Mende

The Australian known as “Bling” put on a tactical masterclass to record his first Tour de France stage victory for five years.

52km to go: Michael Matthews has attacked off the front of the breakaway. 46km to go: Michael Matthews is still out front on his own but only has a lead of 10 seconds over a chasing trio. Whgile it’s his job, Simmons is a very selfless rider, having put in an epic shift on the front of yesterday’s breakaway to help tee up Mads Pedersen for the win. As things stand, he’d be the favourite to win the stage but we can expect lots of attacks long before then. They’ve made a mess of this and with three men in the breakaway who missed the split, one suspects the directeur sportif of EF Education-Easypost is going to be spitting feathers. 33km to go: The Italian rider Alberto Bettiol is trying to bridge the gap to the four leaders and is shedding assorting travel companions. The gap to the peloton is a staggering 14min 30sec! Michael Woods is putting in a shift in the chasing group on behalf of his Israel–Premier Tech teammate Jakob Fuglsang. He’ll lead them to the foot of the final climb before dropping off, one suspects. 1km to go: Astonishing stuff from Matthews, who looked beaten but digs deep into his reserves of strength to overtake Bettiol and be first over the final climb. The Australian wins his first stage of the Tour for five years following a courageous masterclass in bike-riding. Matthews hangs on but is deep in the red zone.

Bettiol comes in second from breakaway group as Meintjes moves up in GC after breakaway given long leash.

It was far too late for the Frenchman and Matthews celebrated his first Tour stage win in five years. Matthews attacked with 3.5km to go and neither Sánchez nor Großschartner could match him. Only Alpecin-Deceuninck, Arkéa-Samsic, Astana, Jumbo Visma, QuickStep-AlphaVInyl, Team DSM and TotalEnergies missed the breakaway. Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels) kicked off the decisive attack. 12 riders got away and then they became 18 on a slight descent before the Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont after 14.2km provided the perfect launchpad for something more serious. The biggest change in the top 10 was the insertion of escapee Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), who climbed into seventh after making the day's winning move. Pogačar attacked but Vingegaard closely followed as the rest of the overall contenders were left behind. Yellow jersey holder Jonas Vingegaard and his Jumbo-Visma team maintained control and nullified the move and let the escape gain over 14 minutes mid-stage. Hopefully, today I showed them the reason why." Image 1 of 23 Image 1 of 23 Image 1 of 23

Michael Matthews rode away from Alberto Bettiol at the top of the steep climb to the airfield in Mende to win his first Tour de France stage in five years.

He then finished ninth on Tuesday, fighting for the win on a tough stage to Megeve. Stefan Küng, Neilson Powless and Luis León Sánchez manage to go with the veteran monument winner, but I suspect they will be reined back in pretty soon – it is probably a little too early in the stage to blow the group to pieces, an with a stage win up for grabs nobody will be too keen on that quartet chipping off already. From a purely numbers perspective, you would have to favour riders from one of those teams to win the stage today. The breakaway's advantage over the lined-out peloton has increased to 9min 10sec. Their advantage over the peloton has inched out to 10min 41sec. Still some distance to go yet, but I'm guessing a few riders will start thinking about splitting the group up soon, or working out how to save a few matches ahead of what should be a dramatic finale. In this heat that is going to hurt. Michael Matthews et al are near to the summit, 28sec ahead of the Rigoberto Urán group. Heartbreak for Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal) who has had a puncture and his chance of challenging for the stage looks to be over. Louis Meintjes is refusing to give up in his chase for a podium place in the general classification, but we have that steep steep climb looming. Alberto Bettiol has bridged over to Michael Matthews. What a ride from the Italian who is now sat on the wheel of the BikeExchange-Jayco man. "I wanted to show everybody I'm not just a sprinter.

MENDE, France — Michael Matthews soloed to victory on the 14th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday when defending champion Tadej Pogacar tried in vain ...

Doing the sprints he does, and climbing like he does, in his field he is the best.” Vingagaard was unimpressed and followed at ease, with the pair crossing the line 12 minutes, 34 seconds behind. With its constant ups and downs, the stage profile through the Massif Central was ideal for a breakaway. “I tried,” Pogacar said. Overall, Vingegaard leads Pogacar, still by two minutes, 22 seconds. He has days like that when he is very strong,” said French rider Thibaut Pinot, who completed the stage podium behind Matthews and Bettiol. “He really amazes me.

