Tour de France stage 14 LIVE - Evenepoel abandons early in hardest stage of the race so far

Kuss now has just Paret-Peintre with him, Verstrynge having been dropped.

He might be the King of the Mountains, but he’s not King of Descending - Martinez is only 50 seconds ahead of the Kuss group, having reached the summit almost two minutes ahead.

Here’s the new-look King of the Mountains classification after the many points on offer at the top of the Tourmalet have been distributed. Martinez is wearing the polka-dot jersey on behalf of Pogačar, but now owns it outright:

1 Martinez 47

2 Pogačar 37

3 Woods 37

4 Vingegaard 27

5 Arensman 18

Lenny Martinez on the Tourmalet, living up to his status as King of the Mountains.

That chasing trio is 1 minute behind Martinez, 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the chasers, and over two minutes ahead of the peloton.

80KM TO GO

Kuss, Verstrynge and Paret-Peintre is the make-up of the main chase group that's bearing down on Martinez.

Martinez is losing ground on this descent. The Kuss chase group has brought him back to 1:10.

There's a split in the chase group, with one featuring Kuss 20 seconds ahead of another featuring Johannessen.

There’s poor visibility on the descent of the Tourmalet, where fog hangs low. The riders will have to manage this one carefully.

The peloton reach the top of the Tourmalet, 3:30 after Martinez conquered it.

90KM TO GO

Julian Alaphlippe has gone old school, and stuffed some cardboard down his jersey to warm himself ahead of the descent.

Woods attacks out of the chase group, to ensure he’s second to the top of the mountain.

That was some climb by the young Frenchman, who is almost two minutes ahead of the chasers. He’s totally recovered from his horrible first few days of this Tour.

Lenny Martinez reaches the top of the climb, becoming the latest rider to write his name into the long history book of the Tourmalet.

KOM - COL DU TOURMALET

It’s cold up here towards the summit of the Tourmalet. Riders are sporting extra layers and jackets.

Here is the polka-dot jersey just after making his attack. Nobody has him in sight anymore.

Martinez is just a kilometre away from the top of the Tourmalet, his lead now even bigger at over 1:30.

A dour-faced Remco Evenepoel, before he was dropped out of the race for good.

A few riders have joined the chase group from behind, including Enric Mas.

Martinez is moving further away from that chase group though, now a minute ahead. With 3km to the summit of the Tourmalet, the KOM points at the top are surely his.

Those riders are: Kuss, V. Paret Peintre, Arensman, Rodriguez, Verstrynge, O’Connor, Storer, Mühlberger, Rubio, Woods and Johannessen.

About ten riders are together, just over 30 seconds behind Martinez.

The breakaway group is strewn all across the road behind the lone leader Martinez.

That’s it, Evenepoel has climbed off his bike and into his team car. The Belgian’s race is over.

EVENEPOEL ABANDONS

Meanwhile up ahead, Martinez has dropped O'Connor and leads the race. A chase group behind led by Kuss is 30 seconds behind, and the peloton 1:40 behind.

100KM TO GO

Evenepoel is peddling very slowly. It’s hard to see him continuing for long.

Evenepoel is with his team car having a long talk. This feels like it could be the end of his race…

O'Connor has attacked from the lead group, taking Martinez with him.

Evenepoel is alone again, without any teammates. He's 50 seconds behind the peloton, which is being led at a steady pace by UAE.

Healy becomes the eighth rider to join the lead group.

And now Ben O’Connor, Johannessen and Mühlberger have joined the leaders.

Valentin Paret-Peintre has joined the three leaders and is setting the pace.

It seems Tobias Halland Johannessen is one of the riders in between the leading trio and the peloton. He’s a dangerous rider, in 8th-place on GC, and surely some teams in the peloton won’t be happy with his presence up the road.

Martinez is taking a turn now from Arensman. This trio is 45 seconds ahead of the peloton, with multiple chasers in between.

Now there are just three riders at the front: Arensman, Rubio, and King of the Mountains Lenny Martinez.

Arensman is leading this breakaway group, and thinning it out. He has just 5 riders with him.

Evenepoel has Pascal Eenkhoorn with him now, but he’s over 30 seconds adrift from the peloton already.

