.

Caleb Ewan and his three Lotto teammates are at 22:00. 

48km to go

Matthews is going deep here on the plateau road.  

But the chasers are coming back to him.

The 22 chasers are attacking each other as they try to cross to Matthews.

Race on!

Three riders closing on on Matthews. The others seem to have missed the move and are chasing each other. 

The three are: Kron, Grossschartner and LL Sanchez.

The others are at 25 seconds.

Several teams have more than one rider in the chase. It will be up to Kung to work for Pinot. 

The riders are flying along and faster than the fastest schedule for the stage with an average speed at over 42km/h.

The attackers are near the Côte de la Fage now, the final climb before the descent to Mende and the final climb up to the aerodrome finish. 

Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco), Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious) and Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal) lead by 30 seconds. 

Kung is using his time trial talents to chase the 4 attackers but they lead by 45 seconds.

Behind the Jumbo is peloton is at 13:30. That means Meintjes is up to the virtual top 5 in GC. 

Staying hydrated is important.

On the climb, Bettiol is splitting the group. 

Mollema is dropped, Woods and Meintjes too, as Kung's work is done.

It's important for them to get across over the climb or the descent will help the attackers stay away.

There are only 8 chasers left with a chance.

The exposed Côte de la Fage is the key for the break. 

Bettiol has reduced the gap to 28 seconds and so Uran takes over, with another surge. 

There are just five riders chasing now. Pinot is there, Soler too.  

Fuglsang is there too, as is Kemna.

Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco), Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious) and Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal) are 1km from the summit. 

There are some cross/tail winds on the exposed summit. 

This could be very interesting when the GC riders arrive.

Matthews leads the 4 over the summit and the click starts to the chasers.

It is 25 seconds, with Soler now chasing alone. He has been sat on the attack all day after getting his chance to go for a stage today.

Soler is joined by Kamna and Bettiol. 

Dani Martinez jumps across and others are coming.

Crash! Kron goes off the road!

He stays up but seems to have a puncture and went off the road. He was brave and talented to stay up with a front wheel flat.

He's out of the front group. His chances are gone.

Lotto Soudal can't get a break in this year's Tour.

Jumbo-Visma have put Roglic on the front to lead the chase. 

Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert) is 14:00 ahead and so is close to the race lead. 

Jumbo are also riding to keep Vingegaard safe in the cross winds on the Côte de la Fage.

20km to go

The chasers are 30 seconds down on the 4 attackers. 

Roglic is dropped after his big turn on the front.

The race is on in the peloton too. 

Van Aert is leading the peloton now, splitting the GC group. 

Pidcock is dropped and he could lose his top ten on GC.

Others have been cast away too. 

The roads are wide and sweeping now, until Mende and the climb to the finish.

There are only 20 riders in the Vingegaard group as van Art sets a painful pace.

25km to go

Up front Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco), Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious)  lead by 35 seconds.

The chasers are ten or so but they keep losing pace, with the Bora rider blocking. 

Meintjes tries to up the pace to defend his climb up the GC. 

This is the final climb of the say, up to the Mende Aerodrome. 

We're calling it the Monte Cummings after Steve Cummings won the last last time the Tour was here. 

The peloton is at 13:50, with Majka talking to Pogacar. 

What are they planning?  

Pidcock and others are back in the Vingegaard group. That was a worry for the Briton and his GC top ten. 

The climb to the finish is 3km long at a painful 10.2%.

Can the 3 attackers stay away and who can win?  

We could see a chase and a bridge from the likes of Pinot and Kamna. 

Powless is riding on the front to help Bettiol and Uran. 

The climb starts for the attackers. They climb for 3km and then face a flat 1.3km to the finish line. 

Großschartner and Sanchez will be trying to drop Matthews.

Woods leads the chase on the lower slopes and the gap is suddenly down to 15 seconds.

Pinot is still there. 

Matthews is on the front and seems fastest.

This is steep and is hurting Matthews. But he goes clear alone.  

Behind they split too. 

It's all out, everyone for themselves. 

Matthews is spinning his legs but is fast too. He looks good. 

Matthews is the most combatif today and deserves this win.

Bettiol is now chasing him.

Bettiol has surged up from the chase and can see Matthews. 

The Tuscan is on Matthews. 

Who is fastest in a sprint? 

2km to go

Bettiol sits on Matthews. 

They're ahead of the rest. 

It's a two-rider battle.

And Bettiol attacks before the summit!   

But Matthews comes back to him.

Then Bettiol opens a gap again. He's alone. 

Matthews refuses to give up. 

He's still close to Bettiol, holding on to his dreams of victory, hoping Bettiol will fade.  

Behind Soler and Pinot are chasing but probably too far back. 

Boom! 

Matthews catches and passes Bettiol! 

Matthews hits the descent to the final kilometre. 

The descent helps him recover. Before the sprint to the line.

He looks back but is clear. He will surely win the stage to Mende.

Matthews waves his arms in celebration sand wins the stage!

