The China Mail - Pogacar wins 'unforgettable' Tour de France 14th stage to extend overall lead

It was the world champion's fourth stage win in this 113th edition of the Grande Boucle as his team-mate Isaac Del Toro pipped teenager Paul Seixas to second place, with Vingegaard fourth at the end of the 155km stage from Mulhouse to Le Markstein Fellering.

"I must say thanks to all the fans that came to the side of the road, it was really something unforgettable," the 27-year-old Slovenian said.

"To see all the crowds on the hills, over the mountain... I (have) never seen something like this.

"All the riders, we have such a massive respect towards each other.

"I think we all put on a great show. It's nice to see this kind of racing."

Four-time champion Pogacar had already stamped his authority on this Tour in the previous mountain stages but once again he emphasised his superiority with another devastating late attack.

This was his 25th Tour stage victory in total since his debut in 2020.

Behind him, the battle for the minor placings produced some thrills.

Frenchman Seixas took four bonus seconds on the line, 38sec after Pogacar, which proved enough to move him up to fourth in the overall standings, and strip Spaniard Juan Ayuso of the best young rider's white jersey -- but only by three seconds.

Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel held onto third place overall after finished strongly to come home only four seconds behind Vingegaard despite having been the first of the top seven contenders to be dropped on the final climb, the 11.2km-long Col du Haag.

He leads Seixas by just 15 seconds in the final podium position.

But the gap between Vinegegaard in second overall and Del Toro in seventh is now just 1:20, with Evenepoel's Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team-mate Florian Lipowitz in sixth.

- Inevitable attack -

A group of more than 30 riders went on the attack from the opening climb of the stage, the 21.5km-long Grand Ballon -- the big ball, so named for the rounded shape of its summit.

But by the summit, six riders had detached themselves from the group and four of them would stay out in front until the Col du Haag.

The rest were swallowed up by the peloton led by Pogacar's UAE Emirates-XRG team on the Ballon d'Alsace climb in inclement weather alternating between warm sunshine and heavy showers -- a welcome change from the heatwave that made the opening 10 days of the race so gruelling.

The six stretched out a maximum lead of three minutes, but UAE kept that leash well under control.

Irishman Ben Healy was the first rider to drop out of the break before Norwegian Anders Johannessen, whose twin brother Tobias remained, did likewise.

By the foot of the final climb, the four leaders had a gap of about 1:20 over a peloton of around 35 riders.

Johannessen and Richard Carapaz dropped their two companions within a kilometre of the start of the climb but an acceleration by Vingegaard saw them caught 2.5km from the summit.

Pogacar then launched his inevitable winning move 1.5km from the top, with only a fast 6km run to the finish line after that.

U.Chen--ThChM