TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 14 | PAU > SAINT-LARY-SOULAN PLA D’ADET
SAINT-LARY-SOULAN PLA D’ADET, France (July 13, 2024) — An amazing performance on the final climb of Stage 14 from the man in the Yellow Jersey, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), saw him extend his lead in the general classification. Brilliantly assisted by his UAE teammates, in particular by Adam Yates who shook up the race on the ascent to Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet), Pogačar finished in style, crossing the line 39” ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 1’10” ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) who was third. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) at +1’19” and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) at +1’23” completed the top five. Pogačar therefore increased his overall lead to 1’57” over Vingegaard, who has moved up to second in the GC, with Evenepoel now third at 2’22”.
Goodbye to Pau
Following the withdrawals of Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech) due to illness, 157 riders started stage 14 of the 2024 Tour de France, which would cover 151.9 km between Pau and Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet). The start was frantic yet again and after a hard crash in the last kilometre of yesterday’s finish in Pau, Amaury Capiot (Arkea-B&B Hotels) was forced to abandon early on the stage. Passing through Lourdes (km 37.6), Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Cédric Beullens and Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-dstny) managed to break away from the peloton.
Counter attackers
Later, at km 51, Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team), Kevin Vauquelin, Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X) joined them to form an eight-man breakaway, after which followed a 15-man counterattacking group including Chris Juul-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Marco Haller (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ ), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Rui Costa, Ben Healy, Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Louis Meintjes, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) and Fabian Grellier (TotalEnergies).
Fierce fight for the green jersey
Both groups had permission to go clear from the peloton, which was controlled by UAE Team Emirates. Only 30” separated the two front groups as they passed through Esquieze-Sere (IS, km 70.2), which the peloton reached 4’10” behind the leaders. Coquard beat De Lie in the intermediate sprint, before Girmay outpaced Philipsen in the second group in the fight for ninth. The four of them then sat up as the climb to the Col du Tourmalet – Souvenir Jacques Goddet (HC, km 89.6) began. That left 17 breakaway riders to attack the climb to the Tourmalet, with Vauquelin and Costa among the climbers who fell out of the group as the steep ramps and the pace took their toll. Then, with the summit in their sights Gaudu and Lazkano accelerated away from the group and it was the impressive Spanish Tour de France debutant Lazkano who was first to the top, 12” ahead of Gaudu and 25” in front of Armirail.
The peloton accelerates
2’55” was the gap between the leaders of the race and an accelerating peloton at the foot of the Hourquette d’Ancizan (Cat. 2, km 123.4), with the breakaway reduced to five men on the climb: Kwiatkowski, Gaudu, Healy, Lazkano and Meintjes. This time it was Gaudu who got the better Lazkano at the top, with the peloton arriving 1’15” after them, having shaved off more than a minute and a half on the ascent.
Exciting finish in Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet)
The five remaining breakaway riders began the punishing 10.6 km climb of Saint-Lary-Soulan – Pla d’Adet (HC, km 151.9, 7.9% average gradient) together, with Healy going solo early on the final ascent. Yates attacked 7km from the finish to chase down Healy, before Pogačar himself attacked with 5km remaining, joining Yates as they accelerated past the Irishman. Pogačar went on to finish the job powerfully, with Vingegaard and Evenepoel chasing him hard to the line, limiting the damage as much as they could.
Ben Healy (EF Education-Easypost): “Not A Disappointment – It’s Just Bike Racing”
“I think the crowd was something special. It was not a disappointment – it’s just bike racing. I gave everything to be in the break and was grateful I could do my best. Then Adam Yates and Tadej Pogačar caught me from behind, and there’s not much you can do from there. With the gap we had over them coming from behind it was always going to be ambitious. I just knew I had to go full gas from the bottom, which is what I did. I held in there for a bit, but then there was nothing more I could do. Maybe this isn’t the type of medal we want, but it is something.”
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “Today Was Not That Difficult”
“The intermediate sprint wasn’t part of my plan today to be honest, but suddenly Jasper tried to be there so I needed to follow him. It was not the plan for me but I saw that he went so I just opened my eyes and tried to follow him. Then finally we were not in the front but it was a nice finish from me and that’s why I can feel a bit more confident. Today then we went just for a few small points. Honestly though today was not that difficult because we had some benefits at the front, three minutes ahead of the bunch. So after the intermediate sprint I just continued, because I didn’t want to wait immediately. We were already in front of the other guys so I just found a good gruppetto and stayed with them.”
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step): “They Have More Experience And Power Than Me”
“I did what I could. When Tadej attacked, I was a bit stuck behind Jorgenson and also my own teammate Mikel Landa, I couldn’t react quite quickly enough. But in any case it was really the rider who deserved the stage victory who won today. I tried to follow Jonas, I stayed with him a little but he rode faster and faster and I was dropped, the pace was very high. But ultimately at the finish I only lost around thirty seconds behind Jonas. I can consider myself lucky, because I am 3rd in the stage and I gained time over those behind me. The 4th rider is 4 minutes behind me, that’s a great lead. About Tadej and Jonas, they have more experience and more power than me. I will continue to fight for the podium. With Jonas, you never know, he is not that far away and must have also felt that Tadej was too strong, so he will perhaps go on the defensive and there will be some moves for us to make.”
