Stage 14 – 182km and 4,950m of vertical gain. Brutal.170 riders would take the start today but the same number wouldn’t make it to the finish in Superbagnres. With almost 5000m of elevation gain, four categorized climbs, on and off rain and misty conditions this stage was always going to be difficult.Despite the difficulties there was still a large number of riders who wanted to be in the break of the day and the pace was on from kilomter zero. No groups could get more than a few seconds lead though and for a number of minutes it was only the big green clad figure of Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) who could create any sort of gap over the peloton.Milan wanted to get away, but not by himself and he eventually sat up and waited for the pelotonWith the high pace and constant attacking, it was not a day to be sick and suffering as Steff Cras – TotalEnergies (29th on GC) quickly found out and he was the first to abandon for the day. Shortly after, Mattias Skjelmose – Lidl-Trek (19th on GC) came down in a bad accident after colliding with some traffic furniture and he abandoned the race a few kilometers later.It was now time for the intermediate sprint after 70km and with the peloton still all together, Jonathan Milan took maximum points ahead of Mathieu Van der Poel and Biniam Girmay.The famous Col du Tourmalet was now in sight for the peloton and it was on the…
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