Up ahead, riders are still trying to form a break. There haven’t been any explosive attacks, but the gradients of the climb are forming natural selections, and about 20 riders have a small gap.

This looks like it could be it for Evenepoel’s GC hopes. He’s all alone, with no Soudal teammates being tasked with dropping back to him.

More bad news for Evenepoel. He's already out the back of the peloton, with 16km of the Tourmalet still to climb.

EVENEPOEL DROPPED

Here is the new points jersey classification after that sprint. Pogačar actually picked up three points for himself, rolling over the line towards the front of the peloton:

1 Milan 251

2 Pogačar 206

3 Van der Poel 190

4 Girmay 169

5 Merlier 150

Buitrago has been brought back. No break has formed yet on the mountain.

110KM TO GO

Santiago Buitrago has attacked. Now we’re going uphill, it’s time for the pure climbers like him to make their moves to form a breakaway.

Having won that sprint, and burned lots of energy with his earlier attacks, Milan has dropped right to the back of the peloton already on the climb.

Tudor lead the peloton onto the climb.

COL DU TOURMALET

Right, now the sprint’s done, the focus moves on the climbing - and the riders are about to begin the Tourmalet.

Milan wins the sprint, Van der Poel second, and Girmay third.

Lidl are giving Milan a long lead-out.

So the peloton is all together for the intermediate sprint, now just 1km away. We’ll have a proper sprint for it.

Their work has seen Thomas, Vercher and Pacher brought back.

Lidl-Trek have taken over control at the front of the peloton as they near the intermediate sprint.

Remco Evenepoel was back at his team car, but doesn’t seem to have a problem. Two years ago, the Belgian’s GC hopes at the 2023 Vuelta dramatically came undone in the Pyrenees on a stage finishing atop the Tourmalet.

Given his form in recent days, he might be fearful of something similar happening today, when they start climbing the mighty mountain in a few kilometres.

Thomas, Pacher and Vercher have 20 seconds on the peloton.

120KM TO GO

Lidl haven’t sent any riders back to help Skjelmose. The Dane is out of GC contention, and the team will want to help Milan get as many points as he can in the upcoming intermediate sprint.

Skjelmose is still receiving aid from the medical car, who are bandaging him up some more. The Dane is already over four minutes behind the peloton, and faces a long chase to rejoin it.

It's taken a long time, but we at last have a breakaway group up the road. These three riders aren't safe yet though, and the peloton hasn't ceased racing yet as attacks continue to be made.

Counter-moves are being made out of the peloton, but Thomas, Vercher and Pacher still lead by 30 seconds.

A chase group featuring Alaphilippe briefly formed behind the three leaders, but has now been shut down.

Skjelmose is back up and riding. He’s heavily bandaged up but looks to be pedalling OK.

Meanwhile a three-man group has gone clear, and built a decent lead of 10 seconds - Pacher, Vercher and Geraint Thomas are the riders in it.

Skjelmose is sat up, and looks like he wants to keep racing.

Sjkelmose has hit the deck, and being looked at by the medics.

CRASH - SKJELMOSE

He’s sat up, and is talking on his radio. He clearly wants these green jersey points, but is undecided how best to get them.

Milan is at it again! He's at the front of the race, pushing on in a group trying to go clear.

130KM TO GO

Both riders are caught, and we still have no break, with just 20km to go until the intermediate sprint.

Campanaerts is the Visma riders, and he's joined Armirail.

The ever-agressive Bruno Armirail is on the attack again, and has a gap. A Visma rider is chasing him.

Visma's work has done the job, and the move has been brought back.

In this group are Geraint Thomas, Woods, Jegat and Martin, among others, and they have a lead of about 5 seconds.

140KM TO GO

Visma-Lease a Bike have taken control of the peloton, trying to shut this move down.

This group has a gap and features lots of riders, almost 20 in total.

It had gone quiet in the peloton, but more attacks have ignited things now - Healy, Abrahamsen and Vlasov are in a group that’s pushing on.

Cras has abandoned the Tour de France, being clapped by the roadside fans as he gets into his team car.

Steff Cras has stopped on the roadside. He has the dejected look of a man who is about to reluctantly leave the Tour de France.

That Milan move had about 15 riders in it, but has been neutralised.

Wight’s capture has instigated new attacks - and Milan’s involved again.

