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Michał Kwiatkowski defied the odds by holding off a full-bore UAE-led peloton to grab an extremely impressive stage win atop the Grand Colombier, high atop the Jura mountains on the French-Swiss border. The 33-year-old veteran reminded everyone that he still possesses the raw power and tactical acumen that made him one of the biggest talents in the sport when he turned pro over a decade ago by measuring his effort perfectly on the uneven climb to dispatch his breakaway companions and hold off a fast-closing GC group, which was led home by Tadej Pogačar.

In the fight for the GC classification, Jonas Vingegaard narrowingly held onto the race lead after responding to a trademark large surge from Pogačar, who opened up a four-second gap, and grabbed a valuable four-second time bonus, to cut his overall deficit to just nine seconds. While this chunk of time was a great building block towards a third overall Tour de France victory for Pogačar, he will still have to prove he can distance the defending champion through the upcoming block of mountain stages, which begins on tomorrow’s stage 15.

Stage Top Three
1) Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos) +0
2) Maxim Van Gils (Lotto) +47
3) Tadej Pogačar (UAE) +50

Stage GC Gaps:
Pogačar +0
Vingegaard -8
Pidcock -17
Hindley -19
S.Yates -28
A.Yates -32
Rodríguez -34
Kuss -34

Current GC Top Five:
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo) +0
2) Tadej Pogačar (UAE) +9
3) Jai Hindley (Bora) +2’51
4) Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos) +4’48
5) Adam Yates (UAE) +5’03

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106km: With a large, 19-rider breakaway just over a minute up the road, UAE gets on the front with Mikkel Bjerg and Vegard Stake Laengen to keep the gap in check.

21.2km: However, despite UAE’s best efforts, after sitting around 1.5-2 minutes for most of the stage, the gap to the breakaway hits four minutes just a few kilometers before the final climb due to the breakaway suddenly picking up their pace and rotating through extremely well.

16.3km: As the peloton heads into the base of the Grand Colombier, the gap has decreased slightly to 3’45, due to the GC teams jockeying for positions at the front. Oddly, Ineos is one of the teams driving the pace while their rider Kwiatkowski is up the road.

14.8km: Once on the climb, UAE lines up their team on the front in an effort to reel in the breakaway and deliver Pogačar the stage win and time bonuses on offer. However, a few kilometers in, the gap has only dropped down to 3’38.

11.8km: Up front, Kwiatkowski, who was dropped at the base of the climb due to the initial accelerations, catches, and then passes, the front of the breakaway, and sets off alone.

10km: Kwiatkowski uses a flat section of the stair-step climb to power away from the rest of the breakaway, and keeps his lead over the peloton, led by Marc Soler from UAE, at over three minutes. This means that in seven kilometers of climbing, the peloton has only pulled back 35 seconds on him.

5.8km: UAE is still on the front, with Felix Großschartner now setting pace, and has pulled back nearly a minute in the last 5kms, but, at this pace, they won’t be able to catch Kwiatkowski. Vingegaard only has one Jumbo teammate. Sepp Kuss, remaining with him.

4.5km: When the road flattens out during another stair-step section, Kwiatkowski actually increases his lead over the peloton, now being led by UAE’s Rafał Majka. The gap sits at 2’24.

2km: When UAE finally runs out of riders, Adam Yates attacks, likely in an attempt to cause a reaction from Vingegaard. However, he isn’t immediately followed. Kwiatkowski’s gap is still over two minutes.

1.9km: Eventually, Jumbo’s Sepp Kuss increases the pace to bridge up to Yats. Pogačar follows him, with Vingegaard on his wheel. It isn’t clear why Kuss responds to Yates, since this move is clearly designed to increase the pace to put Vingegaard under pressure so Pogačar can launch a late attack to take time.

450m: Pogačar, who waits until he can use his superior explosiveness, attacks with an incredible burst of speed. Nobody but Vingegaard can follow.

350m-50m: Pogačar continues his extremely powerful move. Vingegaard can’t match and slips off his wheel, but holds the gap to a few seconds.

Finish: Up front, Kwiatkowski crosses the finish line for his second career stage win. Pogačar crosses in third, a few seconds behind Maxim van Gils, to pick up a four-second time bonus, with Vingegaard four-seconds behind him.

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