On the first summit finish of the 2024 Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) strengthened his hold on the maillot jaune after a thrilling finish up to Pla d’Adet saw him ride away to a stunning solo victory on stage 14 to extend his lead over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).
It was a tactical masterclass from Pogačar’s team in the Pyrenees, who after pacing for nearly all of the 152km stage, launched a move from Adam Yates 7.2km from the crest of the climb to act as a satellite rider, before Pogačar then exploded from his two key rivals 4.2km from the line.
Yates then emptied the tank before the race leader then more than honoured the yellow jersey by riding solo through the packed crowds to a second stage win of the 2024 race some 39 seconds ahead of Vingegaard in second and 1:10 to Evenepoel.
In a fitting parallel, Pogačar managed his 13th career Tour stage win on a stage that started in the same location as his first win in 2020 - Pau. But more importantly, he made a big statement against key rival Vingegaard, who did move up to second ahead of Evenepoel but now sits 1:57 from Pogačar.
10 years on from its last appearance and 50 years since it first featured in the Tour de France when Raymond Poulidour conquered it, the climb to Pla d’Adet played host to a stunning finish which saw the next memorable chapter in the Pogačar, Vingegaard face-off that continues to characterise the 2020s.
“It was instinct we tried to go for the stage, but more for the sprint. Then it was this situation - Adam attacked and Visma had to try to maintain the gap, and I saw that if I bridged with a gap, he could pull me a little bit,” said Pogačar explaining the improvised finale from UAE.
“This was really perfect and I must say, a big, big thank you to all of the team today. They were amazing and this victory is for all my teammates. The plan was just to come to sprint to the final and make the sprint hard and maybe take some seconds and the stage win. But in the end, like this is much better.
“I'm super, super happy to be in this but let's keep on this momentum and good energy in the team, good legs and yeah, we try to maintain this position.”
How it unfolded
As racing on a huge Tour de France weekend got underway from Pau, the gateway to the Pyrenees, there was no delay in those wanting to get in the break making their move as race director Christian Prudhomme waved the flag at kilometre zero.
Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) got things going with World Champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in his wheel and it became evident that the Belgian squad, EF Education-EasyPost and Uno-X Mobility were among the teams most interested.
With reports of UAE wanting to pace for Pogačar spreading at the start, many of the first small moves were given little licence, until with 115km to go, a quartet got some breathing room - Arnaud De Lie, Cedric Beullens (both Lotto Dstny), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Van der Poel.
They quickly had a similar quarter chasing them down to make it eight in front, with Kévin Vauquelin, Raúl García Pierna (both Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Magus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and Oier Lazkano (Movistar) making the junction inside 100km to go.
A huge group of 15 riders, filled with those eyeing the breakaway and the intermediate sprint in Esquièze-Sère at the foot of the Tourmalet, similarly broke away from the peloton, to try and form a larger break up front.
It was made up of Chris Juul-Jensen (Jayco AlUla), Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Marco Haller (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Rui Costa, Ben Healy, Sean Quinn (all EF Education-EasyPost), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Louis Meintjes, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) and Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies), with the advantage to the front going out close to four minutes.
Coquard mopped up the maximum points ahead of De Lie, as Girmay and Philipsen fought for minor places behind. With the Eritrean defending well in green, all the fast men would drop back as the race reached the fabled Col du Tourmalet.
The 20km, brutally tough Pyrenean climb wasn’t tackled at the same breakneck speed as it was in the 2023 race when it was the penultimate climb on stage 6 but instead, the peloton settled in behind Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) as he worked to peg back the break.
Gaudu set off with 63km to go in the final kilometre of the Tourmalet to try and reel in the Souvenir Jacques Goddet - a prize for crossing the crest of the famous climb in first which honours Goddet, the second director of the Tour after Henri Desgrange.
But quickly onto his wheel was Lazkano, with the Basque rider showing his versatility as a Classics man and climber as he attacked away to claim the €5000 and maximum KOM points.
With the Tourmalet navigated, Politt back on the front and the next climb - Hourquette d’Ancizan (8.3 km at 5%) - now on the menu, only 10 men remained out in front: Kwiatkowski, Armirail, Gaudu, Van der Poel, Healy, Quinn, Lazkano, Meintjes, Cort and Lutsenko.
However, the UAE-led peloton was making up good ground 35km from the finish, with the gap falling below the three-minute mark and an acceleration from Gaudu and Lazkano causing Lutsenko, Van der Poel and Quinn to drop.
Finally, Politt finished his turn with Marc Soler taking over the UAE Team Emirates charge 6km from the top of the penultimate climb. This increase was highlighted with the likes of Giro winner Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Oscar Onley (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) unable to hold on.
In front, the strongest climbers in the break showed themselves as Healy, Gaudu, Kwiatkowski, Lazkano and Meintjes tried to rebuild their advantage, but Soler’s brutal pace was only eating away at it by the kilometre, reducing the lead to 1:16 by the top of the penultimate climb.
The five escapees made the right turn out of Saint-Lary-Soulan and onto the climb to Pla d’Adet which is 10.6km in length at an average gradient of 7.9%. Healy and Gaudu tried a final move on the steepest opening slopes but with only a minute in hand, their chances were slim.
Gaudu cracked under the Irishman’s pressure, but with Sivakov now on the front and fading from his long pull, Healy was somehow holding his advantage at 1:06 with 8km still to race. This was until João Almeida hit the front and settled into his powerful rhythm.
Adam Yates launched a surprise move with 7.2km to go after a long chat with Pogačar off the back of Almeida’s strong pace, forcing Matteo Jorgenson to pace for Vingegaard and Evenepoel’s QuickStep team to also contribute.
Pogačar made his move 4.6km from the line and immediately had some breathing room with Vingegaard trying to make the junction alongside Evenepoel. Soon, the yellow jersey was on the back wheel of Yates who was looking behind for his leader as he reeled back Healy.
Yates then settled into the mountain lead-out as they moved away from the broken EF man, with full focus on extending Pogačar’s lead to Vingegaard until the Brit and third-place from last year’s Tour flicked the elbow and Pogačar moved away on his own.
Vingegaard paced with Evenepoel in his wheel and looked to be closing the gap but Pogačar would not falter as he did on stage 11, only extending his lead with a powerful final 3km to the line atop Pla d’Adet, crossing it 39 seconds in front of his rival and sending a big message before the second Pyrenean test arrives tomorrow on Bastille Day.
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