Skjelmose and Evenepoel add their names to Tour abandons
Stage 14 of the 2025 Tour de France was a brutal one with four enormous climbs for the peloton to contend with. But the stage had already taken a few victims by halfway up the Col du Tourmalet, the first climb of the day. Foremost among them was current third-overall Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-QuickStep, who finally gave in after a torrid couple of days, climbing off and into the team car after letting go at the foot of the climb.
Almost simultaneously came the news that Mattias Skjelmose had also added his name to the list of abandons. The Lidl-Trek GC outsider had crashed early in the stage, losing a fight with some road furniture, while his own team was trying to set up Jonathan Milan for the intermediate sprint, which came after 70 km of racing on an unrelenting slight-uphill grind from Pau. The Dane had raced on after a quick concussion check and attention to his bloodied elbow, but he never made it back into contention.
Steff Cras (TotalEnergies) also abandoned early on due to symptoms of a stomach bug, and Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) had not taken the start after breaking his hand two days prior.
