Tour de France stage 14 Live - Mende uphill finish perfect for attacks

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All the action from the hot stage across central France after Pogacar attacks Vingegaard on early hills

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Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 14 of the Tour de France.

In Saint-Etienne the sun is out and temperatures are high as riders sign-on before stage 14. 

UAE Team Emirates is the latest team to sign-on, with Tadej Pogacar smiling and waving to the crowd. 

Pogacar spoke briefly on the sign-on podium.

The riders are lining up at the start line. They will soon roll out. 

Now the jersey wearers take their place on the front row of the grid. 

This is today's stage. 

C'est Parti. 

It is 25C at the start but expected to be much hotter along the route across central France.

There is a slight tailwind for much of the stage but the attacks will be the big driving force today. 

The Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont comes after just 14.2km is an ideal place for the attacks to go clear. 

Everyone looks serious in the peloton. There's tension and determination about getting in the break.

It's interesting to see Caleb Ewan talking to the race judges after being fined for motor-pacing yesterday. He is giving his version of what happened.

2Km to the official start.

Here we go! 

Attack! 

The road descends for a moment and that adds speed to racing.

190km to go

Bauke Mollema is there and typical of the riders expected to go on the attack today. 

There 18 riders in the attack and they have a 30-second gap already. 

185km to go

This is the stage profile.

The Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont is 7.7km long at 3.9%. Perfect to make your rivals hurt and get away from the peloton.  

The peloton is chasing, with Jumbo on the front to keep the pace high. 

Well, Tadej Pogacar is on the move. 

Dani Martinez attacks ands crosses to the attack. 

Van Aert is with Vingegaard after they chased Pogacar.

Pogacar attacks for a 3rd time!!

Pogacar has dragged the strongest riders up to the break. 

Vingegaard has marked Pogacar and the other GC have come up to them. 

As the riders reach the top of the Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont, Neilson Powless (EF) and Chris Juul Jensen (BikeExchange-Jayco) are away but the peloton is chasing them. 

The two have just a 12-second lead. 

Roglic is in a chase group that is 30-seconds down on the Vingegaard peloton.

The attacks keep coming but Vingegaard is wisely sat on van Aert's wheel.  

The Roglic group is 1:00 down. If the attacks keep coming, he might not get back up front. 

170km to go

The Roglic group is at 1:15. 

Matej Mohoric is attacking from the front group after Powless and  Juul Jensen were caught. 

The Roglic group is 1:40 behind. 

165km to go

The speed is so high that riders have little time to eat and drink. 

There are only 50 or so riders in the front peloton. 

Van Aert keeps chasing surges in the peloton to drag Vingegaard back up to safety. 

The race is only 5km from the Côte de Châtaignier climb and so the race will stay aggressive. 

Pinot and Bardet are in the Vingegaard group but they're at the back and seem to be suffering.

The Côte de Châtaignier is 2.6km long at 7.3%. 

Vingegaard is at the back of the front group.

UAE are again upping the pace. 

Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels) is off the front but everyone is hurting. 

Vlasov is suffering. 

Vingegaard is back with his Jumbo teammates but he only has van Aert and Kruijswijk alongside him. 

At the summit, Bonnamour is brought back and Quinn Simmons surges to beat Simon Geschke for the maximum KOM points. 

The peloton seems to be letting the attackers go clear. 

Pinot is the attack. 

Meanwhile the Roglic group is at 3:30. 

Van Aert and Vingegaard are on the front and slowing the pace. 

Now the break will have to work hard to stay away and then fight for the stage victory. 

Louis Meintjes, 14th overall at 15:46, is the highest ranked of the 18 breakaway riders. 

The 23 leading riders have covered 43.2km in the super first hour. 

These are the 23 riders in the attack. It is a quality group.  

Caleb Ewan is still riding and still chasing. He is 12:00 back.

The slow in pace in the peloton allows the Roglic group close the gap and get back on. The Jumbo riders bring up drinks and ice for Vingegaard. 

140km to go

A split in the attack forces Mollema, Simmons and Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar) to chase. 

138km to go

135km to go

Meanwhile, in other news, Olivia Ray, who was removed from the roster of Human Powered Health earlier this year, has said in an interview with a New Zealand newspaper that she took performance enhancing substances while racing professionally in the United States last year. 

130km to go

In the 23-rider attack, Fuglsang kicks-off more attacks to try to shake-out the attack. 

125km to go

These are the 23 riders in the attack. It will be fascinating to see who attacks later. 

