Thymen Arensman emerged from the fog to take a much-needed victory for the Ineos Grenadiers as Tadej Pogacar further stretched his lead in yellow and Remco Evenepoel abandoned on a brutal stage 14 of the Tour de France.
Arensman went solo from a breakaway still with 36 kilometres to go on this punishing queen stage from Pau to a summit finish at Superbagneres and held off the main favourites to win by 68 seconds, a first Tour stage win for his team in two years.
Behind, Pogacar marked moves from main rival Jonas Vingegaard before narrowly beating him to second, adding another six seconds to an overall lead that now stands at four minutes 13 seconds, but the main news in the general classification was Evenepoel abandoning from third place.
That saw 22-year-old Scot Oscar Onley rise to fourth, although he was distanced at the top of the final climb by Florian Lipowitz, who inherited third place and the best young rider’s white jersey.
The final episode of the Tour’s Pyrenean trilogy followed the path of the famous stage won by Greg LeMond in 1986, with the Tourmalet, Col d’Aspin and the Peyresourde coming before a first visit to Superbagneres since Robert Millar, now Pippa York, won here in 1989.
It took until the Tourmalet for a break to get clear as Lenny Martinez went in search of the king of the mountains points he needed to make the polka dot jersey he wearing on behalf of Pogacar his own, with Arensman among those trying to chase down the young Frenchman.
Evenepoel, who suffered in the heat on the previous two days, fared no better on a damper, cooler day, and climbed off early on the Tourmalet, with his team saying the Belgian “did not feel himself”.
Arensman was among three riders to catch Martinez before the Peyresourde, where he launched his own move and opened up a gap on the main group of favourites who until that point has been closing in.
The Dutchman’s gap grew to three and a half minutes before the the final climb and he fought hard on punishing gradients to keep the chasing pack at bay.
“I can’t really believe it,” said the 25-year-old. “I had to be really patient the first week and I had to wait until the mountains and and then the first opportunity I got to I was already second (on the Puy-de-Sancy).
“That was already an amazing experience in my first Tour, but this is unbelievable now.”
TV footage showed that an Ineos team car hit and knocked down a spectator amid the crowds on the Peyresourde. The team has been approached for comment.
Pogacar had been backed by many to chase a third consecutive stage win, but he was happy just to mark Vingegaard.
“I didn’t have the firepower in me to counter-attack and give it all to the finish, so I committed just to control the stage until the last 200 metres and then do the sprint for second place,” he said. “It’s all good, I’m happy to be in yellow.”
