Tour de France stage 14: Pogacar powers clear to win his fourth stage of 2026 race – as it happened

Key events

• 7h ago

  Jeremy Whittle's report

• 8h ago

  Points standings

• 8h ago

  King of the Mountain standings

• 8h ago

  GC standings

• 8h ago

  Pogacar: "A really perfect day"

• 8h ago

  Top five finishers

• 8h ago

  Pogacar wins stage 14!

• 12h ago

  Kilometre Zero

• 12h ago

  DeBruyne out of the race

• 13h ago

  General Classification Standings

• 13h ago

  The points classification

• 13h ago

  King of the Mountains Standings

• 13h ago

  Preamble

• 13h ago

  William Fotheringham’s stage guide

Jeremy Whittle's report

Tadej Pogacar’s rapacious appetite for stage wins was in evidence yet again in the climbs of the Vosges, as he raced to his fourth victory of this year’s Tour de France at Le Markstein.

Pogacar’s attack came 1.6 kilometres from the summit of the final climb, the Col de Haag and 7.5 kilometres from the finish line and left Jonas Vingegaard, Paul Seixas and Florian Lipowitz in his wake.

Time for me to knock off for the day. Thanks for easing me through a thrilling stage with your emails. More mountains tomorrow, till then – have a lovely evening.

Points standings

1. Mads Pedersen (DEN) Lidl - Trek 397

2. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin - Premier Tech 361

3. Biniam Girmay (ERI) NSN Cycling Team 347

4. Tim Merlier (BEL) Soudal Quick-Step 307

5. Max Kanter (GER) XDS Astana Team 255

6. Olav Kooij (NED) Decathlon CMA CGM Team 210

7. Søren Wærenskjold (NOR) Uno-X Mobility 159

8. Anthony Turgis (FRA) TotalEnergies 129

9. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - XRG 127

10. Milan Fretin (BEL) Cofidis 117

King of the Mountain standings

1 T. PogacarUAE Team Emirates - XRG 52

2 V. Paret-PeintreSoudal Quick-Step 43

3 R. CarapazEF Education - EasyPost 38

4 J. VingegaardTeam Visma-Lease a Bike 35

5 P. SeixasDecathlon CMA CGM Team 24

6 T. PidcockPinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team 18

7 I. Del ToroUAE Team Emirates - XRG 18

8 N. ProdhommeDecathlon CMA CGM Team 17

9 A. BaudinEF Education - EasyPost 16

10 L. MartinezBahrain Victorious 16

GC standings

Seixas climbs, Pidcock slips to ninth.

1 T. PogacarUAE Team Emirates - XRG 51:18:28

2 J. VingegaardTeam Visma-Lease a Bike +4:30

3 R. EvenepoelRed Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe +5:04

4 P. SeixasDecathlon CMA CGM Team +5:19

5 J. AyusoLidl Trek +5:22

6 F. LipowitzRed Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe +5:44

7 I. Del ToroUAE Team Emirates - XRG +5:50

8 M. SkjelmoseLidl Trek +7:35

9 T. PidcockPinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team +7:59

10 L. MartinezBahrain Victorious +8:25

Pogacar: "A really perfect day"

“Today I must say thanks to all the fans, it was really something unforgettable to see the crowds on the top of the mountains. I think all the cyclists have such a massive respect towards each other, and put on a great show and nice to see this kind of racing.

“I knew that Del Toro is not 100 percent so I was waiting for the last km to see if there would be any movement, but Decathalon and Jonus did very good pace on the climb so I thought i’d give it a go in the last 2km and take the opportunity.

“A really perfect day, we marked this stage since the beginning. I know it very well, it is beautiul and an incredible place for cycling.

“Tomorrow is a bit more difficult, will be a hard day for us but we will be ready to fight and see what will happen.”

“An epic stage,” writes Gary Naylor. “The close-up[s showed that the riders aged before our eyes like it was the 1960s all over again. France has a true hero at last. None or that happens without Pidcock, who showed panache even if he did crash and burn. All heroes though.”

Ninteen year old Paul Seixas moves up to fourth in the GC, is the proud owner of the white jersey and is now just 15 seconds off a podium place in his first Tour.

After yesterday’s magical ride, Tom Pidcock slips to ninth in the GC.

Top five finishers

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG)
2. Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG), +38’’
3. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), +38’’
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), +44’’
5. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), +48’’

Del Toro snatches second in the sprint, Seixas third, Vingegaard fourth.

