So Steve Cummings climbed to claim his first Tour de France stage victory, a brilliant result for the British former Team Sky and BMC racing rider. Peter Sagan extended his lead in the green jersey and likewise Chris Froome added to his advantage in the overall standings, beating his main GC rivals on the final climb.
That’s all from me but stick around on the site for the stage report and reaction and come along for tomorrow’s stage 15, from Mende to Valence. Bye!
Steve Cummings after winning stage 14: “I though the last few years I was capable of this. It’s always hard to win because you have to play it really well. I’m just delighted for everyone in the team. I wasn’t really thinking of the win. I threw caution to wind and just went straight away.”
That is the first Grand Tour stage victory of an African-based team (MTN-Qhubeka), and on Mandela Day, too. Kudos to TdF script writers. Meanwhile Froome has extended his GC lead:
Chris Froome extends his overall lead at the Tour to 3' 10" after 14 stages. Geraint Thomas now sits sixth on GC, 4' 54" back #TDF2015
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) July 18, 2015
Stage 14 top 5
1. Steve Cummings
2. Thibaut Pinot, at 0.02
3. Romain Bardet, at 0.03
4. Rigoberto Uran, at 0.20
5. Peter Sagan, at 0.29
Steve Cummings is in tears after the race, what a result for the 34-year-old, winning his first Tour de France stage in dramatic fashion. It is a shame he had to be wearing MTN-Qhubeka’s black-and-white referee kit, but it’s a great result for them too so let’s not let that spoilt it.
Updated
Vincenzo Nibali crosses the line, followed by Tejay van Garderen, and it looks like the American BMC rider has lost his second place overall to Quintana today.
Back in what is left of the peloton, Quintana has Froome on his wheel. The Colombian kicks up a gear and tries to leave the yellow jersey wearer behind, but Froome sticks with him. Likewise, further back down the mountain Valverde gets away from Contador who struggles to stay in touch. Froome and Quintana charge to the line and the Briton might have made a second on his rival.
Updated
Steve Cummings wins stage 14!
Out of nowhere, Briton Steve Cummings takes on the leaders and he’s jumped Pinot and Bardet. Incredible show of strength from the MTN-Qhubeka rider and he’s gone clear as the climb flattens out... Cummings does it!
Updated
Quintana goes and Nibali goes with him. Valverde chases and behind him Froome tries to tag on, with Contador on his wheel. At the front it’s chaos: only Thibaut Pinot now appears to be able to stay near Bardet and it looks to be this French duo going for the stage victory.
2km to go
Two races are going on simultaneously. At the front Koren and Golas’s race is run and Bardet is on the front. He attacks a sharp, 11% section of the climb and Simon Yates and Rigoberto Uran are the two trying to go with him. Fans jump into the road in front of them as they drive uphill. Back in the peloton Team Sky continue to lead five minutes back from the leaders... and suddenly Quintana breaks! Will Froome chase?
Updated
Romain Bardet has had enough and he kicks away towards the leading duo! The rest of the breakaway group has been caught on the hop: Uran and Bakelants go with Bardet but Pinot has been dropped a little. Five minutes back down the road the peloton remains as one with all the main GC contenders.
The predicted thunderstorms haven’t arrived and FDJ riders Roy, Pinot and Ladagnous continue to work in the blazing sunshine to close down Koren and Golas out in front. This steady pace is surely working in the favour of Sagan and Van Avermaet as they reach Mende.
5km to go
Closing in on the final, brutal climb to the top of the Côte de la Croix Neuve, and Koren and Golas remain around 15sec clear of the 18 chasers. Back in the peloton, Cofidis rider Nicolas Edet kicks away.
Crowds line the narrow roadside as Golas moves aside and encourages Koren to pull for a stint. The 19 chasers remain 20sec back with around 8km to go. Back in the peloton (6min behind the leaders) none of the big GC players have attacked, yet, Team Sky still on the front.
The leading duo come to the top of the Côte de Chabrits. Could we have a repeat of yesterday’s finish? Among the 18 riders behind is Greg van Avermaet and Peter Sagan, the former pipping the latter in stage 13.
