Tour de France 2025: Arensman wins blockbuster stage 14 in Pyrenees – live | Tour de France 2025
Key events
Tom Steels, the manager of Remco Evenepoel’s team, Soudal-Quickstep, speaks: “Like I said this morning, you hope for the best and hope it turns at the moment, but he didn’t turn and he was suffering also. And then I think it’s wiser not to continue and and just recover well.
“He’s also, yeah, he still have some goals this year, maybe if he continue at the condition he had, that maybe the yeah, maybe the rest of the season has lost, so. I mean, yeah. and he was very disappointed.”
Arensman, who has won on Sierra Nevada in Spain so is no mean climber, speaks:
“I don’t know I can’t really believe it’s. I think still after being sick had a good preparation and going through my first Tour, I just wanted to experience everything and I had to be really patient the first week because it was all pretty good and I had to wait until the mountains and and then the first opportunity I got to I was already second.
“So that was already amazing and amazing experience in my first tour, but this is unbelievable now. Also, yeah, the way I did it, I think today, it’s also Carlos [Rodriguez] in that group. And he did a really good job for me, but I yeah, I don’t know. I I think I just had amazing Rels and in shape of my life.
“I thought with today and earners, three minutes, three and a half minutes is probably not enough. I have to move. Maybe it’s suicide, maybe it’s not, and I can’t believe it. I was really fading on this last climb, the second half of the climb, but I don’t know, but I think with all the fans they give me an extra few watts, I just could hold them off and some leave you know, it’s crazy.
“I wanted to experience the biggest race in the world and then to win a stage in my first Tour and in this way is unbelievable, you know, it’s crazy.”
General Classification after stage 14
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1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates – XRG 50:40:28
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2. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Team Visma – Lease a Bike +4:13
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3. Florian Lipowitz (GER) Red Bull – BORA – +7:53
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4. Oscar Onley (GBR) Team Picnic PostNL +9:18
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5. Kévin Vauquelin (FRA) Arkéa – B&B Hotels +10:21
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6. Primoz Roglic (SLO) Red Bull – BORA – +10:34
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7. Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale +12:00
Team -
8. Tobias Johannessen (NOR) Uno-X Mobility +12:33
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9. Ben Healy (IRL) EF Education – EasyPost +18:41
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10. Carlos Rodríguez (ESP) INEOS Grenadiers +22:57
Stage 14 result
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1. Thymen Arensman (NED) INEOS Grenadiers 4:53:35
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2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates – XRG +1:08
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3. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Team Visma – Lease a Bike +1:12
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4. Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale +1:19
Team -
5. Florian Lipowitz (GER) Red Bull – BORA – +1:25
hansgrohe -
6. Oscar Onley (GBR) Team Picnic PostNL +2:09
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7. Ben Healy (IRL) EF Education – EasyPost +2:46
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8. Primoz Roglic (SLO) Red Bull – BORA
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9. Tobias Johannessen (NOR) Uno-X Mobility +2:59
10. Kévin Vauquelin (FRA) Arkéa – B&B Hotels +3:08
Jonas Vingegaard speaks: “Probably one of the toughest mountain stages I have done. A super-hard day. We wanted to try to win the stage. They couldn’t follow Arensmam, he did a good performance on the final climb. When I realised Tadej woudn’t try I thought I would do it myself.”
‘Ineos car crashes into spectator’
Some bad news for Team Ineos, via Reuters: “An Ineos-Grenadiers team car hit and knocked down a spectator during the 14th stage of the Tour de France cycle race, TV footage showed on Saturday.
“The team car was in the middle of the road to the Col de Peyresourde, about 200 metres from the top of the ascent, when it struck the spectator, who was cheering the riders on. Organisers told Reuters they were not aware of the accident while Ineos-Grenadiers were not immediately available for comment.”
And in the sprint through the mist, it’s Pogacar – relentless – takes the bonus seconds from Vingegaard. Gall is fourth, and Florian Lipowitz comes in. Oscar Onley finishes fifth and is fourth on GC. Scotland’s honour on this climb is repeated. Ben Healy, meanwhile, is back in the top 10 GC.
Thymen Arensman takes stage 17 for Team Ineos
For once, the breakaway worked. What a win for him. One hundred metres from the line and he knows he’s done. The Ineos drought is over.
0.5 km to go: Pogacar and Vingegaard thick as thieves. They won’t be catching Arensman.
1 km to go: Arensman, into the mist and that steep final kilometre, and victory is in sight. What a ride from him.
1.5 km to go: The rest of the GC contenders shelling seconds as the two leaders cycle through incredible crowds. Arensman holds his lead. Big Sir Jim, on his fly-fishing trip with United execs, is surely watching. The Ineos drought might be over.
2.5km to go: Pogacar goes – and takes Gall – Vingegaard goes with Pogacar. Now another dig from the former champion. The gap to Arensman is 1.30”. Surely?
3km to go: Gall has 30 seconds on the GC group but must still make up 1’ 40” or so on Arensman. Vingegaard attacks and Yates has no response. Pogacar holds the wheel, and looks unconcerned. Florian Lipowitz, in third, has to give everything to hold on. Onley is 15 seconds back – did he have a problem?
4 km to go: Rob Hatch on TNT says that Pippa York has been on to him and fears for Arensen. She knows how this feels, though had Pedro Delgado for company. Oh, those team Z colours. Arensman seems to hold on to time when Gall hits the harder gradient himself.
5 km to go: Gall has the gap down to two minutes. We await the Pogacar charge. Arensman, as the gradient rises, starts to look leggy. In the GC pack, Vaquelin looks to have cracked. Ben Healy is bouncing back, too.
