Tadej Pogacar reminded the Tour de France who is in charge on Saturday, soloing to victory on stage 14 at Le Markstein and stretching his overall lead in the process. The reigning champion attacked inside the final two kilometres of the Col du Haag, the day's decisive climb, and rode clear to the summit finish high in the Vosges.
It was Pogacar's fourth stage win of this year's race and the 25th of his Tour career. He crossed the line 38 seconds ahead of his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro and the young Frenchman Paul Seixas, while his closest general classification rival, Jonas Vingegaard, could only manage fourth at 44 seconds. Remco Evenepoel came home fifth.
The 155.3-kilometre stage from Mulhouse packed roughly 3,800 metres of climbing into a short but brutal day, finishing on the Col du Haag, an 11.2km ascent averaging 7.3% that was making its first ever appearance in the Tour. A converted forest road no peloton had raced before, it offered no reference points, and Pogacar simply rode away from everyone when it mattered.
The result reshuffled the fight behind him. Seixas took enough time to seize the white jersey of best young rider from Juan Ayuso, becoming the new leader of that competition, while Pogacar tightened his hold on both the yellow jersey and the mountains classification heading into the final week.
There was a neat symmetry to the venue. The Tour last finished at Le Markstein in 2023, when Pogacar also took the stage and Vingegaard sealed the overall title. This time the Slovenian looks in command of both battles. Read the full report at Cyclingnews.
Source
Original summary by Proventier.