Cummings prevails over French duelists

175 riders started stage 14 in Rodez. A crash at km 5 involved Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) and took Steve Morabito (FDJ) out of the race. Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) were among the most active riders at the very beginning of the race. A breakaway was formed at km 18 by Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin), Gianpaolo Caruso (Katusha), Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge) and Bartosz Huzarski (Bora-Argon 18). 19 riders joined them at the front, including Jarlinson Pantano whose IAM Cycling team seriously chased at the head of the peloton. From that group of 24, Andriy Grivko (Astana), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ), Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-Quick Step), Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida) and Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Garmin) rode away at km 45. Talansky was ousted because of flat tyre after counter-attackers reinforced the leading group.

Mission accomplished for Sagan

Right after Peter Sagan won the intermediate sprint under the Millau viaduct (km 78) and made a decisive jump in the quest of his fourth green jersey, 20 riders regrouped at the front: 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). After the sprint, they got a maximum lead of 8.15, after which Team Sky stabilized the time gap around seven minutes.

Bardet and Pinot were so close…

Michal Golas was the first rider to attack from the breakaway group with 27km to go. Kristjian Koren rejoined him 11km before the finish. FDJ outnumbered the other teams and did most of the work at the front to bring Thibaut Pinot in a favorable position at the bottom of the côte de la Croix-Neuve. With only nine seconds lead with 5km to go, Golas and Koren had little chances to make it to the finish. Bardet caught them with 3.8km to go. A French duo was formed when Pinot came across to Bardet with 1.8km to go. It looked like the passionate duel of the new generation but Stephen Cummings rejoined them after the top of hill and rode them off before the last corner to claim a well deserved and very tactical victory. Five minutes behind the breakaway riders, the fight of the “Big Five” confirmed Chris Froome's superiority. Only Nairo Quintana finished with him and passed Tejay van Garderen to move up to second in the overall ranking.