MENDE, France, (Reuters) – Australian Michael Matthews completed a vintage ride to win the 14th stage of the Tour de France yesterday, a hilly trek from Saint Etienne to Mende, as Jonas Vingegaard held off defending champion Tadej Pogacar to retain the yellow jersey.
Matthews went solo from the day’s breakaway with 51 kilometres to go and after being caught by a trio of chasers he attacked again on the final ascent, a brutal 3-km effort at 10.2%.
Alberto Bettiol managed to rein him in once more, only for Matthews to come back and go solo again to beat the Italian by 15 seconds.
