Tadej and his team UAE Team Emirates – XRG experienced another historic day at the Tour. He celebrated victory in the 14th stage to Le Markstein, crowning the outstanding work of the whole squad. In this 155.3-kilometer test with 3,800 meters of elevation gain, Nils Politt first stood out, setting the pace at the front of the peloton to ensure that a large breakaway group did not ride up too big of an advantage.
Then, on the climb to Ballon d’Alsace (8.9 km, 6.9 average gradient), Tim Wellens took over the chase of the ever-smaller group up front and cut the gap to a minute and a half. That was also the deficit at the foot of the climb to the last pass of the day, Haag (11.2 km, 7.3%), which was led at the head of the race by Richard Carapaz (EF Education Easy Post), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick Step), Einer Rubio (Movistar), and twin brothers Tobias and Anders Halland Johannessen (both Uno X Mobility).
On the final climb, the riders from Decathlon CMA CGM first set the pace for their leader Paul Seixas, then Sepp Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard of Visma Lease a Bike took the initiative. Five kilometers before the summit, Vingegaard began to set a very sharp tempo and the group of favorites caught the last of the breakaway riders. He also put many riders in difficulty, but not Tadej, who attacked 1.6 kilometers below the summit.
At the mountaintop finish, Tadej had a 20-second advantage, but he still had six kilometers to go to the end of the stage. Vingegaard and Seixas tried to catch him, but the gap kept growing the whole time. Tadej thus celebrated his fourth win of this year’s Tour, and to top it off, second place—38 seconds back—was taken by his teammate Isaac del Toro.
»Today I have to say thank you to all the fans by the roadside; it was unforgettable to see those crowds on the climbs and on the summits. It’s incredible to see something like that—thank you, everyone. We riders also have tremendous respect for one another; we all put on a great show. It’s nice to see racing like this,« Tadej said at the finish.
»I knew Isaac wasn’t 100 percent; I waited for the last two kilometers to see if anyone would move. Decathlon and then Jonas set a very hard pace on the climb. The guys were dropping one by one. I felt good; I told myself I’d try in the last two kilometers, which I knew very well. There were also so many spectators that it gives you an extra boost to make it to the top. I tried, I had good sensations, I seized the opportunity,« Tadej added.
In Le Markstein he celebrated his second victory; he was the best there already in the 20th stage of the Tour in 2023. This time, though, he was especially satisfied because everything went according to his team’s plans. »It was a perfect day; we had this stage marked from the start, I know it very well, it’s extremely beautiful, the surroundings are incredible for cycling. I have great memories of these places, and today, as a team, we created another one,« continued the wearer of the yellow jersey.
With his 25th stage victory at the Tour, he moved up to 4th place on the all-time list, where he is tied with André Leducq. Ahead of him are only Bernard Hinault (28), Eddy Merckx (34) and Mark Cavendish (35). In the pursuit of a fifth overall victory at the Tour de France, what matters is that Tadej increased his lead in the general classification over runner-up Vingegaard to 4:30. In third place, 5:04 behind, is Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe).
The second week of the 113th Tour is coming to an end, but tomorrow there is still another very demanding test on the schedule. Tadej and his teammates face the 184-kilometer 15th stage starting in Champagnole, with 3,950 meters of elevation gain. The summit finish is on the Plateau de Solaison (11.3 km, 9.2%). »Tomorrow will be tougher; I wouldn’t explain too much. It will be a hard day for us, but we’ll be ready for the fight. We’ll see what happens—there are many different possibilities,« Tadej added.