The second Tour de France stage finish at Le Markstein, three years after the previous one, crowned the same winner: Tadej Pogacar. This second success reads very differently from the previous: at the time, the Slovenian star bounced back to a consolation victory as he suffered the dominance of Jonas Vingegaard in the overall standings. Three years later, the UAE Emirates XRG leader shone at his brightest, the Maillot Jaune on his back, as he powered to a fourth victory this year, alone at the front. Across his seven participations, he now has 25 stage wins, the same total as André Leducq. Only three riders remain ahead: Mark Cavendish (35), Eddy Merckx (34), and Bernard Hinault (28). Second on the day, Isaac del Toro achieved another 1-2 for UAE Emirates XRG. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) completed the day’s top 3 and climbed one spot in the overall standings, surpassing Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) and taking the white jersey as the leader of the young riders’ classification.
The first contact with the Vosges was focused on the ascent and descent of Ballon d’Alsace, en route to Belfort, where attackers prevailed on Friday. Stage 14 is a proper rollercoaster with four major climbs and an elevation gain of 3,800 metres packed in 155.3 km of racing between Mulhouse and Le Markstein Fellering.
Healy shapes the break
Before the climbing festival, Alpecin-Premier Tech control the early part of the stage to ensure maximum points for Jasper Philipsen at the intermediate sprint (Wattwiller, km 12.6). Soon after the line, the peloton reach the bottom of the Grand Ballon (cat. 1, summit at km 36.6) and a fierce battle for the breakaway develops.
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) attacks early on the ascent and proves a driving force to make the break. Around 30 riders join him at the front, including his teammates Richard Carapaz, Alex Baudin, and Georg Steinhauser. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) is back on the move the day after his breakaway to Belfort that saw him move to the fourth place in the overall standings. As for Visma-Lease a Bike, they’ve sent Matteo Jorgenson, Bruno Armirail and Victor Campenaerts up the road.
Paret-Peintre conquers KOMs
Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) conquers the first summit of the day ahead of Richard Carapaz. The duo keep going on the downhill. They’re joined at the front by Healy and the Johannessen twins, Tobias and Anders. Propelled by his teammate Pablo Castrillo, Einer Rubio makes it a 6-man lead group on the second ascent of the day, Col du Page (cat. 2, km 71.3). Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) was chasing with them but he lost his position due to a mechanical.
Paret-Peintre crests the summit first again. The gap to the bunch hits a maximum of 3’10’’ on the following descent. Meanwhile, Armirail and Campenaerts give it their all to try and keep the chase group ahead of the peloton.
Onto the Ballon d’Alsace, Paret-Peintre complets a hat-trick of KOMs and takes the lead of the mountain standings with a tally of 43 points, one more than Pogacar. Carapaz is up to 38 points. At the summit, the chasers trail by 1’50’’ and the peloton by 2 minutes. They get back together on the downhill.
Seixas in the wake of Pogacar and Del Toro
At the front, Healy empties his tank to give Carapaz the best chances of battling for the stage win. Anders Johannessen does the same for his brother. But the gap is down to minute and a half at the bottom of the final climb, Col du Haag (cat. 1, km 149.4).
Johannessen and Carapaz rapidly distance their rivals while Decathlon CMA CGM up the ante in the GC group. The Ecuadorian climber goes solo with just under 9 kilometres remaining on the ascent. Johannessen doesn’t give up and gets back to him 3 kilometres from the summit. But behind them, Vingegaard accelerates and eventually closes the gap 2.5 km from the summit.
Less than a kilometre later, the gradient reaches 16% and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG) dances on the pedals. Vingegaard tries to react. Seixas gets back to him at the summit. And Del Toro closes the gap on the false flat leading to the finish. While Pogacar powers to his 25th stage win in the Tour, Del Toro takes second ahead of Seixas, who gains 16 seconds on Ayuso. The French star takes the white jersey, his first distinction in the Tour.
