Tour de France Stage 14: Bauke Mollema solos to win in Quillan

Bauke Mollema of Trek-Segafredo has taken his second career Tour de France stage win in Quillan this afternoon. The Dutch rider attacked from the break, finishing just over a minute ahead of his closest pursuers. 

Also in the break today was the Cofidis rider Gullaume Martin, who crossed the line around a minute and a half behind the stage winner and rises from ninth to second overall – 4 minutes 4 seconds behind race leader Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates, and 1 minute 14 seconds ahead of EF Education-Nippo’s Rigoberto Uran, who drops to third on GC.

Mollema, whose previous stage win came at le Puy-en-Venlay four years ago, attacked his breakaway companions with 42km remaining of the 183.7km stage from Carcassonne, the route snaking through the Pyrenean foothills on the heart of Cathar Country.

It took more than two hours for the decisive move to get away in the hilly stage, with a number of early attacks shut down, including by Trek-Segafredo who clearly had designs on getting in the day’s break.

It was Wout Poels of Bahrain-Merida and Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Matteo Cattaneo who initiated the move that eventually got clear on the Col de Montségur with 90km remaining.

They were joined by eight other riders including Israel Start-Up Nation’s Michael Woods, whose chances of winning the stage were hampered by a crash with 50km left. The Canadian remounted, and would finish the day as the new leader of the mountains classification.

Mollema broke clear with around 41km remaining and would not be caught, savouring his victory as he rode through the final couple of kilometres, with Austrian national champion Patrick Konrad of  Bora-Hansgrohe second and Sergio Higuita of EF Education-Nippo third.

Mark Cavendish of Deceuninck-Quick Step came home in the autobus 23 minutes behind the winner, well inside the time limit, ahead of tomorrow’s first high mountain stage in the Pyrenees to Andorra, which also hosts Monday’s second rest day.

Reaction

Stage winner Bauke Mollema

This is super nice; it's amazing to win a stage again. I am super happy. The team was riding really aggressively the last week; we were really going for the stage win; we are not in the GC anymore, so stages like this, we really wanted to be in the break.

Big thanks to the guys, especially at the start of the race; they did a great job. We didn't miss any break – yeah, this is super nice for the team.

It was a super hard day and took 80-90 kilometres before a break finally went. The team did amazing – we didn't miss any move at the start of the race. We were always in the front with 4-5 guys.

It was a nice group with a lot of strong guys, but we were not working together so well. A few guys were not turning, and I was feeling good, so I just thought, let's go from far. I was 40 kilometres alone.

When I looked to the roadbook at the beginning of the Tour, I knew this Stage was a good opportunity for the breakaway, and when it goes up and down all day, and a hard climb at the end with a tricky downhill, I knew it was good for me.

A few days ago, I checked the last 50-60kms of the course on Google maps, so I knew more or less what to expect. I knew there was a tricky downhill, and after that, I was waiting for the right moment to attack. I felt good, and I knew I could do a long solo to the finish.

The steep part of the last climb, it was important to go full gas and not lose too much, and once I had more than 50 seconds on the top, I was pretty sure I was going to make it.

With the team, it was a big goal to win a stage. We have a lot of guys who are able to do it. You need the legs at the right moment and perhaps to make the right decisions in the race sometimes. Jasper Stuyven got 2nd already, and me and Kenny Elissonde were 2nd and 3rd.

You need to pick the stages; some you go a little bit easier – the last two stages I didn't spend too much energy and tried to recover from the Ventoux stage – but today I had motivation to go for it. I tried to do everything well, everything possible from the night before already. You are thinking more about the details – like the nutrition in a hard stage like this, which can make a difference in the end.

It’s hard to compare to 2017 since that was my first win in the Tour, so that was maybe more special, but this one is also super nice, especially after a long solo like this.

I am not a rider that wins 5 or 10 races every year, so every win is special for me, especially to win in the Tour. And to win a stage again four years later is incredible.