Stage 14: Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet – 151.9 km
Date: Saturday July 13, 2024
Streaming: 🇺🇸 Peacock/🇨🇦 FloBikes/🇬🇧 Discovery+/ITV/🇪🇺 Eurosport/🇦🇺 SBS
Estimated finish time: 🇺🇸🇨🇦 11:32 am EDT/🇬🇧 4:32 pm BST/🇪🇺 5:32 pm CEST/🇦🇺 1:32 am AEST
Stage type: Mountains
Summary: After 70 flattish kilometers to start stage 14, it will be time for the GC favorites to prove themselves. First up is the legendary Col du Tourmalet, 19 km of nonstop ascending that finishes at a not-insignificant elevation of 2,115 meters. The second-category Hourquette d’Ancizan is a bit more forgiving but the hors categorie Saint-Lary-Soulan / Pla d’Adet finish should draw out the yellow jersey hopefuls.
Fantasy favorites: This is going to be a day with major GC implications, but those who are interested in trying to pick the stage winner should be alert to the possibility of a breakaway victory. It feels like a 50/50 proposition at this point; in recent years, breakaways have been given lots of room to maneuver on stages like this, but in 2024, we’ve seen the GC teams shortening the leash. Jonas Vingegaard is our slight favorite ahead of Tadej Pogačar to triumph on a day with all this climbing, and both seem likelier than any single breakaway rider to win the stage … but Romain Bardet, Simon Yates, Richard Carapaz, Derek Gee, Ben Healy, and Guillaume Martin will all be potential contenders from a long-range move.
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