MENDE, France — Overall leader
Jonas Vingegaard tracked Tadej Pogacar’s attack all the way to the stage 14 finish
line as the defending champion tried, but failed, to take time off his Danish
rival on another tense, baking day at the Tour de France on Saturday.
اضافة اعلان
Australian
Michael Matthews won the stage, a sizzling 192km run south-west from
Saint-Etienne, after a southwest struggle with Italian rider Alberto Bettiol up
the final hill.
After three days in the mountains and a tense
struggle Friday, gathering fatigue was exacerbated as the road temperature hit
60C as the race entered rustic, hilly terrain with dry stone walls everywhere.
Only 40km in, Pogacar had tried an attack before
Vingegaard’s Jumbo team reeled the Slovenian UAE man.
“It’s a race. I tried and I’ll keep doing that,”
said Pogacar who remains 2min 22sec off Vingegaard.
“Pogacar got away early when I was dozing,” admitted
the yellow jersey.
“But my team pulled hard and got him back.”
The sweating peloton settled down as it raced along
the narrow, roads packed with rowdy fans in otherwise empty countryside,
Matthews and 20 other riders broke away.
The first time the 31-year-old Matthews tried to
shake off his companions, he was reeled in and overtaken by Bettiol.
The inspired Australian rallied, caught Bettiol and
left him trailing to take a fourth
Tour de France stage win by a clear margin.
Matthews credited his wife for the tactics that
broke a four year gap in wins on the Tour.
“My wife said ‘if you want to win try something
different, something people don’t expect from you’,” he said.
“So that’s what I did. Hopefully today my wife and
my daughter are proud of me,” he added.
Some 10 minutes later, Pogacar attacked Vingegaard
at the same place with his trademark kick on a steep climb 5km from the finish
Vingegaard skipped up behind with ease and held on
all the way to the line at the Mende Aerodrome even when the champion tried yet
again to drop him.
The man in yellow then cruised alongside Pogacar and
held him by the hand briefly.
Ineos pair Geraint Thomas and
Adam Yates both
dropped 20 seconds but remain third and fifth respectively at 2min 43 and 4min
06 respectively.
Frenchman Romain Bardet ended the day fourth overall
at 3min 03sec in his home region, where banners bearing his name hung from
buildings, walls and trees.
The searing heat made the tarmac soft on some
corners and 2,000 liters of cold-water were poured onto the newer roads around
20 minutes before the peloton passed.
“It was very hot, I guess 40C (the air), mainly in
the closing section near Mende. But I don’t mind the heat, I cope quite well in
it,” said Vingegaard.
Sunday’s stage to Carcassonne will see the heat wave
peak before three days in the Pyrenees next week. “I have a lot of respect for
Tadej, but maybe now I’ll attack him,” said the Dane.
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