cycling: Tour de France stage #14: Michael Matthews celebrates in Rodez – Fabio Aru doesn't

Cycling: Michael Matthews (Sunweb) just won today's stage of the Tour de France. The Australian was able to prevail in the uphill sprint in Rodez in front of Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data). The leader Fabio Aru (Astana) completely slept through the last hill. The Italian lost a valuable 24 seconds to Chris Froome (Sky) and with it the yellow jersey.

Excitement in the last 570 meters

After two tough mountain stages, the riders remaining in the race had to cover 181,5 kilometers today. The route initially led the riders through an almost flat landscape before it became more and more bumpy. The highlight of the day should be the last 570 meters. Because then it went up the Côte de Saint-Pierre to the destination Rodez. As expected, a few breakaways were able to pull away immediately after the start in Blagnac. Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Tim Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo), Maxime Bouet (Fortuneo-Oscaro) and the Swiss Reto Hollenstein (Katusha-Alpecin) tried their luck. But the peloton wouldn't let her go. Thomas De Gendt bravely defended himself as a soloist in the last kilometers. But the Belgian was also caught 13 kilometers from the finish line.

The Sunweb and BMC teams play their cards

Around ten kilometers before the finish, a quartet surprisingly broke away after catching up with De Gendt. Damiano Caruso (BMC), Nikias Arndt (Sunweb), Maurits Lammertink (Katusha-Alpecin) and Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Oscaro) gained almost 20 seconds. Since Sunweb and BMC were the two teams in front that had previously taken on all the tracking work, the pace in the peloton suddenly fell asleep. Team Sky took responsibility together with Quick-Step Floors. Since the quartet at the front wasn't really in agreement either, the field closed the gap again four kilometers before the finish line.

Michael Matthews beats Greg Van Avermaet – Fabio Aru loses yellow card

When it went up the final hill, Oliver Naesen (Ag2r) attacked first. After that, Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) took over the pace. But the two Belgians ventured out of cover too early. After all, it was the hill-proof sprinters who were allowed to decide the race among themselves. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) sprinted past Gilbert. He picked up Michael Matthews (Sunweb) on his rear wheel. The Australian proved to be the much stronger professional and celebrated early on. Third was Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) ahead of Philippe Gilbert. Fabio Aru (Astana) lost valuable time. The Italian was in a bad position at the start of the hill. The gaps opened up on the climb. Chris Foome (Sky) gained 24 seconds on Fabio Aru and will therefore be back in the yellow jersey tomorrow.

Result of the 14th stage of the 2017 Tour de France

Overall ranking of the 2017 Tour de France after 14 of 21 stages