2026 Tour de France S14 Live Report: Mulhouse→Le Markstein—Pogačar's 7.2 km Solo on the Col du Hagelstein

On July 18, 2026, Stage 14 of the Tour de France set off from Mulhouse, the industrial heart of Alsace, and wound 155.6 kilometers through the Vosges mountains before finishing on the high plateau of Le Markstein Fellering.

That day, four categorized climbs and nearly 3,900 meters of elevation gain were compressed into less than 156 kilometers, making it one of the highest “elevation density per kilometer” stages of this Tour. It was also the day yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar launched an attack 7.2 kilometers from the finish on the Col du Haag—his first appearance at this Tour—to take his fourth stage win of the race and extend his overall lead from 3 minutes 36 seconds to 4 minutes 30 seconds.

One thing must be clarified about the data sources for this article: the official stage-by-stage results field for this stage in the CTYeh race database is empty—we do not have the top-30 finisher data for this stage. Therefore, all results, time gaps, climbing points, and race details in this article come from external verification: the post-race report by Owen Rogers on Cyclingnews (July 18, 2026), the full results and stage information on ProCyclingStats, and the 2026 Tour de France Wikipedia entry, which compiles results with cited sources (Cyclingnews, Tissot Timing). The three sources are fully consistent on the stage winner, top-10 time gaps, overall classification changes, and each climb’s points, so they can be cited with confidence. Any detail that cannot be cross-verified across the above sources is omitted from this article.

Stage Profile: Compressing the Climbing into 156 Kilometers

Item	Data
Stage	2026 Tour de France, Stage 14
Date	July 18, 2026 (Saturday)
Route	Mulhouse → Le Markstein Fellering
Distance	Approx. 155.3–155.6 km
Stage Type	Mountain stage
Total Elevation Gain	Approx. 3,834–3,941 m
Official Start	13:30 local time
Categorized Climbs	Grand Ballon (Cat. 1), Col du Page (Cat. 2), Ballon d’Alsace (Cat. 1), Col du Haag (Cat. 1)
Intermediate Sprint	Wattwiller (km 12.6)
Final 1 km Gradient	2.1%
Average Temperature	Approx. 25°C
Winner’s Average Speed	38.806 km/h
Stage Winner	Tadej POGACAR (UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG), 4 hours 0 minutes 7 seconds
Winning Move	Solo breakaway of 7.4 km

These two numbers are most telling when placed side by side: 155.6 kilometers, 3,900 meters of climbing. That means an average of 25 meters of climbing per kilometer, which, translated into an average gradient concept for the entire route, means more than a quarter of the stage was spent climbing. By comparison, the previous day’s Stage 13 was 205.8 kilometers with 2,300–2,450 meters of climbing, or about 11–12 meters per kilometer.

Both in the Vosges, the two days had completely different characters: Stage 13 was an endurance battle, Stage 14 was an intensity battle.

Mulhouse: An Industrial Hub in Tour de France History

Located in the Rhine Valley in eastern France, close to the German and Swiss borders, Mulhouse is the second-largest city in Alsace after Strasbourg. Once the heart of the French textile industry, it is now famous for the world’s largest automobile museum (Cité de l’Automobile, housing a vast collection of Bugattis) and the French National Railway Museum.

Its ties to the Tour de France run deep. In 1926, the opening stage of the Tour was won by local rider Jules Buysse, while his brother Lucien Buysse took the overall title that same year. In 2014, German time-trial specialist Tony Martin claimed a rare non-time-trial victory here, further cementing Mulhouse’s place in road cycling lore.

Heading west out of Mulhouse, the route almost immediately faces the mountains. This is a hallmark of the Vosges terrain: there is almost no transition zone between the Rhine Valley plain and the Vosges massif. The valley floor sits at about 240 meters above sea level, and the climbing begins as soon as you turn into the valley. The intermediate sprint at Wattwiller, set at kilometer 12.6, was placed there precisely to hand out sprint points before the real climbing began—the organizers knew the sprinters would not get a second chance that day.

Pre-Race Situation: Pidcock Just 9 Seconds from the Podium

On the start line of Stage 14, the overall classification stood as follows:

Rank	Rider	Team	Gap
1	Tadej POGACAR	UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG	47:18:31
2	Jonas VINGEGAARD	TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE	+3:36
3	Remco EVENEPOEL	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	+4:06
4	Tom PIDCOCK	PINARELLO-Q36.5	+4:15
5	Juan AYUSO	LIDL-TREK	+4:22
6	Paul SEIXAS	DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM	+4:35
7	Florian LIPOWITZ	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	+4:44
8	Isaac DEL TORO	UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG	+5:08
9	Mattias SKJELMOSE	LIDL-TREK	+5:45
10	Lenny MARTINEZ	BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS	+6:34

The key takeaway from this table is 4th place: Pidcock had jumped from 10th to 4th the previous day via the breakaway, and was now just 9 seconds from the podium.

Those 9 seconds completely changed how Stage 14 was raced. The day before, UAE could freely let the breakaway go because Pidcock was 11 minutes 49 seconds down. But on this day, if Pidcock got into another breakaway and opened up a few minutes, he would leap straight into 2nd place. That meant both UAE and Visma had to keep riders on the front all day and could no longer afford to let things slide.

The other three jerseys: green jersey Pedersen leads Philipsen by 41 points, 377 to 336; the polka-dot jersey points leader is Pogačar (42 points), with the jersey actually worn by Vingegaard, who is second in the standings; the white jersey is on Ayuso, with Seixas 13 seconds back and Del Toro 46 seconds behind.

