Stage 14 of the Tour de France was a long (191km), hellishly hot stage that hardly had a flat bit – in fact, it had 4 cat 3 climbs and 1 cat 2 climbs … and a fair few of unclassified climbs that just added insult to injury to the riders’ legs. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t exciting. It was BikeExchange’s Michael Matthews who made a bold move off the front of the break with 50-some kilometres to go, which proved to be a stage winning move … but not without a lot of work in between. The sweat-drenched yellow jersey stayed with Jumbo’s Jonas Vingegaard, with Tadej Pogacar (UAE) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos) keeping their respective second and third positions.
Bling brings it home
It’s been five years since Michael Matthews took a stage at the Tour de France – and it seems like it’s been that long since we’ve seen the Australian rider at his best. He was on the cusp of victory twice already – stage 6, where he got Pogged, and Stage 8, where he got Wouted. I guess if you’re going to get beaten, might as well be by the best!
But he did not give up and today, he decided that today was going to be his day, dammit. A break of 23 got away (after a bit of Pogacar drama early in the race) and began their ride through what must have felt like the cauldron of France.
After 40 km of supersonic racing, 20 riders managed to make the breakaway of the day. Meintjes is the best placed rider in GC at 15 minutes. Both Bora and EF have 3 riders each. And with Kron and Fuglsang, Denmark can get their 4th victory in 5 days…😅🇩🇰 #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/j74MQZWUkX
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) July 16, 2022
With a gap of 14min, give or take, the win was going to come from the break and even though there were teams that had multiple riders here (Trek-Segafredo, Bora-hansgrohe, Israel-Premier Tech and EF), they did a lot of looking around. So Matthews struck out on his own with around 45km to go to the finish.
Not sure what Michael Matthews is thinking here..?
He wants some others to go with him but who wants to take a sprinter like Matthews go the line just watch him beat you?
— Neon-Brown (@NeonBrown10) July 16, 2022
Matthews, “Come on up and join me guys.” Break, “What? Why?”
— nyvelocity (@nyvelocity) July 16, 2022
Once the riders realised what had happened and that Matthews was ticking up the seconds, Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious), Felix Großschartner (Bora) and Andreas Kron (from Luckless Lotto) bridged to him and they kept ahead of a disorganised, then organised, then chaotic, then faffing chase group. Describing EF’s tactics at this point would warrant an entirely new post, let’s just suffice it to say, King Kelly was disgusted with what passed as teamwork between Alberto Bettiol and Rigoberto Uran.
But Bettiol found some tactics within himself and as the Matthews trio (poor Kron blew a tire and nearly ploughed into spectators) hit the final climb, Bettiol sprung into action. With 3.5km to go and on the gruesome gradients, Matthews dropped Sanchez and Groβschartner and looked to be on his way to victory. But what was that pink blur behind him … Bettiol. It looked as though Bettiol was going to get the better of Matthews, but the Aussie just kept grinding it out until they came to the false flat and he rode away from the Italian rider to take a well-deserved stage win.
Demolition job from Matthews today, his attack blew the breakaway apart, long time solo before being joined by others, rode them off his wheel up the Croix-Neuve, cracked Bettiol and takes a solo win 🎩
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) July 16, 2022
Michael Matthews in Lausanne after stage 8: "I've been second to Pogacar, and second to Van Aert. Now it's my turn." 🎩 What a fighter
— Andy McGrath (@Andymcgra) July 16, 2022
A really heartfelt post-stage interview with Matthews – it’s easy to forget that these guys have families who sacrifice as much as they do.
"This was for my daughter. For all the time I'm away. This is what I do it for".
Michael Matthews was keen to make amends after the missed opportunity yesterday on stage 13.#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/xLYNCqr8ce
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 16, 2022
🗣 “It gives me goosebumps on goosebumps.”
🚴♀️ The Breakaway studio provide their reaction to Michael Matthews’ Stage 14 win #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/FNMCAiNDbN
— Eurosport (@eurosport) July 16, 2022
"What a ride man"
💪 @TamauPogi x @blingmatthews #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/8GsyWVkkEa
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 16, 2022
Here are your stage 14 highlights
Pog makes everyone go ‘huh?’
The start of the stage was a strange one in that Tadej Pogacar decided to make his attack with a zillion kilometres to go to the finish.
What a start!
🤍@TamauPogi immediately turned the heat on with a very early attack, forcing high speeds on hilly terrain #TDFdata #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/8EO6SanWMv
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 16, 2022
"I felt ok so I thought: 'Ok…'"
Geraint Thomas gave his thoughts on Tadej Pogacar attacking the race from the first climb of the day.#TDF2022 #ITVCycling pic.twitter.com/t3hIdeNLYK
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 16, 2022
As you can see by the following tweet, Wout van Aert was having none of this ‘attack from far out to regain the yellow jersey’ malarkey from Pogacar. He shut down every attack, totally neutralising Pog’s attack. Does Pogacar realise that the rider standing between him and the top step is actually WvA?
Pogačar going for the classic 180km+ solo move. Saw this one coming a mile off, obviously 🙃 #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/dQd4bYGsXn
— Daniel Ostanek (@LVCKV) July 16, 2022
Ah, if only Pogacar had a full, strong team with him today…a Fuente De could have been possible maybe. In this case though, Pogi is just playing with Vingegaard's mind, wanting to make him nervous. #TDF2022
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) July 16, 2022
I don’t see any nerves from Vingegaard on this final climb, do you?
🎼Me and my shadow 🎶🎵#TDF2022 #TourDeFrance pic.twitter.com/OAr9nd8FJ5
— Tour Edition of Anna Mac (@AnnamacB) July 16, 2022
Pogi flying but Jonas doesn't crack. It's over for today #TdF2022 pic.twitter.com/zNu71UCAxE
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) July 16, 2022
Nice respect between #TDF2022 rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar after stage 14 pic.twitter.com/d1EERubMbK
— Andy McGrath (@Andymcgra) July 16, 2022
Geraint Thomas is still third, although he’s lost time today.
A sweltering day at #TDF2022 comes to an end with @GeraintThomas86 and @AdamYates7 battling well to retain their GC positions of third and fifth. @tompidcock limited his losses well to sit ninth overall. Great to see @danifmartinez96 in the break today. He took 17th. pic.twitter.com/DCydVkM8bN
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) July 16, 2022
The last word
Damn, Vingegaard looks so chill he can just pull over for a beer #TDF2022
— Racejunkie (@racejunkieblog) July 16, 2022
Results
Stage 14 results
1 Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) 4:30:53
2 Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) +0:15
3 Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +0:34
4 Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) +0:50
5 Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) +0:58
GC Top 10
1 Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 55:31:01
2 Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +2:22
3 Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +2:43
4 Romain Bardet (Team DSM) +3:01
5 Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:06
6 Nairo Quintana (Team Arkea-Samsic) +4:15
7 Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty-Goubert) +4:24
8 David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +4:24
9 Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) +8:49
10 Enric Mas (Movistar) +9:58
All the jerseys
Leader’s jersey : Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)
Points jersey : Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)
King of the Mountains jersey : Simon Geschke (Cofidis)
Young Rider Jersey : Tadej Pogacar (UAE)
Most combative : Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco)
Team competition : INEOS Grenadiers
For the full stage review, go to cyclingnews
Go here for the official Tour de France website