10km to go
Koren catches Golas out in front and the pair begin to work together to move clear of the breakaway-ers, including Sagan, Pinot and Bardet, who are around 20sec back.
Richie Porte gets a friendly push from his former team-mate Mark Cavendish as he works his way back to the peloton after falling back to pick up a drink. Team Sky continue to lead the peloton with Van Garderen’s BMC Racing team on their shoulder. A moment later Richie Porte pulls over – it looks like he may have just suffered a puncture.
Michal Golas is upping his output as he reaches the foot of the category four Côte de Chabrits climb. The town of Barjac cheers him through – it’s less than 2km to the top before heading down towards the final ascent, and the Etixx rider has a gap of around 25secs from the 18-strong breakaway group... all of a sudden Cannondale Garmin’s Kristijan Koren decides to split from them and chase Golas on his own.
20km to go
The Etixx QuickStep rider, Golas, gets down low off his saddle as he descends with a 15sec lead over the rest of the breakaway, who are staying in touch with the Pole. The peloton, featuring all the big GC contenders, is around 5min 37sec back and continues to be tugged along by Team Sky with Richie Porte and Ian Stannard on the front. Behind the peloton a group of stragglers have decided to conserve some energy for another day, and unsurprisingly its the sprinters with Greipel, Cavendish and Kristoff among them.
Updated
Michal Golas decides to inject a bit of pace into proceedings to split up the neat pack of 20 breakaway riders. It may be a move to disrupt those riders who would prefer a bunch finish like Sagan, with Golas’s team-mate Rigoberto Uran’s chances in mind. Meanwhile, Sepulveda has a technical problem and needs a quick bike change.
The breakaway riders reach the top of Côte de Sauveterre as one, and start the descent to the foot of the penultimate climb: Côte de Chabrits. At the top FDJ’s Matthieu Ladagnous won the maximum five King of the Mountains points. The group of 20 are around 5min 30sec clear of the peloton.
Tinkoff-Saxo rider Sagan pulls across to have a chat with his team car. In it is Russian oligarch and team owner Oleg Tinkov, who didn’t hold back yesterday following Sagan’s latest near miss for a stage victory:
i fucking crashed my Bang&Olufsen TV set. the team was working hard, he was well positioned, but...no karma https://t.co/688dlG0ce2
— Oleg Tinkov (@olegtinkov) July 17, 2015
FDJ continue to front the breakaway, with Jeremy Roy and Matthieu Ladagnous attempting to set up the stage win for Thibaut Pinot. Remember, Peter Sagan is in there too, desperate for a stage victory after four second-placed finishes in this year’s Tour. It’s fair to say we have two separate races, one for the stage victory which the breakaway-ers will contest, and one for time gain in the overall standings on which the peloton will battle. The leading 20 riders are 5min 40sec ahead of the peloton.
🚄🚄🚄🚄 @EquipeFDJ vs 🚄🚄🚄🚄 @TeamSky : + 6'00''. #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/T3YjgQcSEe
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 18, 2015
Updated
35km to go and the breakaway riders are a third of the way up the 9km Côte de Sauveterre category two climb. Interestingly, Richie Porte has taken it upon himself to push along the peloton and the gap to the leaders is falling, now down to around 5min 50sec. The Australian is putting in a gritty shift on this ascent. That 20-strong breakaway group in full:
Andriy Grivko (Astana), Romain Bardet and Jan Bakelants (AG2R-La Mondiale), Thibaut Pinot, Matthieu Ladagnous and Jérémy Roy (FDJ), Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), Greg van Avermaet (BMC), Koen de Kort (Giant-Alpecin), Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), Michal Golas and Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-Quick Step), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Bob Jungels (Trek), Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida), Kristjian Koren (Cannondale-Garmin), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling), Pierre-Luc Périchon (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and Stephen Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka).
Updated
Here’s a nice graphic to show how FDJ riders Matthieu Ladagnous and Thibaut Pinot are taking responsibility at the front of the breakaway, while Team Sky have fronted the peloton for much of the stage, led primarily by the imposing Ian Stannard, who offers a nice big shield for Chris Froome.
