Australian professional cyclist Michael Matthews has won stage 14 of the 109th Tour de France. The 31-year-old from the BikeExchange-Jayco team won on Saturday (07/16/2022) after a 192.5 km heat battle from Saint-Étienne to Mende. Simon Geschke (Berlin/Cofidis) again successfully defended the dotted jersey of the best climber.
Michael Matthews, Felix Großschartner and Luis Leon Sanchez were the names of the escapees who initially pulled away from the competition. Ten kilometers before the finish, they had worked out a lead of around 40 seconds in front of the chasing group around Simon Geschke and Lennard Kämna. Actually a comfortable advantage. But: The hardest climb of the day was still to come. The Montée Jalabert is three kilometers long and has an average gradient of 10.2 percent.
Matthews stays on the back wheel
Alberto Bettiol took the chance and slowly worked his way up the field. Around three kilometers from the finish, Bettiol had caught and overtaken Matthews. But Matthews stayed on the Italian’s rear wheel and took his chance with 1.7km to go as the terrain flattened out a bit. In the end, Matthews sprinted confidently to the finish.
Berlin’s Simon Geschke, who also belonged to the breakaway group for a long time, secured the mountain jersey for the sixth time in a row. Kämna took eighth place. “I’m not at 100 percent, but I felt good at the beginning and made it into the group. But in the end it’s that five or ten percent that’s missing.”said Kämna and added: “I did my best, what should you do. The heat isn’t my dream weather, but it was okay up to the last mountain.”
Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) remains in the overall leader’s yellow jersey. His advantage over defending champion Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia/UAE Team Emirates), who unsuccessfully attacked him on the last climb, is 2:22 minutes as before.
Next heat battle is waiting
Sunday is probably the hottest day for the drivers on this tour. It can get up to 40 degrees warm on the 15th stage over 202.5 kilometers from Rodez to Carcassonne. It’s one of the last few chances for a mass finish for the sprinters.