Thibaut Pinot wins the 14th stage of the Tour de France between Tarbes and Tourmalet-Barèges (Hautes-Pyrénées) Saturday 20th July 2019. Julian Alaphilippe strengthens his yellow jersey.
The French shone on the roads of the Pyrenees, Saturday 20th July 2019. For the first real rendezvous of the mountain, at the top of the legendary Col du Tourmalet, the tricolour runners made a strong impression.
Pinot, in front of Alaphilippe
In the final explanation between the leaders of the ranking, it is the rider of the Groupama-FDJ team Thibaut Pinot who raised his arms, at the top of the Tourmalet.
Behind, the yellow jersey Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) followed suit, offering himself a very good second place, and consolidating his yellow jersey with imposing presence in the Pyrenees, after his huge victory, the day before.
Read also: Tour de France: Julian Alaphilippe wins the time trial and strengthens his yellow jersey
Fatal attack
Thibaut Pinot placed an attack in the last few meters of the final climb, marked by the defeat of the title holder, the Welshman Geraint Thomas, who dropped time on the two Frenchmen. If Pinot had a great success, the outgoing winner of the Tour finished with a delay of 36 seconds.
Under the eyes of President Emmanuel Macron , Julian Alaphilippe held the shock. He therefore took another 36 seconds to Geraint Thomas (bonus included) to bring his lead to more than two minutes in the overall standings …
The decision was made in the last 250 meters. Pinot was superior on the steep slope leading to the altitude of 2115 meters, where he signed the third French success since leaving Brussels.
After some hard racing over 115km, the last 3km of the Col du Tourmalet saw major differences open up between the GC contenders.#TDF2019 #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/rXweH3rMvV
— letourdata (@letourdata) 20 July 2019
Alaphilippe took second place, 6 seconds ahead of Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk , the best surrounded in the final part. The Colombian Egan Bernal, 5 th behind Germany Emanuel Buchmann, sold 8 seconds.
“One of my most beautiful victories”
“Since the start of the Tour, I have been thinking about this stage,” said Thibaut Pinot, who won for the third time in the Tour since his debut in 2012:
This is one of my most beautiful victories. To win in such monuments is what I like.
A very animated stage
The Soulor, the first of two passes of the day, skimmed the breakaway after 14 kilometres. Belgium’s Tim Wellens, Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali and France’s Elie Gesbert took the lead but were then taken over. The pace hardened by the Movistar team of Nairo Quintana led to the regrouping in the valley, except for Romain Sicard and Elie Gesbert who took the lead in the Tourmalet.
In the long climb (19 km to 7.4%), Gesbert held up to 10.5 kilometres from the finish. Its leader Warren Barguil attacked soon after but was taken back before the last 5 kilometres by a group led by David Gaudu, the very efficient lieutenant of Thibaut Pinot.
Quintana and Yates let go, Bardet drifting
Among the losers of the day, the Spaniard Enric Mas, theoretical leader of the Alaphilippe team, gave up nearly three minutes, the Colombian Nairo Quintana thirty seconds more.
Another disappointment of the day: Auvergnat Romain Bardet, defective, was distanced in the last 4 kilometres of Soulor. The Frenchman, already in a bad day the day before in the time trial of Pau, lost ground to the point of counting more than six minutes late at the foot of the Tourmalet. He finished the race with 20 minutes late. Terrible disillusion for the best French of the last four Tour de France.
Romain Bardet finit à plus de 20 minutes aujourd’hui. Sacré contraste avec le résultat du jour, mais c’est un grand champion et il saura se ressaisir. #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/dSMt8dxRjY
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) 20 July 2019
As for the British Adam Yates, already in trouble in the Soulor, he let go in the final climb.
The distance to the stage has been shortened by some 6.5 kilometres. The departure was postponed at the exit of Tarbes, because of a demonstration of opponents to an industrial hog barn.
Sunday, new stage at the top
Sunday 21stv July 2019, the Tour finishes its Pyrenean sequence by the 15th stage with three climbs ranked first category between Limoux (Aude) and unique site Prat Albis above Foix (Ariege), 185 km farther. Its cumulative elevation reached 4345 meters, the third on the 21 stages of the event.
