Tour of France | Carlos Rodríguez wins, status quo for the yellow jersey

(Morzine) Could the Tour de France be played on bonuses? Even on the toughest terrain, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and double monarch Tadej Pogačar couldn’t create distance between them on Saturday after a dramatic day in the Alps.

In a class of their own, once again Pogačar and Vingegaard finished second and third respectively at Morzine ski resort after another hard-fought battle that concluded a day of attrition in the 14^e stage.

Both riders were well ahead of their pursuers in the overall standings at one point on the final ascent, the dreaded Col de Joux Plane. However, they allowed eventual stage winner Carlos Rodríguez to return, while the pair watched each other like track cyclists in a velodrome, waiting for an opening to get the biggest bonus at the top of the steep climb. Vingegaard won this duel.

Rodríguez, a Spaniard making his Tour debut for Ineos Grenadiers, then pulled away from the duo on the descent to Morzine. He completed the course in 3:58:45, five seconds ahead of Pogačar and Vingegaard.

Ottawa’s Michael Woods was the top Canadian with a 43^e place, 27 min 19 s from the winner. Quebecer Hugo Houle ranked 58^e29 min 3 s behind Rodríguez, and his compatriot Guillaume Boivin finished in 120^e rank, 37 min 29 s from the summit.

Vingegaard retained the yellow jersey, increasing his overall lead by one second, to 10 seconds, after Pogačar sprinted to secure second place on the stage.

Rodríguez moved up to third place overall, 4:43 behind Vingegaard, after his first Tour stage victory.

He was more than a minute behind, but he was able to take advantage of the duel between the two leaders to seek victory.

“I didn’t think it was possible when I was dropped into the Joux Plane,” he said.

“I tried to climb at my own pace and then descend as quickly as possible,” explains the Spanish cyclist. I am a good descender, I wanted to take advantage of it. I almost fell several times. […] I took risks. »

In the cumulative standings, Woods dropped from 34^e rank at 32^e, and its delay on Vingegaard is 1 h 26 min 43 s. Houle (2:13:13 a.m.) moved up seven places from 67^e at the 60^e position, while Boivin (3:27:58) now ranks 126^e when he was 131^e at the start of the day.

Throw away the gloves

Vingegaard accumulated a total of 12 bonus seconds for his first place at the top of the climb and his third place. Pogačar had 11 – second at the top and second at the finish – as the race entered the Alps with a 151.8km stage between Annemasse and the ski resort of Morzine.

“It’s going to be really tight,” predicted Pogačar after the race.

For Pogačar, the gloves fell definitively on the last ascent of the day. Literally. He threw them at the start of Joux Plane, the culmination of a brutal segment in the Alps comprising no less than five climbs.

Pogačar and Vingegaard began climbing through the lead group after the last rider in the breakaway was caught with 58km to go.

The Slovenian rider was the first to attack at Joux Plane and pulled out a small gap, but Vingegaard got into step and gradually came back to catch his UAE Team Emirates rival 1.6km from the top.

Pogačar then tried another acceleration 500m from the top, but he slowed down, as the racing bikes got in his way and he had to reduce his effort. His Danish rival from the Jumbo-Visma team then opened the sprint in the last corner before the summit and obtained the eight bonus seconds, compared to five for Pogačar.

Bardet abdicates

The start of the stage was marked by a pile-up shortly after the peloton left the town of Annemasse.

Spanish rider Antonio Pedrero was evacuated by ambulance and Louis Meintjes, who was 13^e overall, retired with a possible broken collarbone. Esteban Chaves, of the EF Education Easypost team, also abdicated.

Dozens of runners fell in a bend on a slippery road and many were treated. Adrien Petit, Meintjes’ teammate with the Intermarché-Circus-Wanty team, got back on his bike with a bandage on his right leg.

The organizers decided to neutralize the stage for around 15 minutes, before local hopeful Romain Bardet and James Shaw entered the list of retirements further down the road after crashing on a descent. Bardet has been diagnosed with a concussion, the Frenchman’s team said.

The 15^e The 179 km stage to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, this Sunday, is another difficult hike with a finish at the top, before the second day of rest on Monday.