Route Technical Analysis: Four Climbs, Each More Lethal Than the Last

First Climb: Grand Ballon (Category 1)

• Location: Kilometer 36.6
• Summit Elevation: 1,336 meters
• Length: Approximately 21.5–21.6 km
• Average Gradient: 4.7–4.8%
• Feature: The highest road in the Vosges Mountains; extremely long but with a gentle gradient

This is a climb that is “long but not steep.” At 21.6 km and an average gradient under 5%, it gains about 1,000 meters, and the pros will take over 40 minutes to summit. The nature of this climb is: it won’t drop you, but it will slowly drain your blood sugar and the glycogen in your legs. And because the gradient is gentle, the speed is high, and aerodynamic drag still accounts for a significant portion of the power output—the difference between drafting and not drafting is huge. This is exactly why breakaways tend to form on this kind of climb.

Second Climb: Col du Page (Category 2)

• Location: Kilometer 71.3
• Summit Elevation: 959 meters
• Length: Approximately 9.8 km
• Average Gradient: 4.7%

A transitional climb. Its main function is to keep the peloton burning energy through the middle section, while offering Category 2 climbing points (5/3/2/1 points).

Third Climb: Ballon d’Alsace (Category 1)

• Location: Kilometer 94.4
• Summit Elevation: 1,173 meters
• Length: Approximately 8.9 km
• Average Gradient: 6.9%

Yes, it’s the same mountain that appeared the day before, just climbed from the other side. Having the same Category 1 climb appear on two consecutive days is quite rare in the modern Tour de France, and it makes this old mountain—written into Tour history back in 1905—one of the protagonists of this edition.

Fourth Climb: Col du Haag (Category 1)

• Location: Kilometer 149.4
• Summit Elevation: 1,233 meters
• Length: 11.2 km
• Average Gradient: 7.2–7.3%
• Feature: First-ever appearance in Tour de France history; the final kilometer kicks into double-digit gradients; the summit is only about 5–6 km from the finish, followed by an almost flat plateau road

This climb is the true heart of the stage. An 11.2 km climb at 7.2% average is already no joke, but the real killer lies in the gradient profile: the opening section is relatively manageable, but the final kilometer ramps into double digits. This “increasingly steeper” structure forces everyone to make a choice at the most painful point—whether to hold on conservatively or take a gamble.

And after the summit, there are still about 5–6 km of almost entirely flat plateau roads to reach Le Markstein. The average gradient of the final kilometer is only 2.1%. This means: anyone who goes solo on the climb must face 6 km of flat riding alone, while the chasers behind can form a pace line and take turns.

This design is exactly why Pogačar’s 7.2 km solo move was so spectacular—he didn’t just have to create a gap on the climb; he also had to defend it on the flats.

Grand Ballon and Col du Haag: Two Personalities of the Vosges

The Vosges Mountains have always held a special place in the Tour de France’s geography. Its elevations aren’t high (the highest point, Grand Ballon’s summit, is 1,424 meters, with the race passing at 1,336 meters), so there’s no high-altitude hypoxia issue like in the Alps, nor the 17 km monster walls of the Pyrenees. But it has two things: density and variation.

Density means there is almost no true flat road between the climbs. The “recovery” sections between the four categorized climbs on Stage 14 are actually continuously rolling valley roads. The stage’s overall ProfileScore (ProCyclingStats’ metric for quantifying route difficulty) reaches 332, which is a very high number for a non-Alpine stage.

Variation refers to the irregularity of the gradients. The roads in the Vosges mostly follow ancient forest tracks and military roads, with many switchbacks, narrow pavement, and rapid gradient changes. You can’t just settle into a fixed cadence and power output and grind your way up; you have to constantly make micro-adjustments—and every adjustment steals a little more energy.

The debut of the Col du Haag is especially noteworthy. This climb ascends from the Fellering side up to the Markstein plateau, and was previously mainly a route for local road cycling events and hiking trails before being adopted by the Tour in 2026. Cyclingnews described it as a “brutal test.”

Race Report (Part 1): Rainy Start, Final Sprint Opportunity at Wattwiller

The race started in pouring rain, then suddenly cleared up.

In the opening kilometers, the peloton stayed together. ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH actively controlled the pace, with a clear objective: the intermediate sprint at Wattwiller (kilometer 12.6). With the full lead-out train, Jasper Philipsen took the maximum 25 points, with green jersey Pedersen right behind in second (20 points), and Max Kanter (XDS ASTANA TEAM) third (16 points).

Philipsen has now beaten Pedersen at the intermediate sprint on two consecutive days, chipping away bit by bit at the green jersey deficit. This is a very typical Tour de France green jersey war of attrition: on mountain stages where there are no finish-line sprint points to be had, the intermediate sprint is the only battleground—and whichever team is willing to drive the pace full-gas for the first 15 km of a mountain stage gets to take home that 5-point difference.

Race Report (Part 2): Carapaz Lights the Fuse, 38-Rider Breakaway

As soon as the sprint finished and the Grand Ballon loomed ahead, the attacks began.

The first to move was Richard Carapaz (EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST), quickly followed by his teammate Ben Healy. Just like the day before, a mega breakaway formed—this time 38 riders, and once again Tom Pidcock was in it.

Pidcock started the day in 4th place overall, just 9 seconds off the podium. His presence in the breakaway was like holding a knife to the peloton’s throat. That’s also why the breakaway was held to around 1 minute 30 seconds the entire day—UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG immediately took control of the pace, with Nils Politt on the front.

Halfway up the Grand Ballon, before a descent section, Healy and Pablo Castrillo (MOVISTAR TEAM) attacked again from the breakaway, gaining a small advantage before being pulled back.

EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST’s setup for the day was obvious: Carapaz, Healy, Alex Baudin, and Georg Steinhauser were all in the breakaway, with the entire team targeting the stage win. They therefore began working hard to extend the breakaway’s advantage.

The Grand Ballon’s climbing points (Category 1, 10/8/6/4/2/1) went to Valentin Paret-Peintre (SOUDAL QUICK-STEP) with 10 points, Carapaz 8, Healy 6, Tobias Halland Johannessen (UNO-X MOBILITY) 4, Anders Halland Johannessen 2, and Kévin Vauquelin 1.

Race Report (3): The Quiet Battle for the Polka Dot Jersey

Past the summit of the Côte de la Grande Montagne, Carapaz attacked again, this time taking Paré-Peintre with him. The duo opened a gap on the rest of the breakaway on the descent, before Healy and the UNO-X Johannesen brothers bridged across, forming a 6-man lead group.

They quickly established an advantage of around 30 seconds over the chasing group behind (Castrillo, his MOVISTAR teammate Einer Rubio, and Thymen Arensman of NETCOMPANY INEOS).

At this point, Pidcock’s virtual overall classification had risen to 2nd, pushing Vingegaard down. Even so, three TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE teammates remained in Pidcock’s group, driving the pace to maintain their group’s advantage over the peloton—even though they were already over a minute behind the leading six. It was a subtle tactical calculation: Visma needed Pidcock’s group to maintain a certain speed so that the peloton’s rhythm wouldn’t be completely controlled by UAE.

The Col du Païs was reached with 93 km to go. Arensman dropped back due to a puncture, while Rubio caught the lead group. Over the top, Pidcock’s group was 1’50" behind, and the peloton 3’20" back.

Climbing points: Paré-Peintre 5, Carapaz 3, Tobias Halland Johannesen 2, Rubio 1.

At the Côte d’Alçace (km 94.4), the script repeated: Paré-Peintre 10, Carapaz 8, Tobias Halland Johannesen 6, Rubio 4, Healy 2, Anders Halland Johannesen 1.

Across three consecutive climbs, Paré-Peintre took first on all of them, and Carapaz second on all of them. Up front, the two were fighting a battle only they cared about—the polka dot jersey. By the end of the day, Paré-Peintre’s climbing points had jumped from 5th to 2nd (43 points), with Carapaz 3rd (38 points). The final outcome of this quiet battle: Carapaz took over the polka dot jersey after Stage 19 and wore it all the way to Paris.

In the chasing group, Bruno Armirail (TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE) was pulling on the front, with Pidcock glued to his wheel.

Race Report (4): The Col du Glandon, the GC Battle Begins

The Glandon’s Tour de France debut was brutal, as expected.

11.2 km at an average gradient of 7.2%, with the final kilometer entering double-digit gradients, followed by a nearly flat 6 km plateau.

Up front: Older brother Anders had already been dropped, and Tobias Halland Johannesen barely hung on through one of Carapaz’s accelerations, but soon the Ecuadorian was alone out front. The lead was shrinking rapidly.

The GC group: DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM moved to the front at the base, setting a fierce tempo for their leader Paul Seixas. Their relentless pace quickly whittled down Pogačar’s guard to just Isaac del Toro.

Then Pidcock was dropped from the GC group—the hero of the previous day, brought back to reality on a true mountain day.

Vingegaard sent Sepp Kuss to the front to take over.

Even so, Carapaz’s lead stubbornly held above 50 seconds, until Florian Lipowitz (RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE) attacked with 11 km to go.

That move forced Vingegaard’s hand. The Dane’s acceleration triggered a chain reaction: Lipowitz’s teammate Jorgenson found himself in trouble, while Johannesen and Carapaz were both caught.

Then, just seconds later, Pogačar moved.

Race Report (5): 7.2 km, Through the Wall of Fans

With 7.2 km to go, Pogačar attacked amid the sea of spectators.

By position, that was roughly just over 1 km from the summit of the Glandon—the steepest part of the entire climb. He instantly opened a gap, shattering the chasing group.

Reaching the plateau and entering the final flat 6 km, his lead was 24 seconds.

The reaction behind was fascinating. Vingegaard and Seixas—the 2nd and 6th placed riders on GC, the latter a rising French star—immediately began working together, trading pulls to minimize the gap. But Pogačar’s teammate del Toro sat on their wheels, contributing nothing.

Further back, Jorgenson, Lipowitz, and Ayuso formed a second chase group, riding together toward the finish.

Over the final 6 km, Pogačar only lost a small amount of time.

Tadej Pogačar, 4 hours 0 minutes 7 seconds, his fourth stage win of this Tour.

38 seconds later, del Toro jumped out from behind Vingegaard and Seixas to take 2nd; Seixas was 3rd, same time; Vingegaard 4th, 44 seconds back; Jorgenson 5th, 48 seconds down.

Glandon climbing points (HC): Pogačar 10, Vingegaard 8, Seixas 6, del Toro 4, Jorgenson 2, Ayuso 1.

What Pogačar Said After the Stage

Pogačar’s two post-stage comments laid out the story of this victory very clearly.

On the crowds, he said he had to thank all the fans who came to the roadside, because it was a sight he found unforgettable—seeing the hills and summits packed with people, he said he had never seen anything like it, and believed there was immense mutual respect among all the riders, who together put on a great race.

On the timing of his attack, this part had more tactical value. Many had expected the yellow jersey to attack early on the final climb, but he waited until very late. Pogačar’s explanation: he knew his teammate del Toro wasn’t at 100% (del Toro had been dropped on the lower slopes), so he kept waiting, wanting to see if anything would happen in the final two kilometers; but DECATHLON and Vingegaard set a very hard pace on the climb, with riders dropping one by one, and he felt great himself, so he decided to try with two kilometers to go. He added that he knew the road well, and the crowds gave him extra motivation, so he seized the opportunity.

