Tour de France 2021, fourteenth stage: Mollema wins, Martin goes back to second place in the standings

Bauke Mollema (Trek Segafredo) won the fourteenth stage of the 108th Tour de France, from Carcassonne to Quillan over a distance of 184 kilometers. The Dutchman, winner of the Giro di Lombardia 2019, preceded the Austrian champion at the finish line by 1’04 ” Patrick Konrad (Bora Hansgrohe) who relegated the Colombian to third place Sergio Higuita (EF Education-Nippo). In fourth position at 1’06 “we find an excellent result Mattia Cattaneo (Deceuninck – Quick Step). Thanks to this excellent performance, the rider from Alzano Lombardo climbed up to 10th place in the standings at 9’48 “from the owner of this edition of the Grande Boucle, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates). Behind the 22-year-old from Komenda there is, however, a new name. It is the French Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) who, by hitting the breakaway of the day, climbed the rankings reaching just 4’04 ”from the Slovenian golden boy. Consequently, the Colombian drops to third place at 5’18 ” Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo), closely followed by the Danish Jonas Vinegsard (Jumbo Visma) and Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers).

The stage approaching the Pyrenees lived on a flight of 14 attackers, formed halfway through: Wouter Poels (Bahrain-Victorious), Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), Mattia Cattaneo (Deceunick Quick-Step), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Omar Fraile (Astana-Premiertech), Sergio Higuita (EF Education Nippo), Esteban Chaves (Team BikeExchange), Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert), Pierre Rolland is Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels), Valentin Madouas (FDJ), Elie Gesbert (Arkea Samsic) and Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe). There has never been a real agreement between these men in advance, the expansion of whose advantage is due, above all, to the bland pace impressed on the platoon by the UAE Emirates.

In the descent of la Cote de Galinagues, fourth of the five GPMs scheduled, about fifty kilometers from the finish, with the advantage of the fugitives stationary around five minutes, Mollema started quickly gaining a minute, margin with which he faced the Col de Saint-Louis, last bump of the day. Behind the Dutchman, meanwhile, unrealistic shots continued to happen without anyone trying to organize a real chase to the tread. This favored the 34 year old from Groningen that he could thus conquer his second victory in the Tour de France after the 2017 one in Le Puy-en-Velay.

The fifteenth stage will be staged tomorrow. They will be 191 kilometers who will bring the yellow caravan from Ceret to Andorra – La Vella. The first third of the journey will be relatively simple. Then it will begin to rise on repeat, hitting the pinnacle of this edition of the Grande Boucle at 2408 meters of the Port d’Envalira, where the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, the French equivalent of Cima Coppi, will be awarded. At that point, there will be 45 km to the finish characterized by the descent on Encamp which will be followed by the Col de Beixalis, whose summit is at least 15 from the finish. Finally, there will be the dive until the arrival place in the heart of the principality.

Tour de France 2021: Simone Gambino’s chronicle on TPI. Here all the stages