2014 Tour de France Stage 14 Report

Grenoble - Risoul 177 km

There was a breakaway of seventeen riders which including: Simon Yates (Orica), Geraint Thomas (Sky), Nicholas Roche, Rafal Majka (both of Tinkoff-Saxo), Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). Peter Sagan rolled over the intermediate sprint in first in an uncontested sprint.  At the foot of the Col du Lautaret, the lead of the breakaway was buffering around 4 minutes. An FDJ.fr rider went off the front of the peloton to go into a campervan, for no apparent reason, we later found out that he had diarrhea. At the top of the climb,  Joaquim Rodriguez took ten points from Rafal Majka and Nico Roche in third.  At the top of the climb they led by 5 minutes. The lead was halved on the descent by the NetApp-Endura team. Peter Sagan and Albert Timmer was dropped on the lower slopes of the super-category Col d'Izoard. The break extended their lead on the climb from  2 minutes 20 to upwards of 3 minutes. Quite a lot of riders were dropped off the back of the peloton on the Izoard that included Simon Gerrans and Niki Terpstra. Christophe Riblon, Nicholas Roche, Nicolas Edet and Rein Taaramae were dropped from the breakaway. Joaquim Rodriguez, took 25 points and first place in the KOM competition at the top of the Izoard, as it is the highest point in the tour he received the Souvenir Henri Desgrange and €5000. On the descent, there was a split in the peloton with 4 riders  including the Yellow Jersey and the White Jersey, the other group included Tejay van Garderen and Jurgen van den Broeck. The Van Garderen group all came back together. The breakaway started the climb a minute ahead of the yellow jersey group. Alessandro De Marchi attacked with 11km to go, he was followed by Jose Serpa of Lampre. Alessandro De Marchi attacked again and left Serpa. The other men of the breakaway, were caught by the yellow jersey. Rafal Majka took the lead and attacked, and left De Marchi and Rodriguez behind. With 4.5 km to go, Pierre Rolland attacked twice and failed twice. As thy went under the 4km banner, Nibali attacked and was joined by Jean-Christophe Pereau. Then Valverde and Van Garderen attacked with Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot. Valverde cracked, as Van Garderen, Frank Schleck and the two Frenchmen attacked, again.  Rafal Majka held on to take a great solo win.

Stage 14 Result (Top 20):

1.	POLMAJKA Rafal	34	TINKOFF-SAXO	05h 08' 27''
2.	ITANIBALI Vincenzo	41	ASTANA PRO TEAM	05h 08' 51''	+ 00' 24''
3.	FRAPÉRAUD Jean-Christophe	81	AG2R LA MONDIALE	05h 08' 53''	+ 00' 26''
4.	FRAPINOT Thibaut	127	FDJ.FR	05h 09' 17''	+ 00' 50''
5.	FRABARDET Romain	82	AG2R LA MONDIALE	05h 09' 17''	+ 00' 50''
6.	USAVAN GARDEREN Tejay	141	BMC RACING TEAM	05h 09' 21''	+ 00' 54''
7.	LUXSCHLECK Frank	161	TREK FACTORY RACING	05h 09' 28''	+ 01' 01''
8.	NEDTEN DAM Laurens	67	BELKIN PRO CYCLING	05h 09' 34''	+ 01' 07''
9.	CZEKONIG Leopold	201	TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA	05h 09' 47''	+ 01' 20''
10.	ESPVALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro	11	MOVISTAR TEAM	05h 09' 51''	+ 01' 24''
11.	ESPZUBELDIA AGIRRE Haimar	169	TREK FACTORY RACING	05h 09' 51''	+ 01' 24''
12.	FRAROLLAND Pierre	151	TEAM EUROPCAR	05h 09' 51''	+ 01' 24''
13.	ESPIZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI Jon	16	MOVISTAR TEAM	05h 10' 45''	+ 02' 18''
14.	AUSROGERS Michael	38	TINKOFF-SAXO	05h 11' 01''	+ 02' 34''
15.	FRAGADRET John	13	MOVISTAR TEAM	05h 11' 04''	+ 02' 37''
16.	NEDMOLLEMA Bauke	61	BELKIN PRO CYCLING	05h 11' 07''	+ 02' 40''
17.	LUXGASTAUER Ben	85	AG2R LA MONDIALE	05h 11' 11''	+ 02' 44''
18.	FRAJEANNESSON Arnold	124	FDJ.FR	05h 11' 36''	+ 03' 09''
19.	RUSTROFIMOV Yury	29	TEAM KATUSHA	05h 11' 36''	+ 03' 09''
20.	FRAEDET Nicolas	172	COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS	05h 11' 47''	+ 03' 20''
21.	GBRYATES Simon	189	ORICA GREENEDGE	05h 11' 52''	+ 03' 25''