This revealed a key insight: Pogačar had originally planned to set up del Toro. When del Toro was dropped on the lower slopes, the plan changed to Pogačar going himself. And the final result was a UAE 1-2—del Toro fought back at the end to take 2nd.

Top 10 Analysis

1. Tadej POGACAR (UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG) 4:00:07
His 4th stage win of this edition. A 7.4 km solo breakaway, of which roughly 6 km was spent riding alone on a nearly flat plateau, holding off the chase by 24 seconds—that was the hardest part. He also took both the yellow jersey and the lead in the mountains classification.

2. Isaac DEL TORO ROMERO (UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG) +38"
The Mexican champion dropped back on the lower slopes of the Col du Haggenberg early on, but fought his way back, and even beat Seixas and Vingegaard in the final sprint. This ability to “fall back and then return to the front” was the key quality that later earned him the white jersey.

3. Paul SEIXAS (DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM) +38"
A 19-year-old French rising star; this day was a major milestone in his career. His team drove the pace hard on the lower slopes of the Col du Haggenberg, while he himself joined forces with Vingegaard to chase. He ultimately moved up to 4th overall and took the white jersey from Ayuso.

4. Jonas VINGEGAARD (TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE) +44"
Two-time Tour de France champion. He applied pressure on the climb, exposing Evenepoel’s weakness, but could not hold off Pogacar’s attack. After losing 44 seconds, his overall deficit grew to 4:30—this was his last full showdown at the 2026 Tour, as he would crash out on the road to Solaison the next day.

5. Remco EVENEPOEL (RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE) +48"
Indirectly hurt by his own teammate Lipowitz’s attack, he found himself in trouble for a while, but ultimately joined Lipowitz and Ayuso in limiting the damage, losing only 48 seconds and holding onto 3rd overall.

6. Juan AYUSO PESQUERA (LIDL-TREK) +50"
The white jersey changed hands to Seixas on this day. He kept the gap to those ahead in check, but his overall position shifted slightly from 5th to 5th (+5:22), and he was already beginning to be caught by the younger Seixas and Del Toro.

7. Florian LIPOWITZ (RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE) +50"
His attack with 11 km to go was the trigger for the entire GC battle. It forced Vingegaard to respond, and indirectly put his own team leader Evenepoel in trouble—a classic dilemma of intra-team tactical coordination.

8. Richard CARAPAZ (EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST) +1:18"
The bravest rider of the day. He ignited the breakaway, contested mountain points with Paré-Peintre on three climbs, led solo by more than 50 seconds over the Col du Haggenberg, and was only caught with 11 km to go, still holding on for 8th. The day’s most combative rider award was well deserved.

9. Tobias Halland JOHANNESSEN (UNO-X MOBILITY) +1:40"
The elder of the Norwegian twins, active all day in the breakaway and the fight for mountain points—one of the most underrated performances of the day.

10. Mattias SKJELMOSE (LIDL-TREK) +1:40"
The Danish all-rounder held steady in 8th overall.

Full Top 30 Results

The following results table has been compiled by cross-referencing Cyclingnews and ProCyclingStats.

Rank	Rider	Team	Time/Gap
1	Tadej POGACAR	UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG	4:00:07
2	Isaac DEL TORO ROMERO	UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG	+38"
3	Paul SEIXAS	DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM	+38"
4	Jonas VINGEGAARD	TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE	+44"
5	Remco EVENEPOEL	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	+48"
6	Juan AYUSO PESQUERA	LIDL-TREK	+50"
7	Florian LIPOWITZ	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	+50"
8	Richard CARAPAZ	EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST	+1:18
9	Tobias Halland JOHANNESSEN	UNO-X MOBILITY	+1:40
10	Mattias SKJELMOSE	LIDL-TREK	+1:40
11	Lenny MARTINEZ	BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS	+1:41
12	Ilan VAN WILDER	SOUDAL QUICK-STEP	+3:30
13	Yannis VOISARD	TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM	+3:30
14	Egan BERNAL	NETCOMPANY INEOS	+3:30
15	Derek GEE-WEST	LIDL-TREK	+3:30
16	Adam YATES	UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG	+3:30
17	Sepp KUSS	TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE	+3:30
18	Tom PIDCOCK	PINARELLO-Q36.5	+3:34
19	Jordan JEGAT	TOTALENERGIES	+5:27
20	Davide PIGANZOLI	TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE	+5:27
21	Einer RUBIO REYES	MOVISTAR TEAM	+5:27
22	Nicolas PRODHOMME	DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM	+9:51
23	Jai HINDLEY	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	+10:15
24	Quinn SIMMONS	LIDL-TREK	+11:47
25	Valentin PARET-PEINTRE	SOUDAL QUICK-STEP	+12:01
26	Ben O’CONNOR	TEAM JAYCO ALULA	+13:05
27	Matthew RICCITELLO	DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM	+13:05
28	Mauro SCHMID	TEAM JAYCO ALULA	+13:05
29	Tiesj BENOOT	DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM	+13:05
30	Maxim VAN GILS	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	+17:05

Two details in this table deserve the most attention:

First, there is a massive 1:49 gap between 11th and 12th place. The top 11 riders are the true GC/climbing group; anyone from 12th down is in “already-given-up territory.” The Hagh Pass split the race cleanly in two.