The peloton reach a feed zone and Jumbo again grab musettes full of drinks and ice. 

120km to go

115km to go

105km to go

Caleb Ewan is bravely fighting to stay in the Tour. 

100km to go

As van Aerts drops back to his Jumbo team car the gap to the break is up to 10:00. 

This middle section of the race is relatively quiet but important. It' is about eating and drinking and saving energy on the climbs for the finale of the stage.

85km to go

This is the 23-rider break of the day, with Krists Neilands of Israel on the front.

Thibaut Pinot is also in the move, which should make the finale of the stage very interesting.

The 192.5km stage cuts south-east through the very centre of central France.

Both the attackers and the peloton asre on the long, gradual Le Bouchet-Saint-Nicolas climb. 

We get a rare shot of Caleb Ewan riding with 3 teammates some 19 minutes behind the peloton. 

70km to go

65km to go

After three hours of racing, the average speed is 42.6km/h which indicates just how fast the start was.

The Côte de Grandrieu is hurting the attackers, with Bauke Mollema at the back with Trek teammate Quinn Simmons.

57km to go

Simon Geschke (Cofidis) surges to try to win the KOM. 

He beats Simmons to the top of the Cat 3 Côte de Grandrieu climb.  

Geschke added 2 points to his KOM total.   

Here we go! 

There are still 50km to go but the Australia wants to take on the race and get into a smaller group. 

Matthews leads by 20 seconds, with a tailwind helping him go clear.

Here come the counter-attacks. 

The 23-rider attack is splitting as Kron pushes on. 

Stefan Kung is trying to drag a group and his teammate Pinot up to the attacks.

Meanwhile, the peloton reaches the top of the Côte de Grandrieu some 11:40 behind.

48km to go

The 22 chasers are attacking each other as they try to cross to Matthews.

Three riders closing on on Matthews. The others seem to have missed the move and are chasing each other. 

Several teams have more than one rider in the chase. It will be up to Kung to work for Pinot. 

The riders are flying along and faster than the fastest schedule for the stage with an average speed at over 42km/h.

The attackers are near the Côte de la Fage now, the final climb before the descent to Mende and the final climb up to the aerodrome finish. 

Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco), Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious) and Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal) lead by 30 seconds. 

Kung is using his time trial talents to chase the 4 attackers but they lead by 45 seconds.

Behind the Jumbo is peloton is at 13:30. That means Meintjes is up to the virtual top 5 in GC. 

Staying hydrated is important.

On the climb, Bettiol is splitting the group. 

There are only 8 chasers left with a chance.

The exposed Côte de la Fage is the key for the break. 

Bettiol has reduced the gap to 28 seconds and so Uran takes over, with another surge. 

Fuglsang is there too, as is Kemna.

Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco), Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), Luis Leon Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious) and Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal) are 1km from the summit. 

There are some cross/tail winds on the exposed summit. 

Matthews leads the 4 over the summit and the click starts to the chasers.

It is 25 seconds, with Soler now chasing alone. He has been sat on the attack all day after getting his chance to go for a stage today.

Soler is joined by Kamna and Bettiol. 

Dani Martinez jumps across and others are coming.

Crash! Kron goes off the road!

He stays up but seems to have a puncture and went off the road. He was brave and talented to stay up with a front wheel flat.

Jumbo-Visma have put Roglic on the front to lead the chase. 

20km to go

Roglic is dropped after his big turn on the front.

Van Aert is leading the peloton now, splitting the GC group. 

Pidcock is dropped and he could lose his top ten on GC.

The roads are wide and sweeping now, until Mende and the climb to the finish.

There are only 20 riders in the Vingegaard group as van Art sets a painful pace.

25km to go

This is the final climb of the say, up to the Mende Aerodrome. 

The peloton is at 13:50, with Majka talking to Pogacar. 

Pidcock and others are back in the Vingegaard group. That was a worry for the Briton and his GC top ten. 

The climb to the finish is 3km long at a painful 10.2%.

Powless is riding on the front to help Bettiol and Uran. 

The climb starts for the attackers. They climb for 3km and then face a flat 1.3km to the finish line. 

Großschartner and Sanchez will be trying to drop Matthews.

Woods leads the chase on the lower slopes and the gap is suddenly down to 15 seconds.

Pinot is still there. 

Matthews is on the front and seems fastest.

This is steep and is hurting Matthews. But he goes clear alone.  

Behind they split too. 

