Pogacar silences doubts with a show of authority in the Pyrenees

After the stage last Wednesday, many voices had doubted the generosity in Tadej Pogacar's efforts and Jonas Vingegaard's candidacy for the final victory in the Tour de France 2024 was gaining strength. However, the arrival of the Pyrenees has been the perfect scenario for the Slovenian to put things in their place and reaffirm his leadership in the general classification.

Victory for Tadej Pogacar in the 14th stage of the Tour de France 2024

Highly anticipated queen stage of the Pyrenees in the Tour de France 2024 with a classic route from Pau to Saint Lary Soulan including the legendary Tourmalet and the Hourquette d'Ancizan before the final climb to Pla d'Adet. A stage with a short distance, only 151 kilometers, but with the toughness concentrated in the tremendous chain of climbs in the last 70 kilometers.

As expected, the stage started, once again, with a fast pace with many top-level cyclists trying to form the breakaway. In fact, it would take more than 50 kilometers for the definitive breakaway to form, including riders like Michal Kwiatkowski, David Gaudu, Mathieu van der Poel, Ben Healy, Oier Lazkano, and Alexey Lutsenko, totaling 18 cyclists.

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The arrival at the Tourmalet and its steep ramps would further select the group, and just under a kilometer from the breakaway, David Gaudu started with Oier Lazkano on his wheel trying to win the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, the trophy awarded to the first cyclist to pass this mythical port and which has a prize of a whopping €5,000. In the final steep ramp, the Movistar Team rider attacked and easily dropped a pure climber like Gaudu to claim the coveted prize and enter the history of those who have crowned the most legendary port of the Tour de France.

On the descent, with many kilometers and toughness ahead, Oier was caught by the reduced breakaway group of 10 riders. Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates controlled the race, keeping the breakaway's advantage in check and making the stage harder, a clear indication that yesterday's statements, in which Tadej Pogacar hinted at a more conservative strategy, were just a diversion.

The Hourquette d'Ancizan was a mere transitional climb where the stage's tone was maintained, leaving the final outcome for the ascent to Pla d'Adet. Up front, Ben Healy was the first to attack, with David Gaudu following. Oier Lazkano and Louis Meintjes tried to catch up a few meters behind, but without success. Eventually, only Ben Healy remained in the lead, feeling the pressure from the peloton, which was led first by Marc Soler's relentless pace and later, with Joao Almeida's entry, reduced to a minimum.

However, they couldn't quite close the gap with Ben Healy, and for a moment, we started to think that the conservative tactic might be true. In fact, we were all surprised by the attack of Adam Yates, who went after the EF Education-EasyPost rider in a clear move to win the stage, as later confirmed by Tadej Pogacar in the post-stage interviews, where he stated that the tactic was to try to win the stage with Adam and, if caught, he would be the one to sprint to the finish.

But Tadej Pogacar must have seen something in the faces of his rivals, some gesture, or simply felt good sensations in his legs because, in a burst of pure instinct, he attacked again 5 kilometers from the finish, in a dry and explosively beautiful manner.

 

 

 

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And this time, Jonas Vingegaard did not follow him initially despite trying to match the pace. Remco stayed on his wheel while, a little further back, Carlos Rodríguez tried to catch up with them but struggled to do so.

In a blink of an eye, Pogacar closed the gap with Adam Yates just as he neutralized Ben Healy, and immediately the British rider started to pull for his leader. But his pace was not as intense as it should have been, and for a moment, it seemed like Jonas Vingegaard could rejoin after dropping Remco. Therefore, after a brief respite, with 4 kilometers to go, Tadej Pogacar accelerated again and set a cruising speed that gradually increased the gap with Jonas Vingegaard.

Victory in the fourteenth stage of the Tour de France 2024 for an outstanding Tadej Pogacar who crossed the finish line 39 seconds ahead of his closest rival, adding the 4-second time bonus that extended his lead in the general classification to 1:57 over Jonas Vingegaard. 31 seconds later, Remco Evenepoel arrived, conceding the second place in the general classification to the Visma-Lease a Bike rider.

The classification becomes much clearer with another challenging Pyrenean stage tomorrow heading to Plateau de Beille, and it is evident that Tadej Pogacar does not want any last-minute surprises for the final week when the peloton returns to the Alps, with a time trial still to be contested on the last day of the race.

Stage 14 Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 4h01'51''
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +39''
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +1'10''
4. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +1'19''
5. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +1'23''
6. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +1'23''
7. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +1'23''
8. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) 1'26''
9. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'29''
10. Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) +1'29''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 56h42'39''
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'57''
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +2'22''
4. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +6'01''
5. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +6'09''
6. Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) +7'17''
7. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +8'32''
8. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +9'09''
9. Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) +9'33''
10. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +10'35''