Team Sunweb wins another stage! Denmark’s Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) reached the finish line first in the Tour de France Stage 14, during a flat stage with a hilly lead-up into Lyon. Andersen finished in third place two days earlier in Stage 12, but finally won his first stage on Saturday in Lyon.
The action was rather mellow for most of Stage 14 as the Tour de France made its way on a 194 km ride from Clermont-Ferrand to Lyon.
Andersen attacked with 3 km remaining as the race reach the outskirts of Lyon. Andersen seemed surprised that no one had caught up to him as he crossed the finish line at Stage 14 unopposed.
“I have no words, it’s a dream, for sure,” said Andersen. “It’s crazy. But I had good legs.”
| TOUR de FRANCE STAGE 14 RESULTS |
- Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) 04:28:10
- Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) +00:15
- Simone Consoni (Cofidis) +00:15
Sunweb, the youngest team at the 2020 Tour de France won a couple of stages this week. Marc Hirschi rode to a victory two days early during the longest single ride of the tour during a 218 km trek from Chauvigny to Sarran.
The overall general classification did not see any changes on the top of the leader board. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) retained the yellow jersey once again since he snagged it last weekend in Stage 9..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDkr2QHx_04
Stage 14: Clermont-Ferrand > Lyon
On Saturday, the Tour de France began at Clermont-Ferrand and followed a 194 km course to Lyon, where the Rhone and Saone rivers meet. If your a fan of women’s football, then you know that Lyon is home to Olympique Lyonnais Feminin, who dominated Division 1 and won 15 titles.
The most difficult climb of Stage 14 occurred at Col du Beal, which is approximately 68.5 km from the start. The ascent to Col du Beal is a Category 2 climb with an average gradient of 5.6%.
Stage 14’s punchy ending included a pair of modest Category 4 climbs within 5 km of each other before the final 5 km sojourn into Lyon’s city center.
“I’m amazed, I had really good legs all day but you never know how the others are,” said Andersen.
Andersen, 26, secured his first Le Tour career-stage win at Lyon. He became the first rider from Denmark to win a stage since 2018 (Magnus Cort).
“It took me some time to get the confidence to win at the Tour,” added Andersen. “Marc Hirschi gave the whole group a lot of motivation. Seeing this young guy doing unbelievable things was inspiring. We have the youngest team in the Tour. We came here for the future and we perform already.”
“I thought it would be easy today but it was full gas racing,” said Roglic. “At least it didn’t last so long and our team didn’t have to work all day.”
On Deck: Stage 15 Lyon > Grand Colombier
After a flat stage that led into hilly Lyon, the peloton heads back into the mountains for their first alpine adventure of Le Tour.
Stage 15 starts in Lyon and includes two Category 1 ascents and one Category HC (uncategorized aka hellacious) climb. The 174.5 km stage concludes at the top of the dreaded Mount Colombier. It’s been a few years since the peloton faced a summit finish at Colombier, which is 1,501 meters above sea level.
At the 111 km mark, the riders encounter double Category 1 peaks with steep climbs at Montee de la Selle de Fromentel (8.1% gradient) and Col de la Biche (8.9% gradient).
The final 17.4 km of Stage 15 will be a steep HC climb with a 7.1% average gradient before reaching the apex of Grand Colombier.
“Tomorrow will be a nice challenge again and for sure it will be nice to watch,” said Roglic. “I will try to do my best and we will try to do our best as a whole team.”
| LE TOUR GC STANDINGS THRU STAGE 14 |
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 61:03:00
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +00:44
- Egan Bernal (Ineos) +00:59
- Rigoberto Uran (EF Pro Cycling) +01:10
- Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) +01:12
Egan Bernal trails Roglic by almost a minute. If last year’s champ expects to shave some time off Roglic, he’ll have to make a move during Stage 15 and hope that Roglic cracks on the ascent of Grand Colombier.
Oddsmakers still favor Roglic to win the 2020 Tour de France at -286 odds. Tadej Pogacar, second place in the GC, is now 4/1 odds to win Le Tour, followed by Bernal at 7/1.
For complete Tour de France coverage, check out OG’s dedicated page for all cycling betting and news.
