Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard remained relatively calm on Saturday in the fourteenth stage of the Tour de France. The rivals both had a tough time in the challenging mountain stage, partly due to the bad weather in the Pyrenees.
Vingegaard decided to launch an attack with 4 kilometers to go to the finish in Luchon-Superbagnères. “I expected Tadej to attack and try to win the stage,” the Dane said after the fourteenth stage to Eurosport. “When he didn’t, I decided to accelerate myself.”
Pogacar reacted immediately. A little later, he attacked himself, but it didn’t amount to much. At the finish line, the yellow jersey wearer’s lead over Vingegaard was much smaller than in the first two Pyrenees stages. Pogacar finished behind stage winner Thymen Arensman in second place, four seconds ahead of Vingegaard.
The world champion spoke after the race at the NOS about a “horribly tough stage”. That was due to the many altitude meters (5,020 meters) and the rain, mist, and cold temperatures. “At one point it even got quite scary,” said Pogacar.
“In the descent of the Tourmalet (the first climb of the stage, ed.) I only looked at the rear of my teammate Pavel Sivakov. I couldn’t see anything, it was so foggy. And then it was also slippery due to the rain. So I was on my bike with fear.”
‘One of the toughest mountain stages ever’
Vingegaard had also suffered a lot in the south of France. “This was one of the toughest mountain stages I have ever ridden,” said the leader of Visma-Lease a Bike. “But it was difficult for everyone. I am happy with the feeling in my legs. The fact that I could still attack at the end is very nice.”
Visma-Lease a Bike mainly hoped for a stage victory from the breakaway on Saturday. The Dutch team therefore sent Simon Yates and Sepp Kuss with the escape, but they were beaten by a very strong Arensman.
“I thought Pogacar’s team was going for the stage win, because they never gave the breakaway much of a lead,” said first team leader Grischa Niermann of Visma-Lease a Bike to the NOS. “But the moment Arensman attacked, it may have gone a little harder from the front than they had expected. It is a very clever victory from Arensman.”
Pogacar was also full of praise for the 25-year-old Dutchman. “I take my hat off to Thymen. He rode great today and scored a very deserved victory. I am happy for him. And for myself, because I still have the yellow jersey.”