Second, Pidcock finished 18th, 3:34 down. The day before, he jumped from 10th to 4th; this day, he fell back to 9th. That is the cruelty of breakaway tactics: time stolen often has to be paid back, in part, on a true mountain day.

Changes in the Four Leader Jerseys

Yellow Jersey: Pogačar’s total time is 51 hours 18 minutes 28 seconds. He also took 10 seconds of stage bonus time (2nd-place Del Toro 6 seconds, 3rd-place Seixas 4 seconds).

Rank	Rider	Team	Gap
1	Tadej POGACAR	UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG	51:18:28
2	Jonas VINGEGAARD	TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE	+4:30
3	Remco EVENEPOEL	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	+5:04
4	Paul SEIXAS	DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM	+5:19
5	Juan AYUSO	LIDL-TREK	+5:22
6	Florian LIPOWITZ	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE	+5:44
7	Isaac DEL TORO	UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG	+5:50
8	Mattias SKJELMOSE	LIDL-TREK	+7:35
9	Tom PIDCOCK	PINARELLO-Q36.5	+7:59
10	Lenny MARTINEZ	BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS	+8:25

Cyclingnews specifically highlights a phenomenon: the overall time gaps among Seixas, Ayuso, Lipowitz, and Del Toro are all within 30 seconds of each other (+5:19 to +5:50). This “battle for fourth place” is precisely the most intriguing subplot of the second week at this year’s Tour de France.

Green Jersey: Pedersen 397 points, Philipsen 361 points, Gilme 347 points. The gap has narrowed from 41 points to 36 points.

Polka Dot Jersey: Pogačar 52 points (wearing yellow), Paré-Peintre 43 points, Carapaz 38 points, Vingegaard 35 points, Seixas 24 points. Since Pogačar wears the yellow jersey, the polka dot jersey will be worn by Paré-Peintre starting from Stage 15 (Stages 7 to 14 were worn by Vingegaard).

White Jersey: A change of hands. Seixas (+5:19) overtakes Ayuso (+5:22) to become the new best young rider.

Teams: LIDL-TREK continues to lead.

Most Combative Award: Richard CARAPAZ.

Team Tactical Review

UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG — A perfect day. Politt controlled the pace all day to suppress Pidcock’s breakaway; Del Toro, although dropped on the lower slopes, caught back on later and took 2nd; Pogačar attacked at the most opportune moment, winning the stage and the 10-second bonus. A 1-2 finish, and the yellow jersey lead extended to 4 minutes 30 seconds — not a single element went wrong.

DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM — Strategic big winners. Their relentless high pace on the lower slopes of the Col du Glandon served two purposes: it stripped the rivals of their domestiques for Seixas (leaving only Del Toro beside Pogačar), and it created the most favorable rhythm for their own team leader. In the end, Seixas took 3rd on the stage, 4th overall, and the white jersey. For a French team, this is the most ideal outcome possible during the Tour.

RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE — A textbook example of tactical contradiction. Lipowitz’s attack with 11 km to go was the most important trigger of the day, but it simultaneously pushed team leader Evenepoel into difficulty. Cyclingnews explicitly points out that the acceleration from Vingegaard, drawn out by Lipowitz, put Evenepoel in trouble. Fortunately, the two eventually worked with Ayuso to limit the losses to 48–50 seconds. This “domestique’s opportunity vs. leader’s safety” dilemma is one every dual-leader team faces.

EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST — A glorious defeat. Four riders in the breakaway, Carapaz attacking all day, and taking the Most Combative Award. They didn’t win the stage, but the climbing points accumulated that day (Carapaz’s 38 points) were a crucial foundation for his eventual polka dot jersey. This team’s strategy for the 2026 Tour is very clear: don’t fight the overall classification head-on; focus on breakaways and the mountains classification.

TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE — They gave it everything. Kuss’s pace-setting on the Col du Glandon, Amirail’s tempo control in the chase group, Vingegaard’s own proactive acceleration — everything that could be done was done, yet the gap still stretched by 54 seconds (44 seconds + 10-second bonus). After this day, Vingegaard’s deficit to Pogačar grew to 4 minutes 30 seconds, making a comeback extremely difficult.

PINARELLO-Q36.5 — Back to reality. Pidcock made the breakaway again and briefly rose to virtual 2nd overall, but was dropped by the GC group on the real high mountains, eventually falling to 9th overall. This is exactly what he himself said the day before: “I will definitely lose a lot of time in the time trial.” On mountain days, he loses time too.

Rider Stories: Pogačar’s Fourth Win, Seixas’s Coming-of-Age

Tadej Pogačar — This stage is his 4th stage win at the 2026 Tour de France. He took the yellow jersey on Stage 3 (Les Angles) with a final climb; on Stage 6 he soloed from the Col du Tourmalet with 43 km to go, finishing 2 minutes 38 seconds ahead; on Stage 10, Bastille Day, he attacked on the Col de Pertuis and rode solo all the way to Le Lioran. And on this day, he used a different version of the same syntax — shorter, later, more precise.

What’s notable is his attacking philosophy: he doesn’t attack on the steepest section, but at the moment when “the opponent has just fired their last bullet.” Lipowitz attacked, Vingegaard responded, Carapaz was caught — right in the aftermath of that chain of moves, he made his move. This timing is more formidable than raw power.

Paul Seixas — 19 years old, the name French cycling has been waiting a decade for. His performance that day had two layers of significance: first, he took 3rd on the stage on the hardest mountain day, proving he isn’t just “a rider with potential”; second, the image of him working with Vingegaard in the chase symbolized that he is now treated by a two-time Tour champion as an equal collaborator, not a youngster needing protection. The white jersey returned to a Frenchman that day — although it lasted only one day, as Del Toro took it the next.

