Double Delight for French Fans as Pinot wins atop the Col du Tourmalet

Frenchman Thibaut Pinot won the stage on top of the Tourmalet as countryman Julian Alaphilippe in the Yellow Jersey for another day

The short 117 km stage featured the tough climbs of the Col du Soulor before it culminated on the mightly slopes of the legendary Col du Tourmalet, at 2,115m above sea level.

The stage started at high speed, until the eventual breakaway of over 30 riders went away, including Nibali and Peter Sagan.

Nibali took the 1 KOM point over the Cote de Labatmale ahead of Polka Dot jersey wearer Tim Wellens.

Riders in the breakaway were; Vincenzo Nibali, Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale), Matthieu Ladagnous (Groupama-FDJ), Carlos Verona (Movistar), Luis León Sánchez (Astana), Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates), Lennard Kämna (Team Sunweb), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), ilian Calmejane, Romain Sicard, Rein Taaramäe (Total Direct Énergie), Ilnur Zakarin and Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin), Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Élie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic).

The breakaway built up a lead of nearly 3 minutes. Behind the peloton's pace saw sprinters including; Trentin, Viviani, Kristoff and Richeze dropped.

The next climb was the  first category climb of the Col du Soulor at 1,747 metres above sea level.

Nearer the top of the Soulor, Movistar and Ineos set a high pace and ripped the peloton to pieces.

The first big GC contender to pop was Romain Bardet, dropped with 4 kms to go on the Col du Soulor, his GC chances gone.

Next was Adam Yates, dropped with 3 kms to go, but managed to get back on over the descent.

Nibali and Wellens duked it out with 500m to go to the top of the Soulor, with Wellens taking the max KOM points.

In the valley below, Peter Sagan gave up chaisng but still took seven intermediate sprint points to extend his lead in the Green Jersey.

With 30 kms to go, there were only 30 riders left in the Yellow jersey group.

Movistar came to the front and set the pace for Quintana, Valverde and Landa.

Frenchman Romain Sicard attacked and went up the road with a 1m 25s lead but he was soon swept up with 13 kms to go, as the Yellow Jersey group thinned even more.

As the Yellow jersey group hit the lower slopes of the Col de Tourmalet, Dan Martin was next to be dropped.

Gesbert attacked and built up a small lead but was quickly reeled in with 10.4 kms to go as Quintana was dropped, Movistar stopped pace making.

Jumbo-Visma's Bennett and De Plus took over the pace making for GC favorite Kruijswijk.

With 9.5 kms to go, French champion Warren Barguil attacked and built up a 20 second lead.

FDJ's Davide Gaudau took up pace making for Pinot and more riders were dropped including Pouls, Mas, Porte and then Valverde.

Gaudau popped, Jumbo-Visma's De Plus and Bennett continued the pace making with just 13 riders left with 3 kms to go.

Uran was dropped, then Fuglsang.

Buchmann came to the front with Pinot and Bernal, as Geraint Thomas was dropped, Alaphilippe was still there with Landa.

In the last 500 metres Pinot attacked with Bernal following, Alaphilippe and Kruijswijk overhauled him in the final metres for second and third place.

Buchmann fourth with Bernal trailing, then came the gaps behind.

Pinot, Alaphilippe, Kruijswijk, Buchmann and Bernal all in contention, Geraint Thomas limiting his loses.

Big losses for Quintana, Yates, Bardet, Porte, Mollema, Martin, Mas, Konrad and Fuglsang, their GC hopes fading away:

Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:36
Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:53
Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:05
Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:54
Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:24
Dan Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:05:35
Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:06:42
Patrik Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:12:39
Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:20:19

VIDEO: 2019 Tour de France Stage 14 Highlights

2019 Tour de France Stage 14 Top 10

1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 3:10:20
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:06
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:06
4 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:08
5 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos 0:00:08
6 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:14
7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First 0:00:30
8 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:36
9 Warren Barguil (Fra) Arkéa Samsic 0:00:38
10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:53

2019 Tour de France GC after Stage 14

1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 56:11:29
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:02:02
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:14
4 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos 0:03:00
5 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:12
6 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:12
7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First 0:04:24
8 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:05:22
9 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:27
10 Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:05:38