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “I Love Racing On Instinct”
“The plan was to win the stage in the final sprint and try to get a few bonus seconds, but winning like this is way better! We found ourselves in an ideal scenario. Adam’s attack put me in a situation in which I could attack, following my instinct. It’s because of the excellent work of my teammates that I’ve done this, and I’m thankful to all of them. I’m super happy I’ve won. I’ve got one more Tour stage win now. Let’s keep this positive energy so we can win more. This Tour de France must be great to watch on TV. I was feeling really good today. Things were not going according to plan on the final climb, as we were missing one man – Juan [Ayuso] had to pull out from the race yesterday and so Joao [Almeida] was working very hard already with 8 km to go. I saw an opportunity that Adam Yates could attack and go for the stage win himself, relieving us from pulling in the Yellow Jersey group. Then, as I was feeling super good and nobody was trying anything GC-wise, I saw an opportunity to attack myself, bridge across and get a good gap for the GC as well as the stage win. I want to stress my thanks to Adam for his work today. The situation in the GC is definitely better now than it was before the stage, but you never know how things will end up. There is a long way to go until Nice. The real mountain stages just started today! The key is we have a strong team to support my options. In every interview they tell me that I have to save energy, but I love racing on instinct. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t… but I love it that way.”
TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 14 | PAU > SAINT-LARY-SOULAN PLA D’ADET | DAILY STATS
39”: POGAČAR DISTANCES VINGEGAARD LIKE NEVER BEFORE
Today’s challenge up Pla d’Adet was the 15th Tour summit finish with Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard both in the race and it was the 13th time the Slovenian finished ahead of the Dane. The result is unprecedented for Pogačar though, as he never managed to open such a gap – 39” – to his rival on a summit finish. His previous record was 32” in Tignes (Tour 2021) and 24” in Cauterets-Cambasque (2023). On every other occasion, Vingegaard finished less than 8” behind Pogačar.
On the other hand, the two summit finishes where Vingegaard got the better of Pogačar led to massive gaps: 2’51” at Col du Granon (2022) and 1’04” at Hautacam (2022).
5X2: POGAČAR IS A SERIAL WINNER
For the 5th year in a row, Tadej Pogačar wins at least 2 stages in the Tour de France, bringing his tally up to 13 wins. He is the 4th rider to achieve such a series. And if we consider, these are his first 5 Tour participations, only 2 riders before him managed to do it.
The longest series with multiple stage wins:
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- Nicolas Frantz, 6 years in a row, from 1924 until 1929 (from his 1st until his 6th participation)
- Mark Cavendish, 6, 2008-2013 (2-7)
- Bernard Hinault, 5, 1978-1982 (1-5)
- Tadej Pogačar, 5, 2020-2024 (1-5)
- Eddy Merckx won multiple stages in his first 4 Tours, from 1969 until 1972, then skipped the 1973 edition, and returned in winning fashion in 1974 and 1975.
3/3: POGAČAR LOVES THE TOURMALET
For the 3rd time in his career, Tadej Pogačar climbed the Tourmalet in a Tour de France stage. And for the 3rd time, he won the stage, with Jonas Vingegaard always coming 2nd.
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- Pau – Luz-Ardiden 2021
- Tarbes – Cauterets-Cambasque 2023
- Pau – Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet 2024
16: POGAČAR IS BY FAR THE BEST SCORER
With a 16th win this season, Tadej Pogačar puts more distance between him and the 2nd most successful rider of the year, Tim Merlier (12). He is only 1 victory shy of his best season to date, with 17 wins last year. And since he already won 16 times in 2022, he is now up 49 wins in the last 3 seasons. When will the 50th come?
107.9: ARMIRAIL SPEEDS UP ON HOME ROADS
Hailing from Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Bruno Armirail has climbed and descended the Tourmalet dozens of times since he was a kid. On stage 14, he made the most of his knowledge at the front of the race, averaging 20.6km/h on the ascent… and hitting 107.9km/h on the downhill, the highest speed recorded by the NTT Data trackers.
13: LAZKANO, A NEW SPANISH CONQUEROR OF THE TOURMALET
With an average speed of 20.6km/h over the 19km of ascent, Oier Lazkano became the 71st different rider to go first atop the Tourmalet in a stage of the Tour (out of 87 ascents) and the 13th Spaniard to do so. The first was Vicente Trueba, in 1933, and the last David de la Fuente, in 2006. Federico Bahamontes (1954, 1962, 1963) and Julio Jimenez (1964, 1965, 1967) both dominated the ascent on 3 occasions.
33: POGAČAR CLOSES IN ON BOTTECCHIA
With a 33rd Maillot Jaune, Tadej Pogačar is only one step behind Ottavio Bottecchia, who claimed 34 from 1923 until 1925. Exactly 100 years ago, he became the first Italian winner of the Tour, leading the race from day 1 until the finish, and he was especially impressive in the Pyrenees, gaining almost 20 minutes on his first chaser as he went over the Tourmalet en route to Luchon (stage 6).
