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The stage between Saint-Etienne and Mende, Saturday July 16, was won alone by Michael Matthews. The Australian had not triumphed on the Grande Boucle since 2017. Behind, the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard left no chance for Tadej Pogacar to take a few seconds from him.
Green jersey in 2017, winner of two stages that year and one in 2016, Michael Matthews had not shone on the Tour de France since. Forced to retire in 2018, unremarkable in 2019 and 2021, absent in 2020, the BikeExchange puncher found his colors again during the 14th stage of this 2022 edition.
It was on the Côte de la Croix Neuve, the final climb (3 kilometers at 10.2%) of the 192.5 kilometer long day’s course, that the Australian made the difference. With energy, he overcame the Italian Alberto Bettiol, with whom he engaged in an intense showdown. Michael Matthews ended up catching his opponent and leaving him in his rearview mirror to cross the finish line in 4 hours 30 minutes by 53 seconds. Alberto Bettiol arrived 15 seconds later. Frenchman Thibaut Pinot took third place, 34 seconds behind Matthews.
The other well-attended fight naturally had as its protagonists Jonas Vingegaard et Tadej Pogacar. Leader in the general classification since the 11th stage, the Dane, who stole the yellow jersey from the Slovenian, was not surprised. The double winner of the Tour de France tried to attack him, but it was useless. The Jumbo-Visma rider could not be put in difficulty on this course.
Everything suggests that, unless there is a failure, it will be necessary to wait for the 17th and 18th stages, planned in the Pyrenees, to see the final Vingegaard-Pogacar explanation. In the meantime, the Tour de France must roll on Sunday July 17 between Rodez and Carcassonne, for a 15th stage in the plain.