Cycling: What a great day for Stephen Cummings and his team MTN-Qhubeka. The South African team celebrate their first win of the day on the Tour by an African team, fittingly on International Nelson Mandela Day. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) moves up to second overall but loses more seconds to Froome (Sky).
Immediately after leaving the neutralized section, there was a big fall in the peloton today. Almost a dozen drivers went down, including André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), Thibaut Pinot and Steve Morabito (both FDJ). As a result, the latter had to give up the race in great pain, but fortunately the other pros who fell could continue. This early moment of shock shook up the field and it was difficult to keep track of what was happening in the race.
It took a few kilometers until the waves had calmed down and the nervousness had left the field. After that, the torn groups quickly reunited – until then, of course, the first attacks followed. Again and again, small groups managed to break away from the main field - at the front, the many breakaway groups then came together to form a large leading group of 20 riders over the course of the first 25km. With Paul Voss (Bora-Argon 18), a German also made it into the escape group, accompanied by plenty of cycling celebrities: Among others, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), Romain Bardet (ag2r-La Mondiale), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep) in the big top group.
The pace remained constant, well over 40 km/h and was therefore significantly faster than had been expected. Especially in the flat middle part of today's stage nobody - not at the front and not in the field - could afford to take a break. The Cote de la Croix Neuve (10,1%) was the steepest climb of this year's Tour de France. At just over 3km, this is not particularly long, but it could still cause some time gaps - even among the classification riders, who again rolled with the field well protected by their helpers.
The leading group went into the difficult final 5km with three classified climbs with a lead of well over 30 minutes - things were looking good for today's escapees. However, the difficult profile and constant increase in speed, especially by the two FDJ drivers, then ensured that the group quickly broke up. In the end it was Romain Bardet, whose attack on the final climb was successful and who made his way to the stage finish as a soloist. His compatriot Thibaut Pinot finally managed to catch up with Bardet as the only driver from the former leading group. The two French teamed up and with almost 2km to go everything pointed to a French victory of the day. Suddenly, however, the Brit Stephen Cummings shot up from behind and was able to sit in front of the two French compatriots. The former train driver then sprinted to victory with the knife between his teeth – Bardet and Pinot were beaten. It was a very special victory for Cummings Team MTN-Qhubeka: Not only is it the first day's victory for an African team on the Tour, but this moment of happiness also comes today on the international Nelson-Mandela Memorial Day, in honor of which the entire team wears oranges Helmen was on the way. Peter Sagan saved a strong fourth place and overtakes André Greipel in the points classification.
The 3km long and enormously steep final ascent also caused changes in the overall ranking. Once again, it turned out that Chris Froome is the strongest rider in the peloton this year and Nairo Quintana is the only one of the contenders able to stand up to him. While Froome, Quintana, Contador, van Garderen and Nibali were still together at the foot of the Cote de la Croix Neuve, the wheat separated from the chaff. Quintana was the first to take the initiative. The Colombian was even able to create a gap, also because Froome was exceptionally unable to count on the help of his teammates, who fell behind early on. But bit by bit the Brit managed to catch up with Quintana again. Van Garderen and Nibali had big problems with the demanding final and lost valuable seconds - the American even lost his second place overall to Quintana. In the last few meters, Froome started to sprint again and was even able to gain a second on Quintana. At the moment it hardly looks as if the Brit will let the victory be snatched away.
Final result stage 14 Tour de France 2015
[easy table th=“0″]1.,Stephen Cummings,MTN-Qhubeka,04:23:43
2., Thibaut Pinot, FDJ, 00:00:02
3.,Romain Bardet,ag2r-La Mondiale,
4., Rigoberto Uran, Etixx QuickStep, 00:00:20
5.,Peter Sagan,Tinkoff Saxo,00:00:29
6.,Cyril Gautier,Europcar,00:00:32
7., Ruben Molina, Lampre-Merida,
8. Bob Jungels Trek
9th,Jonathan Castroviejo,Movistar,
10.,Simon Yates,Orica-GreenEdge,00:00:33
[/easytable] [tab:Preview]Not another stage like this – that's what the sprinters in the field will probably think, who are finally waiting for a flat stage after the tens of thousands of meters in altitude in the Pyrenees in order to be able to play to their strengths again. But they will have to be patient, because the almost 180km from Rodez to Mende are anything but flat. Even if the really big mountains are missing, a total of four categorized climbs await.
Above all, the Côte de la Croix Neuve up to the stage destination in Mende will drive one or the other to despair. The serpentine road, which is up to 14% steep, will once again demand everything from the drivers before the summit again leads over a flat 900m to the finish line. Not only the legs, but above all the head will be decisive here - who will be able to muster the energy to sprint to victory again on these final meters? Or maybe even make it an outlier? The outcome is difficult to predict, but Peter Sagan is certainly one of the big favorites, just like the day before.
[tab:Cards and Profiles]stage profile
mende
[tab:TV and streaming]TV
Saturday, July 18, 14:15 p.m. – 17:30 p.m
Saturday, July 18, 16:05 p.m. – 17:15 p.m
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