Le Tour 2014 – Stage 14

Grenoble – Risoul

Distance: 177 kilometers.

Another mountain stage and even more brutal than yesterday. This a 1-HC-1 group with a summit finish again. The first 1, Col du Lautaret, is 2,058 meters, followed by the HC, Col d’Izoard, at 2,380, with the finish at Risoul only 1,855 meters. The Col d’Izoard is this year’s Souvenir Henri Desgrange climb, and the first rider to the top gets € 5,000 for reaching the highest point in the Tour.

Nibali managed to again increase his hold on the Yellow Jersey, but the Polka Dots and White are very much in contention.

Bardet only has a 16 second lead over Pinot in the battle for the White, and that can disappear on any stage.

Rodriguez managed to move 2 points ahead of Nibali, but he is tied at 88 with today’s stage winner Rafal Majka, so it is far from certain.

If Contador hadn’t dropped out, Majka would have been helping him on these climbs, not racing for himself and the team. As a young rider on his first Tour he has really improved his future in the sport with this win.

Vincenzo Nibali ( Ita – AST – 041 ) [Yellow] 61h 52′ 54″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 051 ) [Green] 361 points
Joaquim Rodriguez ( Esp – KAT – 021 ) [Polka Dot] 88 points
Romain Bardet ( Fra – ALM – 082 ) 3 [White]

Team: AG2R La Mondiale ( ALM – 081-089 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Rafal Majka ( Pol – TCS – 034 )
Combative: Alessandro De Marchi ( Ita – CAN – 053 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Vincenzo Nibali ( Ita – AST – 041 )
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte ( Esp – MOV – 011 ) + 04′ 37″
3 Romain Bardet ( Fra – ALM – 082 ) + 04′ 50″
4 Thibaut Pinot ( Fra – FDJ – 127 ) + 05′ 06″
5 Tejay Van Garderen ( US – BMC – 141 ) + 05′ 49″
6 Jean-Christophe Péraud ( Fra – ALM – 081 ) + 06′ 08″
7 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 061 ) + 08′ 33″
8 Leopold Konig ( Cze – TNE – 201 ) + 09′ 32″
9 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 067 ) + 10′ 01″
10 Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 151 ) + 10′ 48″

The Rest of the Top 30:

11 Jurgen Van Den Broeck ( Bel – LTB – 131 ) + 11′ 02″
12 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre ( Esp – TFR – 169 ) + 11′ 10″
13 Alberto Costa Rui ( Por – LAM – 111 ) + 12′ 57″
14 Frank Schleck ( Lux – TFR – 161 ) + 14′ 37″
15 Richie Porte ( Aus – SKY – 007 ) + 16′ 03″
16 Yury Trofimov ( Rus – KAT – 029 ) + 19′ 12″
17 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 074 ) + 19′ 24″
18 Geraint Thomas ( GB – SKY – 008 ) + 20′ 18″
19 Brice Feillu ( Fra – BSE – 211 ) + 21′ 00″
20 Mikel Nieve Iturralde ( Esp – SKY – 005 ) + 21′ 04″
21 Steven Kruijswijk ( Ned – BEL – 064 ) + 22′ 30″
22 Christopher Horner ( US – LAM – 114 ) + 23′ 59″
23 John Gadret ( Fra – MOV – 013 ) + 32′ 55″
24 Tanel Kangert ( Est – AST – 046 ) + 39′ 12″
25 Ben Gastauer ( Lux – ALM – 085 ) + 41′ 28″
26 Peter Velits ( Svk – BMC – 149 ) + 45′ 33″
27 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – AST – 042 ) + 48′ 00″
28 Jan Bakelants ( Bel – OPQ – 072 ) + 49′ 03″
29 Cyril Gautier ( Fra – EUC – 154 ) + 50′ 17″
30 Tom Dumoulin ( Ned – GIA – 106 ) + 52′ 08″

Did not finish:

Dries Devenyns ( Bel – GIA – 105 )
Rafael Valls ( Esp – LAM – 119 )

Note: Wikipedia has a simple article on the Mountain classification used on the Tour. The basic fact is that climbs fall into five types, with the four numbered types decreasing in difficulty as the numbers get larger, and then there is the Hors Catégorie, literally “without category”, which generally makes you look for an elevator or Sherpas.

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