Stage 14 of the
Tour de France was a day of attrition in the high mountains of the Pyrenees and from here the breakaway succeeded.
Thymen Arensman took an important victory for INEOS Grenadiers whilst
Jonas Vingegaard and
Tadej Pogacar rode the final climb together, maintaining the gap virtually the same. The highlight of the day was the withdrawal of third place Remco Evenepoel.
The flat start of the stage meant that we've seen plenty attacks but no breakaway being formed until the riders entered the Col du Tourmalet. The big news of the day would come on this climb, as Remco Evenepoel would be dropped early on and would halfway through the climb withdraw from the race after not having the legs to follow the large peloton.
Mattias Skjelmose (as a result of a crash) and Steff Cras also abandoned early on whilst Bryan Coquard didn't start the day after suffering a finger fracture. In the Tourmalet a few riders managed to escape the UAE-led peloton, with Lenny Martínez leading it the whole way and getting maximum points at the top, alongside the next climb. Sepp Kuss and Valentin Paret-Peintre would join him, but later on a few riders from a different group (with GC outsiders Tobias Johannessen and Carlos Rodríguez) bridged across.
From these, Thymen Arensman attacked on the Col de Peyresourde and as luck would have it, it would be the decisive attack. It was a long-range and risky move from the Dutchman, but with his attack he won a minute over his chasers and the peloton very quickly. Arensman held on formidably in the ascent to Superbagnères to take the biggest win of his career.
In the peloton all of the action was reserved for the final ascent, where UAE rode a conservative pace and didn't try to attack the race. Jonas Vingegaard then tested the yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar with a few attacks inside the final 4 kilometers, but was unable to drop the Slovenian. The two arrived at the finish together, Pogacar coming in second and winning a few more seconds to his rival.