Proportion of time riders have led the breakaway from the 80-100km mark. #TDFdata #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/8u0QOCocRE
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 18, 2015
Proportion of riders leading the peloton from the 80-120km mark. @TeamSky has led since the sprint. #TDFdata #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/UkLX65nhYL
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 18, 2015
The peloton snakes through an arched opening in the rock as they ride north towards the Côte de Sauveterre. The breakaway lead remains at around 6min 31sec.
That crash pictured below, after 5km, has reportedly caused Morabito a broken collarbone. Pinot, Roy and Greipel all came off too but had a little more luck and have continued.
Morabito (FDJ) who crashed at km 5 is confirmed to have a broken collarbone. His team-mates Pinot and Roy are in the breakaway. #TDF2015
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 18, 2015
Updated
Some photos from stage 14 so far:
With 55km to go, the peloton is chasing a big leading group. The gap is around 6 minutes. #TDF2015
— LottoNLJumbo Cycling (@LottoJumbo_road) July 18, 2015
Following the intermediate sprint earlier in the stage, which Peter Sagan won comfortably without great challenge, the Tinkoff-Saxo rider has broken 300 points to strengthen his grip on the green jersey. Here are the current standings:
1. Peter Sagan (Slovakia / Tinkoff - Saxo) 305
2. Andre Greipel (Germany / Lotto) 261
3. John Degenkolb (Germany / Giant) 228
4. Mark Cavendish (Britain / Etixx - Quick-Step) 192
5. Bryan Coquard (France / Europcar) 120
Updated
With 60km to go, AG2R’s Bardet and Bakelants nestle in the breakaway to talk tactics. The gap to the peloton remains around six and a half minutes as the riders gently ascend.
What’s it like to be a team chef, you ask? Here’s Etixx QuickStep with the answer:
#TDF2015 VIDEO: Team Chef Tom Caubergs talks about cooking for our riders! 🍳 https://t.co/gY3Qb9MrBJ
— Etixx - Quick-Step (@Etixx_QuickStep) July 18, 2015
Team Sky are still on the front of the peloton and close behind them are several BMC riders including Tejay van Garderen, Movistar and Nairo Quintana, with Contador’s Tinkoff-Saxo and Astana (Nibali, Fuglsang) also in tow. Rafal Majka moves to the side of the road to his car, to strap on one of those bottle bags that looks like something a hostage might have to wear in a Die Hard sequel. The gap to the breakaway group is now down to 6min 30sec.
If you’ve just joined the race situation with 70km is a pretty simple one, with a breakaway group of 20 riders around 7min 10sec ahead of the Team Sky-led peloton, which includes the main GC contenders. In around 30km the leaders will reach the foot of the Côte de Sauveterre, the first of three climbs of which the final ascent leads to the stage finish.
It will be interesting to see for how long the group stays intact but for now they ride clear as one, and the stage winner looks likely to come from this group (names listed below). Froome and company will be happy enough with Contador, Quintana, Van Garderen and Valverde all in the peloton but expect plenty of attacks there too, later in the stage.
News coming in that Giant-Alpecin rider Ramon Sinkeldam has abandoned the Tour through sickness.
#TdF2015 Abandon Ramon Sinkeldam The leaders have a 7.14 gap with 74K to go, Sky leading the peloton.
— TourdeFrance Updates (@CyclingUptodate) July 18, 2015
Team Sky continue to drive on the peloton from the front, squeezing the gap to the breakaway-ers down to 7min 2sec.
By the way, do get in touch with any team and rider name-puns which entertained me during stage 12. Richard Lea emailed in last but not least: “I know its late but surely today’s tv show is Keeping up with the Katusha-ians.” And here’s a questionably fun game on a Saturday afternoon: how many of the Lotto Soudal riders in their drawing can you name?
#bottleoftheday Tour Heroes... The @Lotto_Soudal riders nicely drawn! #messageonabottle #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/ESYMZiS9N2
— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) July 18, 2015
The peloton passes through the feed zone where lunch bags include great balls of ice. At the nose, Geraint Thomas gratefully presses one to his skin. There are 80km remaining in this stage and three testing climbs. The peloton has reeled in the breakaway a touch, the gap down to 7min 20sec, but you get the feeling the stage winner will come from the front bunch while an entirely different race plays out behind them for the yellow jersey.
