Saturday, July 18th, 14th stage: Mulhouse > Le Markstein Fellering – The second Tour de France stage finish at Le Markstein, three years after the previous one, crowned the same winner: Tadej Pogacar. This second success reads very differently from the previous: at the time, the Slovenian star bounced back to a consolation victory as he suffered the dominance of Jonas Vingegaard in the overall standings. Three years later, the UAE Emirates XRG leader shone at his brightest, the Maillot Jaune on his back, as he powered to a fourth victory this year, alone at the front. Across his seven participations, he now has 25 stage wins, the same total as André Leducq. Only three riders remain ahead: Mark Cavendish (35), Eddy Merckx (34), and Bernard Hinault (28). Second on the day, Isaac del Toro achieved another 1-2 for UAE Emirates XRG. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) completed the day’s top 3 and climbed one spot in the overall standings, surpassing Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) and taking the white jersey as the leader of the young riders’ classification.
Healy Shapes the Breakaway
Before the climbing began, Alpecin-Premier Tech controlled the opening kilometers to secure maximum points for Jasper Philipsen at the intermediate sprint in Wattwiller (km 12.6). Soon after the sprint, the peloton reached the foot of the Grand Ballon (Category 1, summit at km 36.6), where an intense battle to establish the day’s breakaway unfolded.
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) attacked early on the climb and emerged as the driving force behind the move. Around 30 riders eventually formed the break, including his teammates Richard Carapaz, Alex Baudin and Georg Steinhauser. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) was again on the attack, one day after his successful breakaway to Belfort lifted him to fourth place overall. Visma-Lease a Bike also placed three riders in the move: Matteo Jorgenson, Bruno Armirail and Victor Campenaerts.
Paret-Peintre Sweeps Early KOMs
Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) reached the summit of the Grand Ballon first, ahead of Richard Carapaz. The pair remained clear on the descent before being joined by Healy and twins Tobias and Anders Johannessen. On the second climb of the day, the Col du Page (Category 2, km 71.3), Einer Rubio bridged across with the help of teammate Pablo Castrillo to form a six-man lead group. Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) had been in contention to join them but lost ground after suffering a mechanical problem.
Paret-Peintre again led over the summit, while the break’s advantage grew to a maximum of 3 minutes, 10 seconds on the ensuing descent. Behind them, Armirail and Campenaerts worked relentlessly to keep the chase group ahead of the peloton.
On the Ballon d’Alsace, Paret-Peintre completed a clean sweep of the day’s first three categorized climbs, taking over the King of the Mountains classification with 43 points, one more than Tadej Pogacar. Carapaz moved up to 38 points. At the summit, the chase group trailed by 1 minute, 50 seconds, with the peloton another 10 seconds behind. The groups reunited on the descent.
Stage 14 Highlights:
Seixas Stays With Pogacar and Del Toro
At the front, Healy emptied the tank in support of Carapaz’s bid for the stage victory, while Anders Johannessen did the same for his brother Tobias. Their advantage had shrunk to 1 minute, 30 seconds by the foot of the final climb, the Col du Haag (Category 1, km 149.4).
Carapaz and Tobias Johannessen quickly distanced the rest of the break as Decathlon CMA CGM increased the pace in the general classification group. Carapaz launched a solo attack with just under 9 kilometers remaining on the climb, but Johannessen fought back to rejoin him with 3 kilometers to the summit. Behind them, Jonas Vingegaard accelerated and closed the gap with 2.5 kilometers remaining.
Less than a kilometer later, the gradient pitched up to 16 percent, prompting Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG) to launch his decisive attack. Vingegaard initially responded, while Paul Seixas bridged back to the Dane by the summit. Isaac Del Toro then closed the gap on the false flat leading to the finish.
Pogacar powered to his 25th Tour de France stage victory. Del Toro finished second, while Seixas took third and gained 16 seconds on Juan Ayuso in the overall standings. The French rider also claimed the white jersey, the first Tour de France classification jersey of his career.
2026 Tour de France Stage 14 Results:
| 1 | T. POGACAR | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 04h 00′ 07” | – | B : 10” | – |
| 2 | I. DEL TORO | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 04h 00′ 45” | + 00h 00′ 38” | B : 6” | – |
| 3 | P. SEIXAS | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | 04h 00′ 45” | + 00h 00′ 38” | B : 4” | – |
| 4 | J. VINGEGAARD | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 04h 00′ 51” | + 00h 00′ 44” | – | – |
| 5 | R. EVENEPOEL | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 04h 00′ 55” | + 00h 00′ 48” | – | – |
| 6 | J. AYUSO | LIDL-TREK | 04h 00′ 57” | + 00h 00′ 50” | – | – |
| 7 | F. LIPOWITZ | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 04h 00′ 57” | + 00h 00′ 50” | – | – |
| 8 | R. CARAPAZ | EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST | 04h 01′ 25” | + 00h 01′ 18” | – | – |
| 9 | T. JOHANNESSEN | UNO-X MOBILITY | 04h 01′ 47” | + 00h 01′ 40” | – | – |
| 10 | M. SKJELMOSE | LIDL-TREK | 04h 01′ 47” | + 00h 01′ 40” | – | – |
General Classification after Stage 14:
| 1 | T. POGACAR | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 51h 18′ 28” | – | B : 46” | – |
| 2 | J. VINGEGAARD | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 51h 22′ 58” | + 00h 04′ 30” | B : 12” | – |
| 3 | R. EVENEPOEL | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 51h 23′ 32” | + 00h 05′ 04” | B : 10” | – |
| 4 | P. SEIXAS | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | 51h 23′ 47” | + 00h 05′ 19” | B : 8” | – |
| 5 | J. AYUSO | LIDL-TREK | 51h 23′ 50” | + 00h 05′ 22” | – | – |
| 6 | F. LIPOWITZ | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 51h 24′ 12” | + 00h 05′ 44” | – | – |
| 7 | I. DEL TORO | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 51h 24′ 18” | + 00h 05′ 50” | B : 20” | – |
| 8 | M. SKJELMOSE | LIDL-TREK | 51h 26′ 03” | + 00h 07′ 35” | – | – |
| 9 | T. PIDCOCK | PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM | 51h 26′ 27” | + 00h 07′ 59” | B : 8” | – |
| 10 | L. MARTINEZ | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 51h 26′ 53” | + 00h 08′ 25” | – | – |
