With a flat stage before Mont Ventoux, it was expected to have some fireworks and huge climbing performances with Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar battling at the start of the third week.
For the second mountain stage in a row, UAE Emirates could not control the breakaway and let a huge group get away and fight for the victory, with Tadej Pogačar not able to contest for a stage victory to get closer to Mark Cavendish’s stage win record. The breakaway had a massive gap, with Thymen Arensman, Ben Healy, Santiago Buitrago, Enric Mas, Ilan Van Wilder, Valentin Paret-Peintre, and other strong riders fighting for the stage win, with Paret-Peintre outsprinting Healy as he did with Adam Yates on Jabal Al Akhdhar earlier this year.
Oscar Onley spent 2610 kilojoules for 3:10h at 14.04 kj/kg/h before Ventoux in a GC group. Despite being a flat stage, it was not Jebel Hafeet easy, as there were winds and break formation, but for Tour de France standards, it was an easy day. Jonas Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike tried to test Pogačar’s legs with the Dane attacking early in the climb with around 9 km to go. Vingegaard attacked closer to the top after Victor Campenaerts paced as a satellite rider from the breakaway, but Pogačar stayed on his wheel. Later, Pogačar tested Vingegaard’s legs but was not successful.
Despite an inconsistent pace and multiple attacks, the Mont Ventoux record was destroyed. Vingegaard did Ventoux with 6.52 ᵉW/Kg for 54:32 min. Pogačar was two seconds faster with 6.44 ᵉW/Kg as he did not spend that much time in the wind. It was an exceptional performance and the best long climbing performance ever. Similar to the mountain time trial on stage 13, Primož Roglič performed at a high level on an easy road stage with 6.35 ᵉW/Kg for 55:38 min, with his teammate Florian Lipowitz finishing close and improving his podium positions in GC. Even Lipowitz and Roglič were faster than the previous Mont Ventoux record, which was owned by Iban Mayo, who did it in 6.35 ᵉW/Kg for 55:51 min in the Critérium du Dauphiné ITT in 2004, while the fastest road race effort was by Marco Pantani in 1994 when he did it in 57:33 min with 6.16 ᵉW/Kg.