Pogacar wins stage 14!

Timed to perfection, his fourth stage win of this tour, the 25th Tour stage win of his career! Head down, yellow pedal power, over the line to the bang of the billboards and both hands raised.

1km to go Evenepoel, Lipowitz and Ayuso make up the third group , 20 seconds behind Del Toro, Vingegaard and Seixas.

3.5km to go Del Toro joins Vingegaard and Seixas. Pogacar is flying now on the flat – a 29 second lead, as the rain starts to drip again.

6km to go Pogacar is on his own over the top, but 19 year old Seixas is on Vingegaard’s wheel.

6.7km to go It’s Pogacar, and 10 seconds behind Vingegard, 12 seconds behind Seixas! Allez!

7.4km to go And Pog goes, 1.5k from the top. It is a tiny path, like a railway track, spilling with bodies on both sides. The gradient a horrifying 12 percent. Vingegaard briefly holds on but the gap is already growing.

8km to go The break has been caught with 2.5km of the climb to go. Vingegaard winds Pogacar up the climb.

Hello Alistair Connor. “I’ve been living in France for forty years and have never seen a French rider win the Tour. Seixas won’t win this year, but he’s ticking all the boxes. His team toughened the race, and Pidcock’s stunt yesterday was all for nothing... Del Toro gone too... “

8.5km to go Johannessen has caught Carapaz, and takes the lead, but the GC group have them in their sights.

9km to go The brave Carapaz now only has 24 seconds on the chasing group of six – Pogacar, Del Toro, Vingegaard, Lipowitz, Ayuso, Seixas.

10.3km to go Martinez and Skjelmose have been dropped, and Evenepoel is holding on by the skin of his teeth. Now dropped.

10.6km to go Lipowitz attacks, followed by Seixas, but Kuss ensures it is only temporary. And now Vingegaard hits the front, with Pogacar on his wheel.

11km to go Carapaz is alleluiaed up a 10 per cent climb, and now he hits the bike path. Tobias Johannessen is 13 seconds behind Carapaz.

12km to go The path is snake narrow, the hillside rises steeply to the side. Kuss is still leading the chasing pack. Carapaz gets a brief respite from a mini flat before restarting the climb – his lead 55 seconds.

13.8km to go Sepp Kuss, Vingegaard’s teammate, moves to the front of the peloton. Carapaz still has a minute on the peloton.

14km to go The increased pace of the peloton has dropped Pidcock. Pogacar and Vingegaard lurk. At the front Carapaz has dropped Johannessen.

15km to go Carapaz attacks, Tobias Johannessen stays with him. The front group splits. Pidcock is fading at the back of the peloton.

16km to go Anders Johannessen has been dropped from the lead group, Carapaz, Paret-Peintre, Tobias Johannessen and Rubio remain. There’s a bit of a jostle at the front of the peloton, but McNulty, unfazed by his breakaway efforts yesterday, leads them up the Col du Haag. The lead has shrunk to 1’06”

19km to go TNT think Pogacar has this. “Our very own Tom Cruise,” says Adam Blythe. “In all good action films the action hero wins.” But the front group still have a 1’26” lead. Never say never.

20km to go Cheers for the leading group as they briefly slip into a gentle valley. Ahead, the imposing Col du Haag - a new climb for the tour, 11.2km of effort, a resurfaced tractor path with some 13 per cent parts. “Perhaps the hardest climb of the Vosges,” in the words of the race director.

28km to go The leading group – Carapaz, Paret-Peintre, the Johannessen brothers and Einer Rubio – go over the top of this unclassified climb and still have 1’29” over the pelaton, who have just caught Ben Healy. The pictorial graph of the Col du Haag comes in jagged, eye-popping angles- a gradient of 7.2.

32km to go Scrub that, Paret-Peintre is still the lead group, but Ben Healy has dropped off, job done. He wipes his forehead and slurps a water bottle.

In other news, Josh Kerr has just broken the mile world record -3:42.68 .

35km to go It’s a courtly dance phase now. Group Martinez had rejoined the peloton. Paret-Peintre, job done for the day, KOM points in his back pocket, has dropped off the lead group.

“A word about one of the peloton, Abel Balderstone of the Spanish Caja Rural team,” writes Robert Lewis. “His father is from the Lune Valley in Lancashire and has been a teacher in Spain for over 40 years (and a colleague of mine). Young Abel has risen to prominence over the past year or two and at 26 this is his first tour.” Wow, thank you for that Robert!