Isaac del Toro — The new standard-bearer of Mexican road cycling. What best illustrates his character that day wasn’t taking 2nd, but the fact that he was dropped first. Pogačar even publicly said his “form might not be at 100%.” Yet he still fought back, and even won the sprint at the finish. That resilience is exactly why he can hold the white jersey steady through the entire third week.

Richard Carapaz — 2019 Giro d’Italia champion, Olympic road race gold medalist in Tokyo. At 34, he chose a completely different path at the 2026 Tour: not contesting the overall, only stages and the polka dot jersey. Stage 14 was a textbook demonstration of this strategy — he ignited the breakaway, contested points on three climbs, rode alone at the front, and was finally caught with 11 km to go. And this path ultimately brought him rich rewards: stage wins on Stages 18 and 20, the polka dot jersey, and the overall Super Combative award for the entire Tour.

Impact on the Subsequent Stages

First, the overall classification was essentially set. A 4-minute-30-second gap was already very heavy for Vingegaard. And the next day, he crashed on the road to the Plateau de Solaison and withdrew with a fractured collarbone, leaving that question forever unanswered. What is certain is that Stage 14 was the last head-to-head battle between Pogačar and Vingegaard in that Tour — and Pogačar won.

Second, the battle behind fourth place was ignited. Seixas (+5:19), Ayuso (+5:22), Lipowitz (+5:44), and Del Toro (+5:50) were separated by just 31 seconds. This battle was reshuffled the next day on the Plateau de Solaison: Del Toro took 3rd on the stage and moved up to 3rd overall; Seixas was 4th; Lipowitz 5th; Ayuso dropped to 6th.

Third, the white jersey became a three-way tug-of-war. Ayuso → Seixas → Del Toro, the white jersey changed hands twice in three days. Del Toro wore it from Stage 15 onward and held it all the way to Paris.

Fourth, the seed of the polka-dot jersey battle. Paret-Peintre took maximum points on all three climbs that day, with Carapaz second on each. On the points standings, Pogačar was still first, but his focus was on the yellow jersey. That gap was eventually seized by Carapaz — he attacked relentlessly on Stages 18, 19, and 20, taking over the polka-dot jersey from Stage 19 and wearing it to the end.

Fifth, the green jersey war reached its peak. Philipsen took maximum points at the intermediate sprints on both Stages 14 and 15, cutting the gap from 41 points to 31. This back-and-forth continued until Stage 17 (where Philipsen took the stage win) before a slight separation emerged, and ultimately Pedersen held the green jersey all the way to Paris.

A Deeper Look at the Data: What a 38.8 km/h Mountain Stage Really Means

The winner’s average speed on Stage 14 was 38.806 km/h. Placed next to the previous day’s Stage 13 (around 50 km/h), the difference is over 11 km/h — and that 11 km/h is the price of 3,900 meters of climbing.

Breaking it down from a power perspective makes it clearer.

On the 4.7% gradient (Le Grand Ballon), the pros ride at 20–22 km/h, with roughly 65–70% of their power going to overcome gravity and 30–35% to overcome air resistance. This is a gradient range where “drafting still matters,” which is why a breakaway group can maintain speed through numerical advantage there.

On the 7.2% gradient (Col de la Schlucht), speed drops to 15–17 km/h, gravity’s share rises above 85%, and air resistance becomes almost negligible. At this point, the value of drafting drops sharply, and the race becomes a pure “power-to-weight ratio” contest. This is also why all real gaps in the overall classification are created on gradients above 7%.

And on the final 6 kilometers of plateau at just 2.1%, the situation reverses: air resistance once again becomes dominant, and riding alone costs 25–30% more power than taking turns in a group of three. Pogačar only had part of his lead clawed back over those 6 kilometers — effectively defending his lead on “the terrain least suited to a solo breakaway.”

Estimated figures: Based on Pogačar’s approximate weight of 66 kg, the 11.2 km climb of the Col de la Schlucht would take roughly 25–28 minutes, with a power-to-weight ratio falling in the 6.2–6.6 W/kg range; and the final 6 km of solo riding on the flat would require maintaining an absolute power output of 380–420 watts. Two completely different abilities, demanded consecutively within the same 35 minutes — that is the modern Tour de France’s definition of an “all-round climber.”

For cyclists in Taiwan, here’s a way to put it in perspective: if your FTP is 250 watts and you weigh 65 kg (3.85 W/kg), then on a 7% gradient your speed would be around 10–11 km/h. To reach the pros’ 15–17 km/h, what you need is not “a bit more effort,” but a power-to-weight ratio improvement of over 60%. This isn’t meant to crush your morale — it’s to help you build the right frame of reference — knowing what you’re watching when you watch a race is far more meaningful than blind admiration.

The Vosges in Tour de France History: From 1905 to 2026

The Vosges’ relationship with the Tour de France predates the Alps.

In 1905, the Tour included the Ballon d’Alsace for the first time — the first true categorized climb in Tour history. Before that, the route basically wound through plains and rolling hills. Race director Henri Desgrange’s decision was considered madness at the time — because riders in that era rode single-speed steel bikes weighing over 15 kg, and many pushed their bikes up the mountain.

In the 120 years since, the Vosges have played a special role in the Tour’s geography: it is the gateway to the Alps and the first filter for climbing ability. Compared to the high-altitude walls of the Alps and the Pyrenees, the Vosges’ climbs are short, dense, and varied — better suited to testing a rider’s “pace management” than pure climbing power.