At the finish, a storm is brewing:
A Mende l'orage menace #ALLEZALM #TDF2015 #Lozere pic.twitter.com/zIKowm9DXE
— AG2R LA MONDIALE (@AG2RLAMONDIALEc) July 18, 2015
Plaza decides to wait for the rest and the breakaway assembles as one. The 20-strong group – and it is pretty strong with plenty of big names enrolled – are 8min clear of the peloton which contains Froome and the other main yellow jersey contenders. In between the two groups is Luis Ángel Maté, the Spanish rider no doubt enjoying the scenery on his tod. The breakaway in full:
Andriy Grivko (Astana), Romain Bardet and Jan Bakelants (AG2R-La Mondiale), Thibaut Pinot, Matthieu Ladagnous and Jérémy Roy (FDJ), Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), Greg van Avermaet (BMC), Koen de Kort (Giant-Alpecin), Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), Michal Golas and Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-Quick Step), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Bob Jungels (Trek), Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida), Kristjian Koren (Cannondale-Garmin), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling), Pierre-Luc Périchon (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and Stephen Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka).
Following the sprint Ruben Plaza goes clear on his own. The peloton rides under the spectacular (British designed) Millau Viaduct in what is a good-looking stage in general, which includes the Gorges du Tarn. The main pack are around 8min back from the leader.
Updated
Not really, is the answer, as Sagan half-sprints clear while looking back over his shoulder to keep an eye on the rest. Greipel is back in the peloton so Sagan increases his green jersey lead, as Ruben Plaza crosses second behind him.
An intermediate sprint is approaching. Peter Sagan has placed himself up front – will anyone attempt to challenge him for the green jersey points?
That last time reading was a little (loads) off: the leaders have actually opened up a fair gap since breaking away and, with 75km gone of this stage 14, have an advantage of around 6mins. The 30sec gap I was referring to is to a counterattack of around 13 riders which includes yesterday’s winner Van Avermaet, Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet.
Andrew Talansky slips off the back of the breakaway with a puncture, but is quickly back in the main bunch. Seven riders lead in a breakaway around 30sec clear of the peloton: Grivko, Ladagnous, Sagan, Uran, Jungels, Plaza and Pantano.
Sagan, Pantano and Jungels have successfully bridged the gap to the leaders to make a group of eight out in front. They sweep round a hairpin and head north-east along the banks of Le Tarn with a 40sec advantage on the peloton, which the dark blue of Team Sky continue to lead along with Porte’s polka dots and Froome in yellow.
If you like looking at nice photos do take a look at the best images from yesterday’s action (warning: He who must not be named does feature, looking smug on a bike):
Back on the course the breakaway has fragmented a little. Grivko, Ladagnous, Uran, Plaza and Talansky have attacked and Sagan, Jungels and Pantano have decided they want to come along too. The Team Sky-fronted peloton has swallowed up the rest of the runaways and is timed around 40sec down on the leading quintet.
Updated
While the peloton snakes towards the top of the Col de Vernhette before a 14km descent to Le Tarn river, here’s a quick reminder of the latest news. After Greg Van Avermaet took an intense uphill finish ahead of a “pissed, very angry and disappointed” Peter Sagan (his fourth second-place of the Tour) to win stage 13, Richie Porte spoke out to denounce some of the local support as “a disgrace”:
“I was [punched] in the last 3km. I got a full-on punch. It was the same atmosphere on Alpe d’Huez two years ago. They are so anti whatever we are.
“Do I deserve to be booed? Does Chris Froome deserve all this? I don’t think so. Maybe in 10 years’ time they’re going to see that these victories are legitimate. It’s a disgrace how some of these people carry on.
“It’s a disgrace they say the same thing to Chris Froome. Just because this team has got its act together. We do everything right. Look at the Tour we are having. You can’t question that we are getting stuck in for Froomey.
“Seven of us at the bottom for him. No other team had that. It’s because we are organised and committed.”
