Carlos Rodriguez moved as much as third total after taking a maiden Tour de France stage win as Tadej Pogacar was left to rue a “wasted bullet” in his bid to wrest the yellow jersey from Jonas Vingegaard.
At the tip of a dramatic 152km stage 14 to Morzine that started with an nearly half-hour delay following an enormous crash within the peloton, Rodriguez descended off the Joux Plane to take a second consecutive win for the Ineos Grenadiers whereas Vingegaard and Pogacar battled it out behind.
There was controversy on the prime of the climb, the place Pogacar tried to beat Vingegaard to important bonus seconds solely to seek out his path blocked by a bike as he accelerated, leaving query marks over the group administration on the mountain.
That allowed the Dane to realize three seconds there, though Pogacar took two of them again on the end line. Vingegaard’s lead within the yellow jersey is now 10 seconds as these two very completely different riders, head and shoulders above the remaining, stay evenly matched.
Pogacar had attacked just a little underneath 4 kilometres from the highest of the mountain, which crested 12 kilometres from the end, initially distancing the defending champion however by no means by greater than 20 metres.
Vingegaard saved his cool, pacing his means again nonetheless with 1,700 metres to the summit. The Slovenian attacked once more with 500 metres left, however had not observed two motorbikes struggling to half the massive crowds and was pressured to knock it again, permitting Vingegaard to regain the benefit.
“It was one wasted bullet after already doing the big climb to do one sprint for nothing,” Pogacar mentioned. “It’s a bit of a shame but I don’t think it will change the outcome. OK, I messed it up a little bit but it is what it is.”
As the pair eyed one another Rodriguez, having misplaced round a minute when Pogacar put in his first acceleration, paced his means again on after which rode by to go clear on the descent.
“It’s incredible,” the Tour debutant mentioned. “I have no words. Being here was a dream and getting a victory is incredible in the best race in the world. It was always something I focused on and to achieve now a victory I’m super happy…
“It was also a goal to gain some time and we accomplished it so I’m very happy on that side. I have to be happy and enjoy this victory but also think and recover a little bit for tomorrow as that is going to be a big day also.”
Jai Hindley began the day in third however was considered one of dozens of riders caught within the early crash simply after the beginning in Annemasse, and was dropped 5 kilometres from the highest of the ultimate climb.
The Australian got here in a single minute 46 seconds after Rodriguez, dropping third place to the 22-year-old Spaniard by one second.
But it was not all excellent news for the Ineos Grenadiers, with Tom Pidcock – additionally caught in that crash – distanced on the penultimate climb and slipping out of the highest 10 total.
Adam Yates is as much as fifth after sticking with team-mate Pogacar, however his twin brother Simon dropped to seventh after additionally dropping contact on the penultimate climb.
Seven riders didn’t end – Britain’s Tour debutant James Shaw and French darling Romain Bardet had been caught in a second incident after the large crash that will power Esteban Chaves, Louis Meintjes and others from the race.
Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma staff bossed the peloton from the second the race resumed, their relentless tempo quickly defeating the day’s breakaway as the group of favourites was mercilessly whittled down.
“We wanted to make the race hard,” Vingegaard mentioned. “I want to thank my team today. They’ve been amazing. In the end I only get one second but it’s good.”
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