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Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) profited from a standoff between the top two riders on the general classification as Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) matched each other pedal stroke for pedal stroke on the final climb of the Col de Joux Plane on Stage 14.
Rodriguez made the most of the pair watching each other on the final descent to Morzine, dropping them on the descent and holding off a chase from Pogacar to win the stage, the maiden stage win in a Grand Tour for the 22-year-old.
"It’s incredible. I have no words," said Rodriguez. "Being here was a dream. Getting a victory in the best race of the world is incredible. I always dreamed of this. This is super."
"I didn’t think it was possible when I got dropped in the Joux-Plane. I tried to climb at my own pace to later do the descent as fast as possible. I am a good descender, I wanted to take advantage. I was close to crashing a couple of times, yet I took some risks."
A nasty mass crash opened the race, with a large number of riders coming down in a fall just 5 kilometres into the stage, with Australian Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe) one of those to hit the ground. Esteban Chaves (EF Education-Easypost), Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Ramon Sinkeldam (DSM-Firmenich), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) and Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar) all abandoned eventually due to injuries sustained, with Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich) and James Shaw (EF Education-Easypost) also out of the Tour de France after a fall later in the day.
There was a lot of aggression as the breakaway tried to get established, but despite strong climbers populating the move, they weren't able to do more than compete for the KOM points on offer on the early climbs as Jumbo-Visma had their eyes set on making the stage as hard as possible.
They controlled the race with a hard pace all the way to midway up the final .HC climb of the Col de Joux Plane, shredding the field of contenders and seeing many drop out of a chance for even a podium finish.
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) picked a moment midway up the climb to go to the front and break the Jumbo-Visma stranglehold on the race and allow Pogacar to go on the assault. Pogacar attacked with 4 kilometres remaining on the ascent through the hordes of fans gathered on the climb.
Yellow jersey holder Vingegaard wasn't able to match the acceleration of Pogacar, but he held just off the back of his main rival as they settled in for a long slog to the top of the climb. He was able to overhaul the two-time Tour de France winner with 1.5 kilometres to the top of the climb and the pair went almost into track sprint mode, neither happy to make the pace to advantage the other.
That allowed the riders distanced to regain some of the ground lost to the ascendant pair, with Rodriguez and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) eating their way into a minute gap that they had conceded due to the attack.
Pogacar's next attack 500m from the top of the climb was stymied by the presence of unwary camera motorbikes, and then Vingegaard surprised Pogacar with him launching the sprint to the top first, allowing the yellow jersey to extend his lead with the eight bonus seconds taken at the top of the climb.
Rodriguez crested third, and then descended like a stone, making the most of the situation between Pogacar and Vingegaard to get a gap on the descent, that the chasing Pogacar couldn't bridge before the finish in Morzine. Pogacar took second just behind, with Vingegaard third, the shakeout in time bonuses was a single second swing to Vingegaard.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, had a double celebration, as he also moved into third overall ahead of Jai Hindley, who battled in for sixth on the stage, 1'46 behind Rodriguez, which saw the Spaniard in the ascendancy over the Australian by a single second.
