Pogačar Strikes On The Col Du Haag And Claims His Fourth Tour Victory

Tadej Pogačar delivered another decisive blow at the Tour de France with victory on stage 14 at Le Markstein. The yellow jersey attacked on the steepest section of the Col du Haag and rode alone to the finish, extending his overall advantage on a day when UAE Team Emirates-XRG also placed Isaac del Toro second.

Rain and four categorised climbs made the 155.3-kilometre route from Mulhouse difficult from the opening hour. A large breakaway formed around the Grand Ballon, with Tom Pidcock again trying to gain time after his major move towards Belfort the previous day. His presence prevented the peloton from allowing the escape a comfortable margin.

Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Tobias and Anders Johannessen and Einer Rubio were among the riders who fought at the front. Carapaz eventually continued alone on the Col du Haag, but the pace behind reduced his advantage as Decathlon CMA CGM, Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE all contributed to the pursuit.

The final climb produced attacks from Florian Lipowitz and Paul Seixas before Sepp Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard increased the tempo. Remco Evenepoel appeared to be in difficulty and Del Toro was also briefly under pressure, but both managed to return to the group of favourites. Carapaz was caught as the general-classification contenders reached the hardest ramps.

Pogačar made his move with approximately 7.3 kilometres remaining, around the section known as the Owl Bend, where the gradient reached 16%. None of his rivals could follow the acceleration. The Slovenian continued across the flatter road after the summit and completed the stage in 4:00:07.

Del Toro and Seixas crossed the line together 38 seconds later, with the Mexican taking second place ahead of the 19-year-old Frenchman. Vingegaard finished fourth at 44 seconds, Evenepoel lost 48, and Juan Ayuso and Lipowitz arrived at 50 seconds. The result gave UAE a one-two finish and confirmed Seixas as a serious contender for the final podium.

This was Pogačar's fourth stage victory of the 2026 Tour, following his successes at Les Angles, Gavarnie-Gèdre and Le Lioran. More importantly, his lead over Vingegaard has increased from 3:36 to 4:30. Evenepoel remains third at 5:04, but Seixas is now only 15 seconds behind him. Ayuso, Lipowitz and Del Toro also remain within range of the podium.

Pidcock paid heavily for his second consecutive day in the breakaway. He finished more than three minutes behind Pogačar and dropped from fourth to ninth overall, undoing much of the progress he had made on stage 13.

Pogačar has once again increased the distance between himself and Vingegaard, but the battle behind the yellow jersey is becoming more intense. Le Markstein strengthened the leader's grip on the Tour while leaving second and third place increasingly exposed before another demanding day in the mountains.