Key Takeaways: Tour de France Stage 14

Breaking down an early attack on the race leader & the eventual thrilling battle for the stage win

On the 14th stage of the Tour de France, Michael Matthews took the most impressive win of his career he rode clear of Alberto Bettiol, who had appeared to have dropped him just a few moments earlier, to win atop the short, but brutal Côte de la Croix Neuve climb into the Mende Airfield. Matthews’ win came after bridging up to the day’s early breakaway following a hectic start that was marked by attacks from the GC favorites and then laying down a brutal attack with just over 50 kilometers remaining that got him to the foot of the final climb with a smaller, more manageable group. Almost as soon as the climbing started, he was able to dispatch on the early section of the slope but was later caught and dropped himself by Bettiol, who had surged clear of the chasing group behind. However, the veteran Australian showed incredible poise by simply continuing at a steady pace that pulled him even with, and eventually past, Bettiol, and allowed him to take his most memorable victory yet.

Meanwhile, in the fight for the GC, unexpected attacks started very early in the day when Tadej Pogacar, attempting to catch Jumbo-Visma and race-leader Jonas Vingegaard napping, attacked to join an early breakaway. This move briefly isolated Vingegaard, who was forced to chase down Pogacar himself, and kept the pace extremely high for the first hour. However, Jumbo, whose dropped riders were eventually able to ride back, calmed things down at the front and put proceedings on pause until they hit the final climb, where Pogacar once again attacked and dropped nearly every GC favorite, but was unable to wedge open any daylight between himself and the race leader Vingegaard.

Stage Top 3
1) Michael Matthews +0
2) Alberto Bettiol +15
3) Thibaut Pinot +34

Select GC Time Gaps
Jonas Vingegaard +0
Tadej Pogačar +0
Geraint Thomas +17
Nairo Quintana +17
Adam Yates +22
Romain Bardet +26

GC Top Ten
1) Jonas Vingegaard +0
2) Tadej Pogačar +2’22
3) Geraint Thomas +2’43
4) Romain Bardet +3’01
5) Adam Yates +4’06
6) Nairo Quintana +4’15
7) Louis Meintjes +4’24
8) David Gaudu +4’24
9) Tom Pidcock +8’49
10) Enric Mas +9’58

Stage 14 Notebook:

183.2km: Just a few kms into the stage, Tadej Pogacar follows Wout van Aert into the early breakaway and is extremely active in driving the pace since he senses a chance to pressure the now-isolated Jonas Vingegaard.

183.1km: Unfortunately for Pogacar, the Yellow Jersey of Vingegaard can be seen shooting across the gap to the breakaway. However, it is notable that he is isolated from his Jumbo team and is forced to do this work himself while his own teammate, Van Aert, is up the road.

182.2km: This attack from Pogacar clearly gives other GC riders ideas and Vlasov takes off just a few moments later. But at this point, with Vingegaard on the wheel of the Green Monster, Van Aert, Jumbo is easily able to close down this attempt.

182km: Pogacar attacks again, but a now hyper-attentive Vingegaard is immediately on his wheel while Van Aert keeps his pace steady, yet high, and quickly rejoins them.

179km: An interesting byproduct of this attacking is that it forces Vingegaard’s Jumbo team to get to the front and drive such a hard pace that attacks can’t get clear, which distances their own teammates, like Roglic, who has been dropped behind.

150km: After nearly 50km of racing, Jumbo finally gets the front of the peloton under control and takes the pace down which allows the breakaway to get a gap of over a minute (and give their teammate Roglic a chance of closing down his now two-minute deficit). Sensing it is now or never, Michael Matthews and a group of four other riders bridge across to the front, and the day’s breakaway is set.

52.8km: Michael Matthews attacks the breakaway in an attempt to get out in front of the superior climbers before they hit the final climb. His strong move works and he is joined by only three other riders.

4.5km: After the strongest climber in the group flatted (Andreas Kron), the three lead riders hit the base of the final climb with a 32-second gap on the chasers, who, at least in theory, have the advantage.

3.4km: However, over a km later, Matthews has dropped his companions and still has a 19-second gap on the main breakaway group, but we can see the pink jersey of Alberto Bettiol chasing in the distance.

2.5km: Another km later, Bettiol catches and drops Matthews, whose slowing pace seems to rule him out of the race for the win.

1.9km: But, with the consistently steep climb rewarding those who stay below their threshold power, Matthews is able to ride his own pace to catch, and overtake Bettiol during the final ‘never-ending’ kilometer.

1.6km: When the slope starts to get slightly less ridiculous, Matthews is able to increase his gap even further to Bettiol and power up and over the summit.

Finish: The gap Matthews creates with this steady riding style gives him enough breathing room to stay clear down the short descent to the flat finish, where he soaks in his much-deserved win ahead of Bettiol.

GC Final Climb: The GC contender hit the climb 15-minutes later and Tadej Pogacar wastes no time attacking the group. This distances everyone, including the Ineos duo of Thomas and Yates, but can’t shake Vingegaard, who simply shadows Pogacar’s wheel and never looks under pressure.

GC Finish: As they come into the finish line, Pogacar eases off, which lets Thomas close the gap slightly behind, to rest up for his now almost ceremonial completely pointless sprint to end the stage. Vingegaard is able to easily mark him and the two riders come in on the same time.

Key Takeaways: