Tour de France Tour de France 2022: Stage 14 (Saint-Étienne – Mende, 192.5k)

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulations to Michael Matthews for winning the stage in such fashion.

As for GC battle. Likely just stretching the legs a bit today. To assess the situation. It will be interesting to see if Vingegaard will attack at some point. Or the plan is just to hold on for dear life. Pogačar will for sure attack at some point. We will see if it will be measured attack or if he will be too impatient and will waste too much energy on fruitless attacks.

 

[Cookster15]

Monster ride by Pogacar on the last climb, gaining 30-40 sec over the rest quickly and being only slower than Pantani. Unfortunately for him Vinge is super-strong as well and this status quo may continue until Paris.

Vinge is weathering the storm but fatigue accumulates and we could see this crack him in the Pyrenees. I don’t think Pog will fade. He has no choice but to keep trying. But I don’t think JV were as dominant today? There is hope for Pog but he is still a long shot.

 

[Cookster15]

Congrats to Michael Matthews well deserved today after a string of 2nd places.

 

[Gwbert]

Congratulations to Michael Matthews for winning the stage in such fashion.

As for GC battle. Likely just stretching the legs a bit today. To assess the situation. It will be interesting to see if Vingegaard will attack at some point. Or the plan is just to hold on for dear life. Pogačar will for sure attack at some point. We will see if it will be measured attack or if he will be too impatient and will waste too much energy on fruitless attacks.

He’s spent two weeks on fruitless attacks, surely he has to run out of energy at some point

 

[CyclistAbi]

In my opinion Jonas is ATM accumulating more fatigue. Pogi by being a bit impatient not that far behind. As the last week will likely be more about mano-a-mano. From this point of view hopefully the rest of the Tour to deliver and for one to crack before the ITT. Otherwise we will be left hanging somewhere at stage 11. Said that stage 11 had elements in it. Elements that determine the Tour winner on an above the average Tour edition. From this point of view we can say this Tour edition will deliver. Lets just see if there is more to it. Or maybe we are just being greedy.

 

[Cookster15]

He’s spent two weeks on fruitless attacks, surely he has to run out of energy at some point

Jonas is using up energy too. Pog has to keep trying and you never know.

 

[Oldermanish]

Well that yellow painted road added nothing to the climb… Awful! Simply awful!

Bettiol rode to the side of it to catch Mathews like it presented a traction problem. Great ideas don't go so well when the temperature soars!

 

[Oldermanish]

Jonas is using up energy too. Pog has to keep trying and you never know.

Tomorrow's stage arguably allow for rest, paticularly by a well-attended Vingo, then a rest day. Stage 16 doesn't appear absurdly hard so the next risk day for Jonas is Tuesday. They both should get it together by then. That said, windy and flat stages is when all the sh*t can go down. As long as he has several big dudes and a teammate with a close match to his bike with him he should be fine.

 

[Cookster15]

Tomorrow's stage arguably allow for rest, paticularly by a well-attended Vingo, then a rest day. Stage 16 doesn't appear absurdly hard so the next risk day for Jonas is Tuesday. They both should get it together by then. That said, windy and flat stages is when all the sh*t can go down. As long as he has several big dudes and a teammate with a close match to his bike with him he should be fine.

JV are expending more biscuits than UAE. Pog has already won two TdFs with little protection from his team. We also know Pog's recovery is unrivalled. As I keep saying Vingo is in the box seat but he isn't safe.