Stage 14 DS Insights Review

🏁 Stage 14 Tour de France – Pau → Luchon‑Superbagnères (182.6 km)

🗓️ Date: 19 July 2025

⛰️ Terrain: Brutal Pyrenean stage with Col du Tourmalet, Col d’Aspin, Col de Peyresourde, and a summit finish at Luchon-Superbagnères

🎯 Theme: Breakaway redemption, a GC reset, and team tactics under the microscope

✅ Winners

🇳🇱 Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers)

Stage Victory: Soloed away from the breakaway to win by 1’12″—his first ever Tour de France stage win.

Momentum for INEOS: Ends their drought and lifts team morale.

Big GC Leap: Now 3rd overall, benefitting from Evenepoel’s abandonment and strong climbing form.

🇸🇮 Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)2nd on the day, outsprinting Vingegaard for bonus seconds.

Extended yellow jersey lead to 4’13”. Calm, calculated, and devastatingly consistent.

🇩🇰 Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike)

3rd place, just behind Pogacar. Maintains 2nd overall but losing ground. Still his strongest day in the Pyrenees so far.

❌ Losers / Setbacks

🇧🇪 Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–QuickStep)

Abandoned the race on the Col du Tourmalet after suffering physically for several stages. He leaves the Tour while lying 3rd overall and wearing the white jersey.

INEOS Grenadiers (despite win)

Team vehicle fined CHF 5,000 after DS Oliver Cookson clipped a roadside spectator on the Col de Peyresourde. DS received a yellow card warning for dangerous driving. Having driven in tours with huge amounts of spectators in Africa, Asia and Europe, these fans do get in the way at times. Your #1 priority is to protect the cyclists, a fan jumping in the way will get clipped as if you swerve out the way you are more than likely going to hit a cyclist. Fans need to be more careful.

🌟 Stage Highlights & Tactics

Breakaway Day: The winning move formed on the Tourmalet. Arensman bridged solo and climbed clear over the final two mountains.

Martinez active again: Took key KOM points and retains the lead in that competition. He did enough to maintain the points, but he is looking vulnerable.

GC Duo:Pogačar and Vingegaard shadowboxed again, but Pogačar took the edge once again on the summit.

Onley & Lipowitz: Both young riders climbed well, holding firm in the GC top 5 after Evenepoel’s exit.

🏆 Jersey Standings – After Stage 14

🟡 General Classification (Yellow Jersey)

Rank    Rider    Team   Time Gap

1️⃣         Tadej Pogačar               UAE Team Emirates   —

2️⃣         Jonas Vingegaard        Visma–Lease a Bike   +4’13”

3️⃣         Florian Lipowitz            Bora–Hansgrohe        +7’53”

4️⃣         Oscar Onley    DSM–Firmenich PostNL          +9’18”

5️⃣         Kevin Vauquelin Arkea-B&B Hotels +10’21”

🟢 Points Classification (Green Jersey)

Rank    Rider    Team   Points

1️⃣         Jonathan Milan             Lidl–Trek            251

2️⃣         Tadej Pogačar               UAE Team Emirates   223

3️⃣         Mathieu van der Poel   Alpecin–Deceuninck 190

4️⃣         Biniam Girmay              Intermarché–Wanty   169

5️⃣         Tim Merlier       Soudal–QuickStep     150

🔴 King of the Mountains (Polka Dot Jersey)

Rank    Rider    Team   Points

1️⃣         Lenny Martinez             Bahrain – Victorious  60

2️⃣         Tadej Pogačar               UAE Team Emirates         52

3️⃣         Thymen Arensman     INEOS Grenadiers       48

4️⃣          Jonas Vingegaard Team Visma|Lease A Bike 39 

5️⃣         Michael Woods              Israel-Premier Tech        38

🤍 Best Young Rider (White Jersey)

Rank    Rider    Team   Time Gap

1️⃣         Florian Lipowitz         Bora–Hansgrohe         —

2️⃣         Oscar Onley    DSM–Firmenich PostNL            +1’25”

3️⃣         Kevin Vauquelin           Arkéa–B&B Hotels      +2’28”

4️⃣         Ben Healy               EF Education-EasyPost +10’48”

5️⃣         Carlos Rodriguez         Ineos Grenadiers         +15’04”

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Team Classification – After Stage 14

Rank    Team   Time Gap

1️⃣         Visma–Lease a Bike  —

2️⃣         UAE Team Emirates   +13’48”

3️⃣         Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale    +43’28”

🧠 DS Tactical Analysis

Isolation is Key:

My opinion: If you want to beat Pogačar, Vingegaard needs his teammates with him deep into the final climb — not up the road chasing breakaway dreams.

Questionable Tactics:

Why send Sepp Kuss and Simon Yates up the road if, when they come back, they can’t contribute to the pace? Neither of them was able to give 1 pull for Vingegaard. By the time they’re needed, they’re too cooked or out of rhythm to help.

Misplaced Priorities?

Visma–Lease a Bike seem to be hunting stage wins or showing force — but this is not how you unseat a rider as consistent and dominant as Pogačar. They need to ride as a team. Pogačar uses his team perfectly, you should know that when the last UAE rider is in the front for Pogačar, his attack is around the next corner or next steep incline. If you let him ride unpressured, he just floats away from you.

📣 DS Call Summary

“Let’s be real — this wasn’t just a stage win for Ineos, it was a strategic indictment. Pogačar climbs alone, but you can’t crack him unless you make it a war of attrition. Visma need to ride as a unit, not as lone wolves. Kuss, Yates, they’re great riders, but pointless in the break if they’re ghosts when it matters. Stage wins won’t win you the Tour. Smart, collective pressure might.”