Matthews out-kicks Van Avermaet in Rodez, while the yellow jersey changes hands again
Michael Matthews wins stage 14 at the Tour de France
Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) scored the second Tour de France stage win of his career Saturday in Rodez, timing his move perfectly and out-kicking Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) up the short, steep climb to the finish.
While Matthews' advantage allowed him plenty of time to post up a victory salute as he crossed the line, more drama played out farther back in the bunch as Fabio Aru (Astana) lost contact in the closing 500 metres and surrendered the yellow jersey to defending champion Chris Froome (Team Sky).
The 181.5km 14th stage from Blagnac to Rodez was animated early by a breakaway that contained two time-honoured escape specialists as Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) joined a group of four that also included Maxime Bouet (Team Fortuneo-Oscaro) and Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo). De Gendt was the final survivor of the move, but when the field swallowed him up with 12.5km remaining, the bunch gallop in Rodez was on.
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