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Bad crashes on stage 14
Motorbike disrupts epic duel of Vingegaard and Pogacar
7/15/2023 5:54 p.m
The battle for overall victory in the Tour de France also characterizes the 14th stage. After a mass fall at the beginning, the leader Jonas Vingegaard and pursuer Tadej Pogacar duel again at the end. On the final mountain, motorcycles play an inglorious role.
The Spanish professional cyclist Carlos Rodriguez won the first stage in the Alps at the 110th Tour de France. The 22-year-old from the Ineos Grenadiers team prevailed in a controversial final after 151.8 kilometers ahead of Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia/UAE Team Emirates) and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Jumbo-Visma). On the last mountain, first Pogacar and then Rodriguez were clearly hampered by support motorcycles.
“I wanted to attack one last time before the pass. I put everything in, then the bikes didn’t move. I wasted a cartridge there. But that’s how it is. We’ll try again,” said Pogacar.
He attacked several times on the Col de Joux Plane and put a small gap between himself and Vingegaard. But the Dane recovered and drove up again. When Pogacar started again 500 meters from the pass, he couldn’t get past a photographer’s and a TV bike. Vingegaard then surprised his opponent at the top of the pass and secured three bonus seconds. At the finish, Pogacar regained two seconds with his second place. “It was a big fight. I’m happy to have gained a second,” said Vingegaard.
Vingegaard thus retained the yellow jersey as the overall leader. The defending champions are now ten seconds clear of Pogacar in the standings. Rodriguez (+4:43 minutes) replaced the Australian Jai Hindley from the German team Bora-hansgrohe (+4:44) in third place by a hair’s breadth. The eventual stage winner was also hampered by a TV bike on the final climb. He initially pushed it aside and then had to make an unplanned detour.
However, the duel for the yellow jersey was initially not an issue. The first mass fall of this year’s Tour caused a stop a good five kilometers after the sharp start in Annemasse. About 20 riders fell on a descent and the same number were stopped. Each of the 22 teams was somehow involved, so tour director Christian Prudhomme neutralized and stopped the race.
Seven tasks in one stage
The fall meant the immediate end of the tour for the Spaniard Antonio Pedrero and the South African Louis Meintjes – both had to give up the race and be taken to the hospital. A broken collarbone at Meintjes was immediately confirmed. The 31-year-old was 13th overall and was the captain of the Intermarché team with Georg Zimmermann from Augsburg.
Esteban Chavez got off his bike a little later. The Colombian champion had tried to continue after the almost half-hour race break, but the pain in his shoulder was too great. In another descent, John Degenkolb’s teammate Romain Bardet, up to then 12th overall, and James Shaw fell. Both the Frenchman and the Briton involuntarily said goodbye to the tour. During the stage, Dutchman Ramon Sinkeldam and Portuguese Ruben Guerreiro also got off their bikes.
You will at least be spared the next mountain ordeal on Sunday. The 15th stage leads over 179 kilometers from Les Gets to the mountain finish in Saint-Gervais within sight of Mont Blanc. The final climb, which is only seven kilometers long, should be more for Pogacar than Vingegaard, but the gaps will probably not be too big.
This year’s Tour of France is heading for an exceptionally tight result anyway. Vingegaard and Pogacar had started this 14th stage just nine seconds apart. So far there have only been five editions of the Tour de France where the leader and pursuer have been even closer together. In 2008, only a second separated Cadel Evans and Frank Schleck. In the end neither of them won, but the Spaniard Carlos Sastre. Such a twist is unlikely to happen on the current tour.