Tour de France stage 14: Thibaut Pinot triumphs on the Tourmalet

French fans were once again given something to cheer on Saturday’s stage, as Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) took victory on one of the most iconic climbs of the Tour de France.

As if that wasn’t enough, his yellow jersey-wearing countryman Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) came home second, extending his overall lead on the GC, while his nearest rival Geraint Thomas (Ineos) shed time.

“Since the start of the Tour I’ve been targeting this stage, this is the one I wanted, the mythical Tourmalet,” said Pinot. “We are going into the third week now, people will be tired, but this is where I feel best,” he added, on a result that left him fifth on GC, 3:12 behind Alaphilippe.

The first high altitude climb of the day took no prisoners, with the GC group starting the ascent of the Tourmalet with all the main contenders together. However, as kilometer after kilometer of its relentless 19km slope ticked by, the fierce pace saw riders falling out the back one by one until only seven remained with 1km to go.

An acceleration from the seven-rider group by Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) dropped defending champion Thomas, who had looked on the ropes for the last 5km. The six remaining riders – Buchmann, Alaphilippe, Pinot, Mikel Landa (Movistar), Egan Bernal (Ineos), and Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) – came into the final 500-meter, 11% ramp together, sizing each other up for the sprint.

Pinot went first and gained a few meters gap. Bernal was first to respond with Kruijswijk, but the Frenchman was beyond reach and came to the finish line alone, gaining six seconds with his stinging acceleration. As Bernal faltered in his chase of Pinot, Alaphilippe rallied, hauling himself into second place, with Kruijswijk finishing third.

Though Thomas looked set to lose significant time given how fast he fell off the pace in the final kilometer, he limited his losses to come in 36 seconds down on Pinot, 30 seconds behind Alaphilippe.

“From the start I didn’t feel great,” said the Welshman, who is now 2:02 behind Alaphilippe. “I was hoping I’d come around a bit and obviously on the last climb it was just a matter of staying there as long as possible. I knew they’d kick at the end and I just tried to ride at my own pace and not go with them and die and lose more time.”

“My tour is exceptional,” said Alaphilippe after the stage. “Day after day, I continue to enjoy it and I defend the yellow jersey the best I can…Maybe some big teams are not sure of themselves, some riders have blown up today and the Tour is far from over.”

At the start of the day, all eyes were on Alaphilippe after he surprised everyone with his time trial win on Friday. The summit finish to the Tourmalet represented the first long, high altitude, climb of the Tour, and required a type of effort that was not a known part of Alapihilippe’s skillset.

The stage was a punchy 117km, with an ascent of the category 1 Col du Soulor planted in the middle before the 19km climb to the 2,115m summit of the mythical Col du Tourmalet.

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), nearly 30 minutes off the pace in the GC fight at the start of the day, went into a dreamteam early 2-man breakaway with green jersey Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) before being joined by 15 others, including polka dot jersey wearer Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), Élie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic), Lilian Calmejane, Romain Sicard (Total-Direct Energie), and Nibali’s teammate Matej Mohoric. In the first 50km of the race, the group gained around three minutes on the peloton.

The slopes of the Soulor saw the peloton explode, as Ineos and Movistar took to the front of the group and instantly ramped up the pace. Similarly, attacks from the breakaway split the group into two, and by the summit of the climb, only seven riders were left out front. Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) dropped from the peloton early in the climb, in what perhaps marks the final nail in his GC bid.

Through the descent and valley toward the Tourmalet, the breakaway groups continued to split, reform, and swap riders, however, all but three riders were left out front by the base of the 19-kilometer drag of the Tourmalet as the peloton sucked men in. Sicard was alone at the front of the race, chased by Calmejane and Gesbert.

The peloton, bossed by five Movistar riders, were around one minute back.

Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), who had been dropped on the Soulor, got himself back into the front group on the Tourmalet, however, was dropped again as the 30-rider peloton chased the three men out front.

With 10km to go, all the breakaway riders were caught and only around 20 were left at the front of the race. Movistar continued their relentless pressure, and Dan Martin (UAE-Team Emirates), Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), Enric Mas (Deceunick-Quick-Step) and ironically, Movistar man Nairo Quintana were next to drop.

On 9km to go, French champion Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) attacked, with countrymen David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and his teammate Pinot shutting him down. Gaudu continued at the front of the bunch for several kilometers, with Pinot on his wheel.

With around 5km remaining, Alaphilippe started looking uncomfortable as he struggled to hold on to the group, which by now was driven by Jumbo-Visma trio Laurens de Plus, George Bennett, and Kruijswijk. Bennett and De Plus both took massive turns, during which time Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) also dropped off the back.

By the time De Plus and Bennett pulled off, just seven riders were left to contest the finale, which ended with Pinot’s impressive surge to victory, Thomas’s loss of time, and Alaphilippe’s continued amazing Tour.

“The Tour isn’t finished yet,” said Pinot after the stage. “We will continue to fight.”

Stage 15, Sunday, will see another fight in the Pyrenees, with another summit finish and three other categorized climbs falling in the 185km parcours.