Matthews is spinning his legs but is fast too. He looks good. 

Matthews is the most combatif today and deserves this win.

Bettiol has surged up from the chase and can see Matthews. 

The Tuscan is on Matthews. 

2km to go

They're ahead of the rest. 

And Bettiol attacks before the summit!   

But Matthews comes back to him.

Then Bettiol opens a gap again. He's alone. 

Matthews refuses to give up. 

Behind Soler and Pinot are chasing but probably too far back. 

Boom! 

Matthews hits the descent to the final kilometre. 

The descent helps him recover. Before the sprint to the line.

He looks back but is clear. He will surely win the stage to Mende.

Matthews waves his arms in celebration sand wins the stage!

Bettiol is 2nd at 15 seconds.

It was a Matthew masterpiece in Mende. He attacked with 50km to go and then attacked from the attack on the final climb. 

Matthews raises his arms in celebration. 

The peloton is still 5km behind, about 13:00 minutes. 

McNulty ups the pace on the Mende climb.

Pidcock is dropped. 

Gaudu is also distanced, Bardet, Mas and Vlasov too. 

It's a GC battle! 

Thomas is distanced too!

Pogacar is trying to drop Vingegaard.

Yates is trying to help Thomas limit his losses.

Thomas is at least 20 seconds down. 

This steep climb is another GC shake-out. 

Thomas is losing time. The gap is 30 seconds. 

Thomas still has a kilometre to climb.

Gaudi and Quintana come up to Thomas and Yates.

Pogacar dances on the pedals. Vingegaard is on his wheel. 

The crowds are huge. 

Pogacar and Vingegaard pass the summit. The climb is done. 

Gaudu is at 35 seconds. Thomas at 40.

Everyone is so, so tired.

Pogacar and Vingegaard will sprint for the honours, nothing else. 

Pogacar leads it out but yet again, can't drop Vingegaard. 

Thomas lost 25 seconds or so. 

He will keep third overall but a crack has appeared in his GC podium hopes.

This is the new podium: 

This is the shot as Matthews hit the line and celebrates. 

Team BikeexchangeJayco teams Australian rider Michael Matthews celebrates as he cycles to the finish line to win the 14th stage of the 109th edition of the Tour de France cycling race 1925 km between SaintEtienne and Mende in central France on July 16 2022 Photo by AnneChristine POUJOULAT AFP Photo by ANNECHRISTINE POUJOULATAFP via Getty Images

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Riders are still finishing, with the time limit still with 25 minutes to go.

The riders are finishing in small groups, split by the final climb. 

The sprinters are finishing but Ewan is still out on the road. 

Here's Matthews in the attack that he created with 52km to go. 

Matthews said: "Always keep believing, always keep believing" ito his race radio to his BikeExchange teammates.  

Bettiol was hugely disappointed not to win the stage. 

Matthews waves on the podium, savouring his big stage win.

Soon after Vingegaard also climbs on the podium, pulling down his mask to show a happy smile. 

Caleb Ewan makes it to the finish inside the time limit. 

Ewan finished at 39:07. The time limit was 48:00.  

As the dust settles on the stage, the loser of the day was Geraint Thomas, who lost 17 seconds to Pogacar and Vingegaard.

Ewan takes a long drink after finishing the stage.

That was another hard and hot stage, with another day of suffering to come on Sunday on rolling roads to Carcassonne. 

To understand what happened during today's stage, check out our full report, photo gallery and full results. 

Always keep believing. 

It was another hot day at the Tour de France, with temperatures of close to 40C  forecast in Carcassonne on Sunday.

Stage 14 saw little change at the very top of the general classification of the 2022 Tour de France, with only Louis Meintjes making a significant move in the overall order - moving up six places to seventh overall after gaining 11:22 by making the day's breakaway.

In a unexpectedly aggressive start to the stage that saw Tadej Pogačar launch several attacks but fail to distance yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, the peloton settled in for the long stage, letting the breakaway fight for the stage.

Click below to study the latest GC standings. 

BikeExchange won a stage with Dylan Groenewegen but really wanted to win with Matthews after two second places.

A day before they missed out on a chance in the sprint but Matthews produced a huge performance on the road to Mende.

Jonas Vingegaard stays in the leader's yellow jersey for another day.

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

To read about Pogacar's early attacks, the 23-rider break of the day, Matthews' 52km attack and the final battle with Bettiol, click on our full report below. 

Thanks for joining us for the full live coverage of stage 14.

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