Tadej Pogacar clinched his fourth win of the 2026 Tour de France as he stormed to victory in the mountains on stage 14 from Mulhouse to Le Markstein Fellering on Saturday.
The Slovenian racked up his 25th career Tour stage victory and, at the age of 27, is just 10 behind Mark Cavendish’s all-time record.
Pogacar extended his overall lead in the general classification to four minutes and 30 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard in second. Remco Evenepoel remains third, while 19-year-old Paul Seixas climbed to fourth with an impressive ride to lie just 15 seconds off a podium place in his first Tour.
On Saturday the young prospect came home in third place behind Isaac del Toro, with the pair 38 seconds adrift of Pogacar. Seixas’ ride saw him take the white jersey from Juan Ayuso as the best young rider.
Briton Tom Pidcock seemingly paid the price for a big effort on Friday, getting in an early breakaway before being caught midway through the stage and then dropping out of the back of the peloton, losing three-and-a-half minutes to move from fourth to ninth in the overall standings.
Pogacar made his move 1.5km from the summit of the final climb and pulled away from the chasing pack through the Vosges to win the 155.3km stage.
Vingegaard came home fourth, 44 seconds behind his rival, to lose ground in the fight for the yellow jersey.
Behind the Dane, the chase for the podium also intensified as Del Toro and Seixas gained valuable time over their rivals. Only 46 seconds now separates Evenepoel in third and Del Toro in seventh, with Seixas, Ayuso and Florian Lipowitz sandwiched between them.
Pogacar revealed he earmarked the stage as one he could potentially win.
He said: “Today I must say thanks to all the fans that came to the side of the road, it was something unforgettable to see all the crowd on the hills at the top of the mountains.
“All the cyclists have such a massive respect towards each other and put on a great show and nice to see this kind of racing.
“I knew that Isaac (Del Toro) is not 100 per cent so I was waiting for the last kilometre to see if there would be any movement.
“One by one guys were dropping and I felt good and the last 2km I felt good. So much crowd, it gives you additional boost to the top. I gave it a go, had good feelings and grabbed the opportunity.
“Really perfect day. We marked this stage since the beginning. I know it very well, it’s beautiful and incredible area for cycling.”
Pogacar admitted Sunday’s stage between Champagnole and Plateau de Solaison may be a tougher challenge, though.
“Tomorrow is a bit more difficult. It will be a hard day for us, but we will be ready to fight tomorrow,” he said.
PA
