Tadej Pogacar wins the 14th stage of the Tour de France with the final climb to Pla d'Adet. The Slovenian wins ahead of Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel and extends his overall lead. And this despite being disturbed by a fan.
The 152 km stage, which started in Pau, was a tough one with two top category climbs. First, the legendary Col du Tourmalet had to be passed, followed by the first mountain finish of this year's Tour de France. The final climb stretched over 10.6 km and had an average gradient of 7.9 percent.
Pogacar attacked from the group of favorites with just under five kilometers to go and nobody was able to counter his explosive attack. Vingegaard initially kept the gap within limits. However, Pogacar had the greater reserves and took 39 seconds off the Dane by the finish. As a result, he now led the overall standings by 1:57 minutes ahead of Vingegaard, who overtook Evenepoel. In third place, the Belgian lost 70 seconds to Pogacar and is now 2:22 minutes behind the leader.
Pogacar also overcame a tricky situation on the way to his triumph. Around two kilometers before the finish, a spectator swings a bag of potato chips in front of his face. The Slovenian was lucky not to be knocked off his stride by this nasty attack. He just shakes his head briefly and races on up the mountain.