150KM TO GO

Wright has been brought back by the peloton.

Like Milan before him, Wright looks frustrated at the lack of any company.. He’s ten seconds ahead, but keeps looking behind him, no doubt in the hope of being joined by some other breakaway riders.

We have a new lone leader on the road - Fred Wright, who has a gap of a few seconds.

Simmons, Skjelmose and Alaphilippe are at the front of a move trying to go clear, but to no avail. Lots of riders are marking each other.

The peloton, which is still all together.

Milan has thought better of it, sitting up and allowing himself to be reabsorbed by the peloton. For that ploy to have worked, and for him to get a headstart for the intermediate sprint, he really needed some riders with him to form a breakaway.

Behind Milan, who’s still a few seconds ahead, plenty of tentative moves are being made from the peloton, but nobody is committing to a big attack, and the peloton is all still together.

160KM TO GO

The green jersey, making his move.

Berthet is bandaged up and back in the peloton.

Milan therefore still leads alone, but almost 20 seconds.

About 13 riders did form a group trying to join up to Milan, but that's been shut down.

Milan is all alone and looking behind him, hoping no doubt for some accompaniment.

An interesting move here - Jonathan Milan in the green jersey has attacked. There is an intermediate sprint before the Tourmalet, so he could stand a chance of increasing his lead in that classification if he can get into the break.

170KM TO GO

Clément Berthet is at the doctor's car, receiving some magic spray. He appears to have gone down in a crash.

Andreas Leknessund is keen, but he's brought back too.

There’s a lot of riders looking at each other in the peloton, but no big attacks. It’s all bunched up at the moment.

As you can see from the start, it's a much gloomier day in the Pyrenees today.

Pacher briefly had a small gap, but has been brought back.

Alaphilippe tries an attack but does not succeed, and now Pacher counter-attacks.

Simmons is at the front of the peloton, but didn't manage to go clear.

And they're off! Quinn Simmons is on the attack immediately, with his Lidl teammate Skjelmose on his wheel.

OFFICIAL START

They’re at kilometre 0, but the start has been delayed as a few riders have to return to the peloton.

The riders are just 1km away from the official start. Some are massing towards the car, ready to launch moves.

The rain has eased off for now, but it’s still cloudy. If it rains some more, the long descents of the mountains on the menu today could become dangerous.

The weather has changed overnight. From the searing heat of yesterday, we now have some rain and much cooler temperatures. That could change which riders excel, and which ones struggle.

We're at the Départ fictif in Pau, and will be racing in about ten minutes.

For Remco Evenepoel, you expect this might be more of a defensive stage than offensive. The Belgian has looked well short of his best since entering the Pyrenees, and his place on the podium has now come under serious pressure after losing more time yesterday.

'I just could not keep pushing the power' – Remco Evenepoel has disastrous day in Tour de France mountain time trial

Jonas Vingegaard might find himself 4:07 down on GC after yesterday’s defeat to Pogačar, but the Dane isn’t giving up on the yellow jersey just yet. Today provides a chance for him to bounce back, and, along with his strong Visma-Lease a Bike team, try to put Pogačar under pressure.

'The Tour is far from over' - Jonas Vingegaard back in the fray after second place in Tour de France stage 13 time trial

As well as being in the yellow jersey, Pogačar is four stage wins up after his cruising victory yesterday - and has his sights on more. He’s the top favourite for the win today again, and his words to the media yesterday indicates that he has no intentions of giving any opportunities away.

'I'm paid to win, not give away races' - Tadej Pogačar refuses to rule out fighting for more Tour de France stage victories

For some pre-start fun, we highly recommend this deep dive into Pog's heavily modified mountain time trial bike from stage 14.

Tadej Pogačar's heavily modified 6.9kg Colnago Y1Rs for his Tour de France mountain time trial domination

You can read our full preview here, with stage details, key climbs and details on how to watch the Tour de France:

Tour de France 2025 stage 14 preview - Finale in the Pyrenèes strikes with four fierce climbs to mountaintop finish

Today is simply a savage day in the mountains.
It has it all - the Col de Tourmalet, a summit finish on Luchon-Superbagnères and nearly 5,000m of elevation.
This is a true leg-breaker.

Bonjour and welcome to our live coverage of stage 14 of the 2025 Tour de France!