2018 Tour de France Stage 14 Results & Recap
Stage 14 of the 2018 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
Fraile first on stage 14\nBy Clara Beard
Omar Fraile (Astana) won stage 14 of the Tour de France after attacking on the final ascent to Mende. The Basque rider finished the 188 kilometre stage ahead of Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step Floors) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek Segafredo), who were left with second and third place, respectively.
“I was confident to bring Jasper Stuyven back,” Fraile said. “He had been alone at the front for a long and there was a strong head wind in the final hill. I decided right from foot of the climb to chase him as soon as possible. The truth is that I find it incredible to have won the stage to Mende. It’s a very famous one in Spain. When I started my career, I didn’t imagine I’d win a Tour de France stage. Firstly, I took it as a great news to have been selected for the tour. In the first week, I realized how hard the race was but I coped with it. Today’s stage was one of the few that we targeted for the victory. From now on, I’ll only dedicate myself to helping Jakob Fuglsang to get the highest possible rank on GC.”
Geraint Thomas retained his lead in the overall while Alaphilippe extended his lead in the polka dot jersey.
“Behind Jasper Stuyven who made an impressive move, we didn’t have the best organisation but Yves Lampaert and Philippe Gilbert did a big work for me,” Alaphilippe said. “I remained focused on the final climb but I didn’t know it. I didn’t dare to follow Fraile. I attacked a bit too late. I’m disappointed to come so close to the victory but I have no regret. The strongest has won.”
After a hectic start in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux with crosswinds that split the peloton into four groups, a large breakaway formed containing some big, but not GC threatening, names.
The breakaway included: Fraile, Stuyven, Alaphilippe, Dani Martinez and Pierre Rolland (EF Education First), Simon Geschke (Sunweb), Gorka Izagirre and Kristjian Koren (Bahrain-Merida), Michael Hepburn and Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Damiano Caruso, Stefan KĂĽng and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Philippe Gilbert and Yves Lampaert (Quick Step), Peter Sagan and Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe), Tom-Jelte Slagter and Julien Vermote (Dimension Data), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Lilian Calmejane, JĂ©rĂ´me Cousin, Thomas Boudat, Sylvain Chavanel and Damien Gaudin (Direct Energie), Michael Gogl, Christophe Laporte, Nicolas Edet, Anthony Perez and Anthony Turgis (Cofidis), Thomas Degand (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).
With the breakaway gaining more and more time on the bunch who had no interest in chasing, Izaguirre was the first to attack on the col de la Croix de Berthel. He was joined by Slagter and Stuyven on the descent and the trio gained a little bit of time before Styyven attacked with 35 kilometres to go. For a while it looked promising for the Belgian, keen to win on Belgium’s national day, but his lead was shut down by Fraile and Alaphilippe, the only riders from the breakaway able to catch and pass Stuyven on the final Cat. 2 climb.
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