6 km to go: Gall has a real job on his hands to close on Arensman, who has the race to himself. It’s all on him though there are signs of fatigue as he reaches for a bidon. A truce called in the GC group? Perhaps. At least until the final metres and bonus seconds.
7 km: Felix Gall’s break from the Pogacar group triggers a response. Adam Yates is pulling Pogacar up the hill. Gall overtakes the pursuers and now he is the main challenger to Arensman.
8 km to go: Two riders to work with for Pogacar. No real pressure on the chasing group. That’s down to three men: Tobias Johannessen leads Rodriguez and Rubio as Paret-Peintre is shelled. Arensman is holding them off rather successfully. This is the ride of his life.
10km to go: Pogacar, Vingegaard and Florian Lipowitz, the top three on GC are in the third pack on the road as Arensen sets off on his final dig. The gap to Pogacar is under three minutes. Soler is done for the day. Kuss is dropping back to help Vingo. Martinez, polka points pocketed, has cracked.
12km to go: Warren Barguil goes out the back as Oscar Onley, his teammate, the Scot, the plucky Brit, and in the GC race, hangs on grimly. Arensman is metres from the final climb, the test of his destiny. Some rare good news for Big Sir Jim? We’re about to find out.
13km to go: Vingegaard and Pogacar’s pack gets in gear as they enter the preliminaries. Marc Soler leads Pogacar. The gap to the breakaway is over three minutes. Chickenfeed? Perhaps only for Pogacar. Simon Yates and Jorgensen have dropped off the breakaway, and that’s bad news for Visma. Arensen has two minutes on the pack. Campanaerts is the last Vingegaard bag-man, battling himself to stay in the pack.
15km to go: This stage was last a summit finish in 1989, and won by Scotland’s Robert Millar, now called Pippa York. The race leader that evening was Laurent Fignon, soon to fall victim to the closest finish in Tour history. Lemond was just seven seconds behind. He would need just eight.
20km to go: Lenny Martinez took eight points in the polka points race, and that means he has only dropped two all day. A big day for him. Let’s see what Luchon Superbagneres brings.
Via climbfinders: “Luchon Superbagnères is a climb in the region French Pyrenees. It is 17.1km long and bridges 1161 vertical meters with an average gradient of 6.8%, resulting in a difficulty score of 892. The top of the ascent is located at 1795 meters above sea level”
25km to go: The descent is rapid, the kilometres eaten up, the gaps promisingly large. It’s at 20km that the climbing starts to begin before the true final haul begins.
Arensman leads over the Peyresourde
33km to go: Arensman, today’s rocket man, has led them over the Peyresourde. In 2007, Alexander Vinokourov led over the top. Somewhere in the race caravan, he’s leading Astana. His feat in 2007 was expunged for one of the odder doping sagas. The gap in 2025 is 1’ 25”. Marc Soler is leading UAE’s team over the top. They are two minutes behind the Martinez/Kuss group. Down to Louchon they go…
35km to go: Yates seems to step off as the groups join up. He’s capable of being a lone wolf as he showed to such effect in that incredible Giro win. Ben O’Connor starts to lose pace, too. Back in the yellow jersey group, Nils Pollitt, having pulled the peloton along, is sat up, done for the day. But not for Le Tour. Big smile on his face as he clocks off. The gap to the very front is under three minutes. Riding for Big Sir Jim’s Ineos, Thymen Arensman, has gone for it, and ends up taking 40 seconds off the rest. And climbing…what an effort.
4okm to go: Calm before the storm, though the maillot jaune group is now back just three minutes, a totally bridgeable gap. Kuss and Simon Yates are up the field for Vingegaard, and can pace him to meet Pogacar for the final boss fight. Kuss is in the lead group, Yates the second group under 25 seconds back. A reunion surely imminent.
50mkm to go: Behind the leaders, two groups – one is 1’50”, the yellow is 3’ 31”, and Milan is just over 16 minutes back. The hard work starts soon, though. Into the valley the leading trio ride. Peyresourde is next, a category one climb.
55km to go: Martinez, not so brave – or foolish – a descender – is caught by Kuss and Paret-Peintre, and a trio forms that can work together over the Peyresourde. Race radio informs the riders that this is a “technical” descent.
60km to go: Martinez, the lone rider, takes five points at the peak of the Aspin.
To quote the sponsors, a famed hypermarché: “He is thus the first rider to reach the 50-point mark and will receive the promised bonus to celebrate 50 years of the polka dot jersey!”
Perhaps a free run on a pick n’ mix, or those small bottles of beer they do.
65km to go: It’s a 5km climb, the Aspin, and the people are out in force, and with far less mist to negotiate. Martinez is looking good on the climbs, less good on the descent. Kuss is 50 seconds back. Pogacar is looking comfortable enough as his team leads him up the climb.
70km to go: That Kuss group is closing on Martinez at just under 50 seconds. The Col d’Aspin beckons Martinez as he starts the second category climb and looks in good nick. He has 2,500 of climbing to complete by the end of the day. The Pogacar group, led by UAE lieutenants, is almost four minutes behind.
80km to go: Sepp Kuss, the American is in a pack just over a minute behind Martinez. Pogacar is four minutes behind. The weather has blown a hole in the race. They will regroup in the valley then…more climbing.
90km to go: As the pack climbs over the summit, Julian Alaphilippe, the French veteran, grabs a cardboard sign to thrust down his jersey for warmth on the descent. A lack of L’Equipe newsprint for him to use. The digital media has many byproducts, not all of them as useful as that. There is sun at the bottom of the valley but first they must negotiate a squall of showers and some decidedly risky, skiddy ground. Michael Woods was second over the summit but nobody is pelting down the descent. It’s far too dangerous.
Meanwhile, the grupetto, featuring Milan, is dropping back and back.
