The 2026 Tour de France stayed in the mountains for Saturday’s 14th stage, where yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar padded his lead with the spoils of his fourth stage victory of the 113th edition. His 25th career Tour stage triumph ties him with André Leducq (1928 to 1938). He now has a 4:30 lead over Jonas Vingegaard. Derek Gee-West had a good day, placing 15th.

A Fierce Podium Battle Awaits

Remco Evenepoel held the final podium spot by nine seconds over Tom Pidcock, who put himself in the conversation with Friday’s breakaway performance. Juan Ayuso was 16 seconds back, Paul Seixas 29 seconds in arrears of Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz 36 seconds behind and Isaac del Toro +1:02 of the Belgian.

Pidcock’s Friday exploits vaulted him up the GC. Photo: Sirotti

Three Cat. 1’s in Saturday’s Lineup

The famous Ballon d’Alsace from Friday was back as the penultimate of four climbs spread across 155 km. The first climb, very long but mildly-graded Grand Ballon, would be where the day’s breakaway would gel. The final ascent, 11.2 km and 7.2 percent Col du Haag, peaked with 5 km to go. It was raining at the start in Mulhouse.

A whole lot of climbing on tap. Image by La FlammeRouge

The day’s intermediate sprint was placed early in the route. Jasper Philipsen took maximum points. Grand Ballon kicked up 21 km in length at 4.8 percent, eliciting a spate of attacking. Thirty-eight chaps including Pidcock shook loose on the Grand Ballon, the climb smothered in fans. EF Education-Easypost, Netcompany-Ineos and Movistar had the numbers. Valentin Paret-Peintre was first over, 1:15 ahead of the yellow jersey.

At the 45 km mark, the race actually crossed the finish line. One hundred and ten kilometers remained. The breakaway cracked into three chunks, so five fellows started up Cat. 2 Col du Page 35 seconds ahead of a chase trio, 1:17 before the majority of the escape and with the yellow jersey 2:00 behind.

Ben Healy, here winning in last year’s edition, was in the front with teammate Richard Carapaz. Photo: Sirotti

Paret-Peintre again crested first. The Pidcock group lagged almost 2:00 behind, the yellow jersey a further minute back. The clouds burst with rain on the descent.

Next on the program was Ballon d’Alsace. Paret-Peintre took the KOM lead from Pogačar by slipping over the top in Position 1. Pidcock’s chase group was caught.

At the foot of the Col du Haag, the breakaway had a 1:20 advantage. Back in the peloton Ayuso looked a little suspect. Carapaz jumped away with Tobias Halland Johannessen. Decathlon-CMA-CGM’s pace dropped Pidcock. Carapaz went solo with 15 km remaining.

Carapaz turned onto a narrow, paved bike path. The yellow jersey was still a minute behind. Lipowitz and Seixas were the first GC guys to attack. They couldn’t stay away, but Mattias Skjelmose and Lenny Martinez were distanced from the little group. Vingegaard then made a push popping off Evenepoel. Carapaz got his pal Johannessen back, but they were caught 2.4 km from the top.

Pogačar powered away.

Off he goes…

Vingegaard chased with Seixas through the roaring crowd. Del Toro was in Position 3. Del Toro and Seixas would distance Vingegaard and fight for the runner-up spot. Del Toro’s second place put him in Ayuso’s white jersey for best young rider.

Sunday’s summit finish is HC-rated Plateau de Solaison.

113th Tour de France, Stage 14
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 4:00:07
2) Isaac del Toro (Mexico/UAE-Emirates) +0:38
3) Paul Seixas (France/Decathlon-CMA-CGM) s.t.
15) Derek Gee-West (Canada/Lidl-Trek) +3:30

113th Tour de France GC
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 51:18:28
2) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-Lease a Bike) +4:30
3) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Red Bull) +5:04