Rodríguez takes the day as Pogačar, Vingegaard battle it out on Tour

*Carlos Rodríguez conquers the field as he takes his first ever Grand Tour win on stage 14 (Photo: Charly Lopez)*

Spanish cyclist Carlos Rodríguez takes home Ineos Grenadiers' 2nd stage win in 2 days in his first Tour de France appearance, while also boosting himself in the top 3 of the General Classification standings.

Just 48 hours ago, things were looking bleak for Ineos Grenadiers but today's victory coupled with Michał Kwiatkowski's heroics on the Grand Colombier in stage 13, that outlook has been discarded by the British team.

Rodríguez outlasted both Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) after the Spaniard found himself in the front group littered with GC contenders with just over 20km remaining. Despite initially being dropped by the two above-mentioned riders, stalling between Pogačar and Vingegaard on the Col de Joux Plane allowed Rodríguez and Adam Yates back into contention.

Once that gap was bridged, the Spanish rider breezed past the front two, further mind games and unwillingness to work for the other between Pogačar and Vingegaard facilitated Rodríguez's ambition, as he built a lead of 5 seconds on the descent from today's HC climb. That's how it would stay as Rodríguez crossed the line first closely followed by Pogačar, Vingegaard and Yates.

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An early sprint from Tadej Pogačar earned him 2nd and 6 bonus seconds, while Vingegaard gathered 4 seconds at the finish along with 3 earned at the final peak. Meaning, the latter gained a single, but crucial, second on his rival.

A short but mountainous stage of 152km from the town of Annemasse into Morzine greeted the bunch with plenty of categorised climbs to sink their teeth into. Another day which looked fit for a breakaway winner that didn't exactly result in that fashion.

The other major story from today's race being a massive crash in the peloton within the first 10km. The incident saw the race halted for nearly 30 mins as several riders came down on an early bend. Many big names were involved as Romain Bardet (DSM–Firmenich), Louis Meintkes (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and James Shaw (EF-Education-EasyPost) were all forced to abandon the Tour.

Ultimately the narrative of the day belongs to the top two of the GC once again, things really are getting interesting now. If you weren't convinced that this Tour will solely be contested between the Dane and the Slovenian, you should be now.