For the 2026 edition, the Tour scheduled two consecutive days in the Vosges: Stage 13 (Dole → Belfort) climbs the Ballon d’Alsace from the south side, and Stage 14 (Mulhouse → Le Markstein-Fellering) climbs it again from the other side, with the Grand Ballon and Col des Pagges added in between, finishing with the debut of the Col de la Schlucht. This kind of “same mountain on two consecutive days” design is very rare in the modern Tour, and it made the Ballon d’Alsace one of the most mentioned names of this edition.

Le Markstein itself is no newcomer either. This high-plateau ski resort on the Vosges ridge line has served as a finish multiple times in both the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes. Its defining feature: the finish area sits on an open, grassy high plateau with excellent views, and every approach from below involves a hard climb — making it ideal as a mountain-stage finale.

Why Was This Stage Missing from Our Database?

It’s worth explaining our workflow to readers here.

The CTYeh Tour de France database is automatically synced through publicly available data from the race organizers and timing systems. For the vast majority of stages, we can fully retrieve the top 30 results, time gaps, and all points classifications. But the results field for Stage 14 was empty in our database — possibly because the data source hadn’t updated at the time of syncing, or possibly due to a field-mapping issue.

When faced with this situation, we follow three principles:

First, we never fill in blanks with speculation. We don’t write that Pogačar won just because “he was in great form those days,” and we don’t back-calculate intermediate placements from the overall time gaps of surrounding stages. Any number without a source is simply not written.

Second, external verification must cross-check at least two independent sources. All data in this article appears in Cyclingnews’ post-race report (by journalist Owen Rogers), ProCyclingStats’ full results table, and the Wikipedia-cited official Tissot Timing results. All three agree completely on the stage winner, top-10 time gaps, overall classification changes, and all climbing points.

Third, when sources disagree, we state the discrepancy. For example, for this stage’s total climbing, the CTYeh database records 3,834 meters, ProCyclingStats records 3,941 meters, and Cyclingnews reports approximately 3,900 meters; the distance has two versions: 155.3 and 155.6 km. These differences stem from different measurement standards (GPX tracks vs. official road books), so we choose to present the range rather than pick the most flattering number.

The reason this article can be written as completely as other stages is not because we “guessed well,” but because this day’s racing was documented in sufficient detail by the international media. If we can’t find the data, we’ll honestly tell you we can’t find it.

A Taiwanese Cyclist’s Perspective: The Vosges and Taiwan’s Mid-Mountains

155.6 km, 3,900 meters of climbing—does Taiwan have anything comparable? Yes, and it’s closer than you think.

The most direct comparison is Wuling. Starting from Puli and following Provincial Highway 14A to Wuling, the distance is about 55 km with roughly 3,275 meters of climbing. If you treat Wuling as a single climb, Stage 14 has 600 meters more climbing, but the distance is three times longer—meaning the climbing intensity density of Stage 14 is actually lower than Wuling’s, but the total volume is greater, and it’s split into four climbs.

A more apt analogy might be “climbing four climbs of Fengguizui grade or above in a single day”:

Tour de France Stage 14 Climbs	Length × Avg. Gradient	Comparable Taiwan Routes
Grand Ballon	21.6 km × 4.7%	Provincial Highway 7A Qilan→Siyuan Pass, or the long gradual section of Provincial Highway 14A Renzhiguan→Cuifeng
Col du Page	9.8 km × 4.7%	Beiyi Highway Pinglin→Shipai
Ballon d’Alsace	8.9 km × 6.9%	Fengguizui (Wanli side), Balaka Road
Col du Haag	11.2 km × 7.2%	The middle-to-late section of Tataka Road, or the sustained steep section before Dayuling

(Taiwan route figures are approximate comparisons; actual values vary by start and end points.)

Three training and viewing takeaways you can apply directly:

1. Pacing on “short, high-climbing” routes is harder than on long ones. 155 km with 3,900 meters of climbing means you have almost no recovery time. The most common mistake on this type of stage is “going too hard on the early climbs”—because the climbs aren’t long, they feel manageable, but by the third or fourth climb you blow up completely. Pogačar’s strategy all day was the exact opposite: he made no extra moves on the first three climbs, only striking in the final two kilometers of the last climb. On routes with high climbing density, discipline is worth more than explosive power.

2. The summit isn’t the finish. The top of the Col du Haag still leaves 5–6 km of flat plateau to the finish, where Pogačar had to hold a 24-second lead alone. Many Taiwanese climbing events have a similar design—for example, some events place the finish on flat ground after the summit. If you’re used to “relaxing once you crest,” this kind of route will see you caught in the final kilometers. The training is simple: on every climbing workout, force yourself to push hard for 5 minutes of flat riding after the summit.

3. Watch the decision-making after a teammate gets dropped. Pogačar originally wanted to set up Del Toro, but when Del Toro fell off on the lower slopes, the plan immediately switched to Pogačar going solo. This ability to “switch from Plan A to Plan B within seconds” is extremely important in group rides and races. A common situation among Taiwanese cyclists: when the planned pacing partner gets dropped, they don’t know what to do, and the whole rhythm falls apart. Thinking in advance “what do I do if he gets dropped” is ten times faster than thinking about it afterward.

4. Nutrition timing. A 4-hour race, 25°C temperatures, 3,900 meters of climbing—under these conditions, pros push carbohydrate intake to 90–120 grams per hour. A common mistake among Taiwanese cyclists tackling Wuling is “can’t eat while climbing,” but climbing is exactly when you need to eat most. Practical advice: refuel 10 minutes before the base of each climb, not on the climb itself. This is standard practice for pro teams, because the breathing rhythm on climbs makes eating difficult.