38km to go Slowly, incrementally, the front group’s lead is shrinking ,now down to 1’44” as they start to climb again. It’s a punchy slope with no points this time, a preamble to the category one Col du Haag.

47km to go The same six riders are still at the tete de la course, bunched together on a gentle downwards slope. The hungry peloton of about 35 riders lick their lips, though they’re losing bodies off the back including Lenny Martinez and Egan Bernal.

50km to go The peloton have swallowed up Group Pidcock, but on the descent the leaders have a 2’06’ lead to hold to their hearts.

Hello Alistair Connor. “Valentin Paret-Peintre, he of the long-winded name, is not short of breath today. He’s the climber’s sprinter, and has pulled off a real coup today. A shame his brother Aurelien, who was in the extinct Pidcock group, wasn’t with him -- two pairs of brothers in the breakaway would surely be a first.” I put that fraternal question out to the hive mind.

57km to go With those mountain points, Paret-Peintre takes the virtual lead in the King of the Mountain standings – he now has 43 points, to Pogacar’s 42 and Carapaz’s 38.

60km to go The front of the peloton can now see the back of group Pidcock – just over 100m between them. Paret-Peintre looks over this shoulder, once, twice, three times, and takes the points – 25 for the day so far, Carapaz was content with second.

62km to go UAE have picked up the pace of the peloton, cutting 45 seconds on the lead on the this climb so far. Another ten points lies ahead for the first man up the Ballon d’Alsace – just one km to the top.

64km to go In the peloton, polka dots Vingegaard is on the wheel of yellow jersey Pogacar.

“I like this from Tom Pidcock,” writes friend from the County Blog Gary Naylor. “If he wants a podium in Paris, it’s a good idea to ride the legs off the super-domestiques this weekend. Going mano-a-mano with his rivals is almost certainly his best chance. It could blow up in his face, but he’s not going to Tommy Tuchel this is he?”

65km to go Cancel that, Thymen Arensman has been caught by group Pidcock after that ill-timed flat tyre.

67km to go French hope Kevin Vauquelin has dropped off group Pidcock, alongside Sebastian Berwick. But the gaps are staying pretty even – the leaders have 1’51” over gr Pidcock, with Arensman in between, and 2’52” over the peloton,

68km to go The figures switch on the weatherhouse and the riders move back into sunshine as they take on the Ballon d’Alsace for the second day in a row. A nasty 6.9 average gradient. Carapaz misses a corner and drops a couple of seconds.

75km to go Arensman is still riding a solo race, slotted between the leading group (47”behind) and Pidcock’s chasing pack (1’10” ahead) . The category one climb of the Ballon d’Alsace awaits.

79km to go. Rain and steep banks on the descent. The road is slicked black with water. You can hear the screech of wet disk breaks.

80 km to go The crowds thicken again on the final metres of this climb, German, French, Welsh flags flap in the riders’ faces. Healy, unselfish cyclist that he is, hauls the leaders up the Col du Page. The sprint for mountain points kicks off – Valentin Paret-Peintre wins, Richard Carapaz slots in second, followed by TH Johannessen and Einer Rubio.

85km to go Campenaerts has been reeled in by the peloton, but Pidcock’s group have stretched their lead over the peloton back to a minute, but they’re still 1’45” off the leading pack. Just over a km left to the summit of Col du Page.

89km to go Arensman has a rear puncture and drops off the Poursuivants group. The front group – Paret-Peintre, Carapaz, Healy and the two Johannessen brothers, are motoring, stretching their lead over the peloton to 2min 30. Although they have now been joined by Rubio.

90km to go Another climb – 6.9km till the top of the Col du Page. The peloton are gaining on Pidcock’s group, just 25 seconds behind.

News from a little earlier today – when Paret-Peintre crossed the line first, he became the first Frenchman in 34 years to win the Grand Ballon.

100km to go The leaders zip into the final 100k of today’s stage. They’ve got 1’15” on Tom Pidcock’s chasing group, 1’52” on the peloton.

“Thomas Pidcock. I always think of him as Stuart,” writes Alistair Connor. “Not very smart of him to be in the breakaway two days running : he’s lost the element of surprise, and the other guys in the breakaway will hate him when he gets reeled in.”

106km to go The top five are charging on the downhill now with a few drops of rain hitting the camera, despite the warm sunshine. As the rain falls on the riders’ faces it “completely changes your concept of the descent” say one of the TNT commentators. They’ve got 1 min 55 over the peloton.