2015 Tour de France Stage 14 Results & Recap
Stage 14 of the 2015 Tour de France is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Cummings soars to victory in Mende
Steven Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka) made history on stage 14 of the Tour de France picking up his team’s first ever stage in the Tour de France on Mandela Day.
The British rider was part of an early break which survived the clutches of the peloton all the way to the finish in Mende.
Cummings suffered on the early slopes of the final climb of the Côte de la Croix Neuve as Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) moved clear of the main escape but he fought back and by the summit had almost made contact. Hesitation from the French pair gifted Cummings the opportunity he needed and as the road levelled and then descended to the line, he forged clear.
The gap he created was no more than a few meters but it was enough, despite a frantic chase from the French pair, to seal the win with Pinot second and Bardet third.
"I wasn't the strongest, I knew there were better climbers. I knew it would be really difficult to win," Cummings said. "I was always waiting in the last 10km for an opportunity, but it was clear that FDJ were going to try and control it for Pinot, so I took advantage of that and waited and waited.
"It's the Tour de France, and there were a lot of guys, everyone goes bananas at the bottom of the climb. I kept my calm and just time trialed up it. In the downhill bit at the end, I could manage to have a little carrot and chase them back. I saw Pinot was behind me, and he's cautious in the corners so I threw caution to the wind. I got a little gap, and I'm pretty confident with those climbers that a gap on the flat or downhill it's difficult to catch me."
Van Garderen slips to third
In the battle for the maillot jaune Chris Froome (Team Sky) move a step closer to overall victory with a dogged display on the final ascent. Despite being isolated and facing several attacks from his principal rival Nairo Quintana (Movistar) the Team Sky leader held on, slowing but surely dragging the Colombian back after each of his attacks. The rest of the GC contenders all fell by the wayside with Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) all conceding time.
Froome and Quintana crested the Côte de la Croix in tandem but the British rider had enough in the tank to outsprint Quintana and add another second to his overall advantage. Froome leads the race with Quintana at 3:10. Van Garderen, who started the stage in second, dropped a place and is now 3:32 in arrears. Alejandro Valverde remains in fourth at 4:02 while Alberto Contador moved up a place overall into fifth over Geraint Thomas (Sky), but is now 4:23 down on Froome.
While the overall contenders duked it out on the climb the race belonged to Cummings who took the biggest win of his career and first Tour stage win. The British rider has ridden for a string of WorldTour teams in his long career but his move to the Pro Continental ranks has paid off at MTN-Qhubeka who were wearing specially dectorated helmets in order to honour Mandela Day.
For an African team riding their first ever Tour de France, their maiden win could not have come on better day. Not only did the victory honour the South African leader, but provided a soothing balm for the race after a week where its leader has been dogged by leaked data and doping questions. Today’s result was a reminder of how sport can deliver moments of joy and surprise.
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