The 14th stage of the Tour de France 2015 took place on July 18, 2015. It led from Rodez over 178.5 kilometers to Mende . There were a total of four mountain ratings, two of them in the fourth category and two in the second category. There was also an intermediate sprint after 78.5 kilometers in Millau . The 14th stage counted as a medium-difficult stage. 175 riders started.
On the first few kilometers there were several small escape groups, which, however, could not prevail and were only in front for a short time. After several attempts, Peter Sagan succeeded in initiating a larger breakaway group in which 24 drivers, including prominent names such as Rigoberto Urán , Andrew Talansky and Pierre Rolland , were involved. The peloton did not allow this group's lead to become too big, so the front was quickly attacked again: Now seven drivers were in front, followed by 13 pursuers. Some drivers who were well placed in the overall standings fell back into the main field. After the intermediate sprint, which Sagan won, both groups joined forces. The peloton let them now and build a lead of about six and a maximum of eight minutes. The drivers represented in the escape group were (in alphabetical order according to teams):
The mountain classification of the second category on the Côte de Sauveterre was not contested, the five mountain points won Ladagnous. Michał Gołaś was able to pull away in the descent, Kristijan Koren caught up with him and both started the next climb (4th category). However, they never had more than 30 seconds ahead of the chasing group. Koren won the mountain classification. After the short descent, both were overtaken by the pursuers on the three kilometer long and an average of ten percent steep climb to the Côte de la Croix Neuve . Immediately afterwards, Romain Bardet drove several attacks and set himself apart from the other drivers. The group fell apart, only Rigoberto Urán, Thibaut Pinot and Steve Cummings could keep up with his pace.
Meanwhile, the peloton had reached the last climb, Nairo Quintana attacked and was able to distance Chris Froome by a few meters. Vincenzo Nibali was initially driving Quintana's rear wheel, but the Italian fell back a little later and Froome was able to catch up with Quintana again. Up ahead, Pinot had caught up with Bardet. Both could not agree on a collaboration, so both were sprinted by Steve Cummings, who won the stage in front of the two French. Urán was fourth, Peter Sagan fifth. Froome and Quintana crossed the finish line together after Quintana's repeated attempts to shake Froome off were unsuccessful. After Quintana, Alejandro Valverde , Alberto Contador , Nibali and Tejay van Garderen reached the stage goal with a gap of a few seconds each.
The Argentine Eduardo Sepúlveda was disqualified because he drove 100 meters in a support vehicle after a defect. The front runner Froome was attacked after around 50 kilometers by a spectator who threw a bag of urine at him and referred to him as a "doper".
Scoring
Intermediate sprint in Millau after 78.5 km at 370 m
Steve Morabito (FDJ): Task during the stage (fall)
Ramon Sinkeldam (TGA): Task during the stage (stomach problems)
Eduardo Sepúlveda (BSE): disqualified because he drove 100 meters in the ag2r team car after a defect