Bettiol is 2nd at 15 seconds.

It was a Matthew masterpiece in Mende. He attacked with 50km to go and then attacked from the attack on the final climb. 

When Bettiol came across, Matthews rode his own race and then chased him down to win alone.

Matthews raises his arms in celebration. 

It's been five years since he last won a stage at the Tour. 

The peloton is still 5km behind, about 13:00 minutes. 

We'll be watching the clock to see how much time Meintjes can gain and so move up in the GC. 

McNulty ups the pace on the Mende climb.

Get ready for a Pogacar attack. 

Pidcock is dropped. 

Vingegaard is suddenly alone! 

Gaudu is also distanced, Bardet, Mas and Vlasov too. 

It's a GC battle! 

Thomas is distanced too!

Pogacar is trying to drop Vingegaard.

3km to go for the GC riders.

Yates is trying to help Thomas limit his losses.

Thomas is at least 20 seconds down. 

This steep climb is another GC shake-out. 

Thomas is losing time. The gap is 30 seconds. 

Thomas still has a kilometre to climb.

Gaudi and Quintana come up to Thomas and Yates.

Pogacar dances on the pedals. Vingegaard is on his wheel. 

The crowds are huge. 

Pogacar and Vingegaard pass the summit. The climb is done. 

Gaudu is at 35 seconds. Thomas at 40.

Everyone is so, so tired.

Pogacar and Vingegaard will sprint for the honours, nothing else. 

Pogacar leads it out but yet again, can't drop Vingegaard. 

Thomas lost 25 seconds or so. 

He will keep third overall but a crack has appeared in his GC podium hopes.

This is the new podium: 

1. Vingegaard J. (TJV) 55:31:01

2. Pogacar T. (UAD) +2:22

3. Thomas G. (IGD) +2:43

This is the shot as Matthews hit the line and celebrates. 

Riders are still finishing, with the time limit still with 25 minutes to go.

The riders are finishing in small groups, split by the final climb. 

The sprinters are finishing but Ewan is still out on the road. 

Here's Matthews in the attack that he created with 52km to go. 

He worked hard and then dropped his rivals on the climb to Mende, then responded to Bettiol's attack to win. 

Matthews said: "Always keep believing, always keep believing" ito his race radio to his BikeExchange teammates.  

Bettiol was hugely disappointed not to win the stage. 

He saw victory in the final 2km then Matthews passed him and won.

Matthews waves on the podium, savouring his big stage win.

Soon after Vingegaard also climbs on the podium, pulling down his mask to show a happy smile. 

Caleb Ewan makes it to the finish inside the time limit. 

Ewan finished at 39:07. The time limit was 48:00.  

As the dust settles on the stage, the loser of the day was Geraint Thomas, who lost 17 seconds to Pogacar and Vingegaard.

Ewan takes a long drink after finishing the stage.

It was pretty hard, I got dropped 10km into the stage so spent180km out the arse," Ewan said bluntly. 

"It was hard again. I hope it turns around soon, I can't have too many days like that."

That was another hard and hot stage, with another day of suffering to come on Sunday on rolling roads to Carcassonne. 

The sprinters have a chance but will have to fight for it. 

To understand what happened during today's stage, check out our full report, photo gallery and full results. 

Michael Matthews takes solo win in Mende on Tour de France stage 14

Always keep believing. 

It was another hot day at the Tour de France, with temperatures of close to 40C  forecast in Carcassonne on Sunday.

Stage 14 saw little change at the very top of the general classification of the 2022 Tour de France, with only Louis Meintjes making a significant move in the overall order - moving up six places to seventh overall after gaining 11:22 by making the day's breakaway.

In a unexpectedly aggressive start to the stage that saw Tadej Pogačar launch several attacks but fail to distance yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, the peloton settled in for the long stage, letting the breakaway fight for the stage.

Pogačar waited until the steep climb to the Mende Aerodrome to try again but Vingegaard marked his move. However, other GC rivals lost a handful of seconds.

Geraint Thomas, David Gaudu and Nairo Quintana chased in at 17 seconds, while Adam Yates was five more seconds behind. 

Click below to study the latest GC standings. 

The current GC standings in the 2022 Tour de France after stage 14

BikeExchange won a stage with Dylan Groenewegen but really wanted to win with Matthews after two second places.

Their emotions are clear to see here.  

A day before they missed out on a chance in the sprint but Matthews produced a huge performance on the road to Mende.

Jonas Vingegaard stays in the leader's yellow jersey for another day.

These are the full result from our friends First Cycling.

To read about Pogacar's early attacks, the 23-rider break of the day, Matthews' 52km attack and the final battle with Bettiol, click on our full report below. 

Michael Matthews takes solo win in Mende on Tour de France stage 14

Thanks for joining us for the full live coverage of stage 14.

We'll be back on Sunday for full live coverage of stage 15 from Rodez to Carcassonne.

It's going to be a hot one but probably another day of aggressive racing.