IAM Cycling are on the peloton’s nose keeping up a high tempo to prevent any major gap developing to the breakaway. The effect has been to shed some riders from the back of the peloton as they head south towards Saint Rome de Tarn, and the stragglers include Sepulveda, Kristoff, Greipel and Boasson Hagen.
Stage 14 so far
The bunch is through 40km but not all have made it: a crash after 5km involving FDJ’s Steve Morabito, Thibaut Pinot and Robert Gesink held up plenty of riders including Alberto Contador, briefly, and Morabito has been forced to abandon the Tour.
At the front several different teams and riders have attacked, including Cyril Gautier and Peter Sagan, but one larger group’s efforts seem to have finally stuck. The 24-strong pack are around 1min ahead of the peloton and does not feature any of the GC contenders. Here are your breakaway names (deep breath):
Andriy Grivko (Astana), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ), Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), Adriano Malori (Movistar), Warren Barguil and Koen de Kort (Giant), Giampaolo Caruso and Alberto Losada (Katusha), Pieter Weening and Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), Rigoberto Uran (Etixx), Pierre Rolland and Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Bob Jungels (Trek), Ruben Plaza and Rafael Valls (Lampre), Andrew Talansky and Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin), Luis Angel Maté (Cofidis), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM), Bartosz Huzarski and Paul Voss (Bora), Pierre-Luc Périchon (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and Stephen Cummings (MTN).
General classification after stage 13
1 Chris Froome (Gbr) Team Sky 51hrs 34mins 21secs
2 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team at 2mins 52secs
3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team at 3mins 09secs
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team at 3mins 58secs
5 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky at 4mins 03secs
6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo at 4mins 04secs
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo at 5mins 32secs
8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal at 7mins 32secs
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team at 7mins 47secs
10 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing at 8mins 01secs
11 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin at 9mins 3secs
12 Mathias Frank (Swi) IAM Cycling at 12mins 35secs
13 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team at 13mins 14secs
14 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar at 14mins 07secs
15 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 17mins 26secs
16 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Garmin at 20mins 07secs
17 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha at 23mins 21secs
18 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team at 25mins 36secs
19 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Bretagne-Seche at 29mins 10secs
20 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team at 29mins 22secs
Updated
Hello! Welcome to stage 14 for what promises (OK, might turn out) to be a right royal rumble up the Côte de la Croix Neuve. The stage doesn’t really end in the stated finish-town of Mende but in an old airfield high above it, and to get there riders must scale the 3km climb which tilts to 13% gradient in places. That it follows the Côte de Sauveterre, at the end of a 178km stage and after two week’s racing, makes the ascent locals call La Monteé Laurent Jalabert (after the Frenchman’s spectacular 1995 win here) even more gruelling.
The sun is blazing in the south of France again, with predicted thunderstorms to see us home. Temperatures are above 30 degrees Celsius so all jerseys will be drenched through come the close, with or without the rain. Thousands of bidons are at the ready (riders reportedly used nearly 30 each yesterday) for another tough, up and down sort of ride.
Given the finish, the sprinters won’t feature in stage 14. It’s a close that suits climbers like Joaquim Rodriguez, who won here in 2010 and has two stage victories so far in this Tour. The Spaniard came in at the back of the pack yesterday several minutes down on the leaders, perhaps saving himself for specific stage victory bids. But Rodriguez, like most of the bunch, won’t be affecting the GC contenders today: Chris Froome’s job is simply to maintain his advantage over Tejay van Garderden, Nairo Quintana and the handful of others still eyeing his yellow jersey.
Updated
Stage 14: Rodez to Mende (178.5km)
This stage has a lumpy finale with the finish up the notorious short, steep climb to Mende’s airfield, three kilometres long, gradient 10%.
Most likely, a strong escape will go on the very hilly early roads and gain enough time to fight out the stage win – outsiders who can climb like Daniel Teklehaimanot of MTN are the obvious choices – then the big players will show later in their own private contest.
The two-mile climb to the finish suits all the big four and should enable whoever has emerged the strongest from the Pyrenees to gain a little more time. Short and steep means Froome and Quintana in the box seat.
Read more from our stage-by-stage guide.
