Photo gallery: French Fireworks on the Tourmalet
French sporting fans had plenty to celebrate on stage 14 of the Tour de France. Frenchman Thibaut Pinot soared to the stage victory atop the Tourmalet, while his compatriot Julian Alaphilippe finished second and added to his overall lead ahead of defending champion Geraint Thomas.
“Since the start of the Tour I’ve been targeting this stage, this is the one I wanted, the mythical Tourmalet,” said Pinot, who moved up to sixth overall. “We are going into the third week now, people will be tired, but this is where I feel best.”
The challenging mountain stage was a battle of attrition over the 111-kilometer journey from Tarbes to the Tourmalet summit finish. The early break, which included big names like Vincenzo Nibali and Peter Sagan, was only given enough breathing room to hunt mountain points and intermediate sprints. A high pace in the peloton proved too much for Romain Bardet on the Col du Soulor midway through the day. Shortly thereafter, Adam Yates was also dropped on the first-category climb, caught back on, and was then dropped for good.
The last remnants of the break were reeled in on the final climb, putting the stage win in play for the GC group. Groupama-FDJ joined Jumbo-Visma and Movistar on the slopes of the Tourmalet in setting a high tempo. Several big names were dropped before the finale, including Nairo Quintana, Richie Porte, Dan Martin, and Jakob Fuglsang, with Thomas and Rigoberto Urán losing touch late on the climb.
We hope you enjoy these photos from this epic stage as much as we do.
See here for the full stage report.
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