Tour de France Stage 14: Omar Fraile takes stage as Geraint Thomas retains advantage

Spanish rider Omar Fraile (Astana) won stage 14 of the Tour de France after a strong performance on the final climb, having spent the day in a sizeable break. The top three riders in the general classification – Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) – all crossed the line together a short while later.

The 188km stage to Mende culminated in the steep 3km climb of Cote de la Croix Neuve, a road on which Steve Cummings took a memorable victory in 2015.

Fraile paced his effort well, finishing ahead of Julian Alaphilippe in the polka dot jersey, who nevertheless extended his lead in the mountains classification.

As many as 28 riders from the day’s break finished ahead of the group of favourites, of whom only Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) made inroads.

He finished eight seconds ahead of Thomas, Froome and Dumoulin, while Romain Bardet (AG2R), the other top-five rider, finished 14 seconds behind them.