Australian Michael Matthews completed a vintage ride to win the 14th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, a hilly trek from Saint Etienne to Mende, ...

"I tried and I will try again in the coming days," Pogacar promised. It did not cost me too much energy." I hope they're proud of me because that's why we make those sacrifices." I've been consistent which is good but you need to win," said Matthews, who claimed his fourth Tour stage win and his first since 2017. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Michael Matthews split the break and then launched an attack on the final climb. The GC battle went to Pogačar, Vingegaard finished on his wheel.

Since moving to Spain and finding out how to use a computer, he has gone from contributor of Daily Distractions at the 2002 Vuelta a España to editor at PezCyclingNews. Maybe I was too far behind when he attacked in the first climb so it took a bit of time to come across but I wouldn’t say that he surprised me and it didn’t cost me any extra energy to follow him. It was a great climb to finish with and I had another great day in the yellow jersey.” The Italian got across to Matthews and then after a short rest, dropped the Australian. Matthews wasn’t going to give up and held Bettiol at a few metres. Meintjes was also in that group and would move up in the overall standings. For a long time nothing happened in the big leading group, but at the top of the Côte de Châtaignier there was some action. The BikeExchange-Jayco rider jumped with a sizeable escape group in the opening part of the stage and fought a duel with Alberto Bettiol on the final climb. Saturday’s stage of the Tour de France was not a big mountain stage, but the fourteenth stage was far from easy. Out of the peloton, due to the chaos, Christopher Juul Jensen and Neilson Powless escaped first. At the front, the original escapees were captured, while at the back many riders lost their hold on to the peloton. Thanks to Wout van Aert, the yellow jersey was able to rectify the situation. Michael Matthews won the thirteenth stage of the Tour de France. The Australian was the first over the line in Mende after more than 192 kilometres.

'Sometimes you spend five hours on the bike and in a few seconds the victory goes from you' says Italian.

My season is not over and my Tour de France is not over. “The Tour is not over yet and I’ll give it another try,” he said. “I know my directeur sportif and my teammates have faith in me. I thought I’d got rid of him after attacking him as soon as I got up to him. “I’d promised everyone in this team, everyone who makes a big effort for us, to try for another victory. He started the attack with 52km to go.

Michael Matthews held off a challenge from Alberto Bettiol to win stage 14 of the Tour de France, wh...

2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates) 164 2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates) +2:22 2. Alberto Bettiol (EF Education–Easypost) +0:15 "Today was that day. And today was that day. How many times have I been smashed down but I always get back up?

Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates battled hard to retain their top-five overall placings on another sweltering day at the Tour de France.

During a brutal opening salvo Dani Martinez rode well to get into the large 23-man move, showing promising progress as he continues to recover from illness. During a brutal opening salvo Dani Martinez rode well to get into the large 23-man move, showing promising progress as he continues to recover from illness. Tom Pidcock limited his losses well to remain in the top 10 on GC, now ninth after a day that saw a large breakaway go to the finish.

Jonas Vingegaard retains the yellow jersey. Matthews has twice finished second at this year's Tour, on stages 6 and 8, but would not be denied when another ...

Matthews said that he felt yesterday was a "big opportunity missed" and that today was likely to be his "last chance" for a win at this year's Tour. I've had so many rollercoasters up and down. Michael Matthews has won stage 14 of the Tour de France, prevailing after a terrific battle with Alberto Bettiol on the closing stages of the climb to Mende.

MENDE, France — Michael Matthews soloed to victory on the 14th stage of the Tour de...

Doing the sprints he does, and climbing like he does, in his field he is the best.“ Vingegaard was unimpressed and followed at ease, with the pair crossing the line 12 minutes, 34 seconds behind. With its constant ups and downs, the stage profile through the Massif Central was ideal for a breakaway. Overall, Vingegaard leads Pogacar by 2 minutes, 22 seconds. He has days like that when he is very strong,“ said French rider Thibaut Pinot, who completed the stage podium behind Matthews and Bettiol. “He really amazes me. The one-day classic specialist was in a group of 23 riders who broke from the pack after a frenetic start to the stage punctuated by a flurry of attacks on hilly ground from Saint-Etienne to Mende.