Appendix: Numbers to Remember from This Day

• Stage distance: approx. 155.3–155.6 km
• Total climbing: approx. 3,834–3,941 m (slight variations across data sources)
• Winner’s finishing time: 4 hours 0 minutes 7 seconds
• Winner’s average speed: 38.806 km/h
• Manner of victory: 7.4 km solo (attack point 7.2 km from the finish)
• Maximum solo lead: 24 seconds entering the plateau
• Breakaway size: 38 riders (trimmed to 6 at the front)
• Breakaway’s maximum lead: approx. 3 minutes 20 seconds (at the Col du Page summit, over the peloton)
• Average temperature: approx. 25°C
• Time limit: 4 hours 40 minutes 56 seconds (winner’s time +17%)
• Stage top-3 time bonuses: 10 s / 6 s / 4 s
• Intermediate sprint (Wattwiller): Philipsen 25 pts, Pedersen 20 pts, Kante 16 pts
• KOM points (Grand Ballon, Cat. 1): Paré-Peintre 10, Carapaz 8, Healy 6, T. Johannessen 4, A. Johannessen 2, Vauquelin 1
• KOM points (Col du Page, Cat. 2): Paré-Peintre 5, Carapaz 3, T. Johannessen 2, Rubio 1
• KOM points (Ballon d’Alsace, Cat. 1): Paré-Peintre 10, Carapaz 8, T. Johannessen 6, Rubio 4, Healy 2, A. Johannessen 1
• KOM points (Col du Haag, Cat. 1): Pogačar 10, Vingegaard 8, Seixas 6, Del Toro 4, Ayuso 2, Almeida 1
• White jersey change: Juan Ayuso → Paul Seixas
• Most Combative Award: Richard Carapaz

Three Turning Points: If It Were Run Again

Turning Point One: Carapaz’s attack before the Grand Ballon. Without that move, the 38-rider breakaway might never have formed; without that breakaway, Pidcock wouldn’t have threatened the GC again, and UAE wouldn’t have had to keep Politt on the front all day. The rhythm of the entire race was set from that single move.

Turning Point Two: DECATHLON CMA CGM’s pace-setting on the lower slopes of the Col du Haag. This was the most important tactical move of the day. They pushed the pace so hard that Pogačar was left with only Del Toro by his side—theoretically bad for UAE, because the yellow jersey lost his domestiques. But in practice, it also caused Del Toro to get dropped on the lower slopes, which actually freed Pogačar: he no longer needed to set up his teammate and could go for himself. A tactic originally aimed at the yellow jersey ended up being the catalyst for the yellow jersey’s victory.

Turning Point Three: Lipowitz’s attack 11 km from the finish. This was the fuse. It forced Vingegaard to respond, indirectly hurt Almeida, and caught Carapaz—and then, in the second when everyone had just spent their bullet, Pogačar moved. If Lipowitz had attacked 3 minutes later, Pogačar might have gone on steeper terrain, from an earlier position, and the result might not have been better or worse. But one thing is certain: that window where “everyone had just given everything” was opened by Lipowitz himself.

None of these three moves were made by Pogačar. He only did the final thing—but that one thing was built on the three layers others had laid for him. That’s the truth of a three-week Grand Tour: the winner is often the one who best exploits the efforts of others.

Conclusion: An Attack That Waited 149 Kilometers

The story of Stage 14 can be distilled into a single number: 7.2.

Four climbs, 3,900 meters of elevation gain, 149 kilometers of buildup—all for just those final 7.2 kilometers. Pogačar didn’t move on the Grand Ballon, didn’t move on the Petit Ballon, and didn’t even move on the lower slopes of the Col de la Schlucht. He waited until his teammates fell back, until DECATHLON ratcheted up the pace, until Lipowitz launched his move, until Vingegaard was forced to respond—and then, in the instant his rivals had just spent their strength, he slipped through the wall of riders and was gone.

That’s why, even though the CTYeh database shows an empty result for this stage, this day still deserves to be fully documented. It wasn’t a stage won by numbers; it was won by timing.

And the next day, the race would tear the entire general classification apart in a way no one saw coming.

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Reading Reminder: For this year’s Tour de France Vosges trilogy, we recommend reading them in sequence—Stage 13 (Dole→Belfort) for the breakaway’s game of chess, Stage 14 (Mulhouse→Le Markstein-Fellering) for the yellow jersey’s timing management, and Stage 15 (Champagnole→Plateau de Solaison) for how an accident can rewrite the entire GC in a matter of seconds. After three days, you’ll have a whole new understanding of what “a three-week Grand Tour” really means.

A note for cyclists in Taiwan: the gradient and length distribution of the Vosges climbs are actually quite similar to our Northern Cross-Island Highway, the eastern section of the Central Cross-Island Highway, and the western section of the Southern Cross-Island Highway. If you’re planning a long multi-day ride, a route design like Stage 14’s—“short distance, high density, four climbs in succession”—is well worth using as a template for a one-day itinerary. The key isn’t total distance; it’s whether you can still maintain the same technical form on the fourth climb as you had on the first.

Related Reading

• 2026 Tour de France S10 Report: Aurillac→Le Lioran—Bastille Day, Pogačar Flicks the Switch on the Puy Mary
• 2026 Tour de France S19 Report: Gap→Alpe d’Huez—Pogačar’s 35:26, Slashing Pantani’s 31-Year Record
• The Timing Logic of Pogačar’s Attacks: The Same Framework Behind 78 km, 55 km, 24.2 km, and 7.2 km
• 2026 Tour de France S6 Report: Pau→Gavarnie-Gèdre—Pogačar Rewrites Tourmalet in 43:12, Yellow Jersey Crashes on the Descent