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Sunday, July 14, 2024

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

Hope is patience with the lamp lit. - Tertullian

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Current racing:

• June 29 - July 21: Tour de France

Upcoming racing:

• July 27 - August 11: Olympic cycling

Latest completed racing:

• June 9 - 26: Many National Championships
• June 15 - 18: La Route d'Occitanie Cancelled because security forces busy with Olympics
• June 9 - 16: Tour de Suisse
• June 12 - 16: Baloise Belgium Tour
• June 2 - 9: Critérium du Dauphiné
• June 5 - 9: ZLM Tour
• June 7: GP Canton Aargau
• June 2: Brussels Cycling Classic

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Tour de France Stage 14 reports

We posted the report from the race organizer with the results.

Here's the Tour stage 14 report from 2nd-place Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Jonas Vingegaard finished second in the fourteenth stage of the Tour de France. In the mountain stage with a finish on the summit of Pla d'Adet, the Dane made a good impression, but had to acknowledge his superiority to Tadej Pogacar. Vingegaard is now number two in the general classification.

Jonas Vingegaard on the climb to Pla d'Adet. Sirotti photo

After a long, flat run-up, the peloton had to conquer the Tourmalet first. Via Hourquette d'Ancizan, the road led to Pla d'Adet, a climb of the outer category. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike troops were well represented in the peloton throughout the day. Leader Vingegaard was well protected.

After Adam Yates launched an attack and picked up the last remaining early breakaway rider, Pogacar decided to attack. Vingegaard immediately anticipated, but could not immediately pick up on the Slovenian's wheel. For a long time, Vingegaard remained a few meters from his rival, but towards the final kilometers, the fighting reigning Tour de France winner had to allow Pogacar to get further and further out of sight. The difference on the line was 39 seconds.

Vingegaard looked back on the ride afterwards with mixed feelings. "I am satisfied with my own delivered performance, but at the same time of course disappointed with the time loss. This is Tadej's territory, but of course I would have preferred not to have lost any time today. On the steep sections of the climb I felt like I was getting closer and closer. However, the final kilometers were right up Tadej's alley, given the power he has. He deserved the stage win today. I am already looking forward to tomorrow. It will be climbing from the start. It will be a long, grueling day. Those days usually suit me. Together with the strong team I have around me, we will do everything we can to make it a success. The battle is definitely not over yet," Vingegaard stressed.

"Unfortunately we lost time on the competitor today," said sports director Grischa Niermann. "That's the painful conclusion. We knew Pogacar would attack on the last climb. His acceleration is always hard for Jonas to answer. Jonas rode a very strong ride, as he rides Remco Evenepoel out of the wheel, for example. We look at the situation from day to day. We remain combative and certainly don't give up. There are seven stages left, starting with tomorrow's tricky stage. We are going to make a new plan."

Here's the Tour report from third-place Remco Evenepoel's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Ten years on from its previous appearance, Pla d’Adet made its Tour de France return, at the end of a tough stage 14 that also featured the iconic Col du Tourmalet and Hourquette d’Ancizan. The climb made famous in 1974 by Raymond Poulidor, who took a fantastic solo win from a field that included the likes of Eddy Merckx and Joaquim Agostinho, averaged 7.9% over 10.6 kilometers and ended up seriously testing the GC men.

Remco Evenepoel finishes third in stage fourteen.

Soudal Quick-Step was one of the strongest teams out there, and only one of the two to tackle the last HC ascent with more than three men. Remco Evenepoel, who started the day second in the overall standings, had Jan Hirt, Mikel Landa and Ilan Van Wilder with him as they started the steep gradients of Pla d’Adet. The Wolfpack pushed a solid tempo at the front, making sure Evenepoel remained in a good position on the first three kilometers, the toughest of the climb.

When the winners of the last four editions attacked with five kilometers to go, Remco at first tried to respond to these accelerations before deciding to ride his own tempo as he conjured up a valiant effort to limit the losses. This allowed the 24-year-old Belgian to keep enough in the tank for the final part of the stage, while at the same time opening a good gap on the first chasing group. Evenepoel concluded the stage won by Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in third place – his fourth podium of this edition – and now sits in the same position on the general classification ahead of the second consecutive day in the Pyrenees.

“Third on this hard stage is a good result and I am satisfied, especially as the two guys who finished in front of me were stronger and have a lot more experience than me in these kinds of stages. The team did a great job the entire day, and especially on the final climb, and I want to thank them for that. To be on the podium on the first stage in the Pyrenees is an important morale-boost for Sunday’s stage. I have four minutes on the next rider in the rankings, which is good at the moment, but the Tour is still long and we need to remain at the top of our game and continue to give our best”, said Remco, who remained at the top of the youth classification.

Here's the Tour report from fourth-place Carlos Rodriguez's Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Carlos Rodriguez put in an impressive climbing performance to claim fourth place on stage 14 at the Tour de France.

The result saw the Spaniard take back crucial seconds on fourth-placed Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), bringing the gap down to just eight seconds in a weekend full of climbing.

Carlos Rodriguez on the day's final climb. Sirotti photo

Rodriguez reacted well to the stage-winning acceleration of leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) on the final climb, quickly settling into a rhythm and finishing 1:19 back over the line.

The Grenadier began the final ascent with Egan Bernal and Laurens De Plus around him in a reduced peloton.

Michal Kwiatkowski enjoyed a strong day out in the breakaway. The Pole was part of a 10-man group that crested the Tourmalet, and established himself as the break split in half on the next climb.

Yet with the peloton flying behind, the group would eventually be caught, with Kwiatkowski drifting back on the Pla d'Adet.

Earlier the team began the stage without Tom Pidcock, who was disappointed to have to leave the race early after experiencing symptoms of Covid-19.

And here's the Tour stage 14 report from Primoz Roglic's Team Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe:

A crash on Wednesday, a crash on Thursday - on Friday morning it was decided that Primož Roglič will not start the 13th stage of the Tour de France. He will now recover and set his sights on new goals.

Primoz Roglic finsihes fourth in stage 11. Sirotti photo

Around 2,115 kilometers had already been completed and Primož Roglič was right on target: in 4th place overall, with a clear gap to the chasers and within reach of the podium. And, above all, in shape for the tough Tour finale. But a crash 12.4 kilometers before the finish of stage 12 through no fault of his own ended his dream of the yellow jersey.

For Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, the Tour plan is now changing. The last nine stages are all about stage wins.

Rolf Aldag :
“We have 6 world class riders here and the Tour de France is not over until Nice. We have to reset, out of respect for the race, out of respect because all these riders have spent 10 weeks away from home preparing. We should not give up! But we should set new goals.”

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