PARIS — Tadej Pogacar won an “unforgettable” mountainous 14th stage of the Tour de France amidst huge crowds in the Vosges to extend his lead over Jonas Vingegaard to four and a half minutes.
It was the world champion’s fourth stage win in this 113th edition of the Grande Boucle as his teammate Isaac Del Toro pipped teenager Paul Seixas to second place, with Vingegaard fourth at the end of the 155km stage from Mulhouse to Le Markstein Fellering.
“I must say thanks to all the fans that came to the side of the road, it was really something unforgettable,” the 27-year-old Slovenian said.
“To see all the crowds on the hills, over the mountain… I (have) never seen something like this,” he added according to AFP.
“All the riders, we have such a massive respect towards each other.
“I think we all put on a great show. It’s nice to see this kind of racing.”
Four-time champion Pogacar had already stamped his authority on this Tour in the previous mountain stages but once again he emphasised his superiority with another devastating late attack.
This was his 25th Tour stage victory in total since his debut in 2020.
Behind him, the battle for the minor placings produced some thrills.
Frenchman Seixas took four bonus seconds on the line, 38sec after Pogacar, which proved enough to move him up to fourth in the overall standings, and strip Spaniard Juan Ayuso of the best young rider’s white jersey – but only by three seconds.
Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel held onto third place overall after finishing strongly to come home only four seconds behind Vingegaard despite having been the first of the top seven contenders to be dropped on the final climb, the 11.2km-long Col du Haag.
