Majka wins 14th TDF stage

Risoul - Rafal Majka made up for the disappointment of finishing second on Friday by winning Saturday's 14th stage of the Tour de France as Vincenzo Nibali continued to distance his rivals.

Pole Majka broke away from an 11-strong escape group on the final first category climb to Risoul and managed to hold off a charging Nibali to win the 177km Alpine stage from Grenoble.

It was a welcome relief for Majka having been reeled in and passed by Nibali on Friday's first stage in the Alps, but also for his Tinkoff-Saxo team after losing leader Alberto Contador to injury.

"This morning I spoke with my team-mates because yesterday I was second and I spoke also with the team and (manager) Bjarne (Riise) and I said if I get in the breakaway I will win the stage," said the 24-year-old Majka.

"At the bottom of the final climb we had an advantage of 1min 10sec over the peloton and I attacked and I dropped everyone, (Joaquim) Rodriguez and the Cannondale rider (Alessandro De Marchi) and I tried to win alone.

"When the gap was 35sec with 2km left to the finish I kept my motivation and fought for the stage win."

Majka held on to win by 24sec to Nibali with 37-year-old Frenchman Jean-Christophe Peraud coming over the line just two seconds later.

Nibali had attacked his rivals in the overall standings inside the final 4km and as he rode away the true battle for the podium places really started to hot up.

Second placed Alejandro Valverde started to struggle around 2km from home, allowing young French pair Thibaut Pinto and Romain Bardet, as well as American Tejay Van Garderen, to gain time as they came in fifth through seventh.

Valverde rolled over the line in 10th and lost 30sec to Van Garderen and 34sec to the two Frenchmen.

The Spanish veteran drifted out to 4:37 behind Nibali but the next four riders behind him - Bardet, Pinot, Van Garderen and Peraud - are all within 1:30.

"Nibali is the strongest but there's nothing in it between the rest of us," said Valverde.

After struggling with Friday's heat, as temperatures reached around 35 degrees Celsius, Peraud said he'd got his strength back on Saturday.

"I rediscovered the feelings I had in the Vosges. It wasn't so hot and suffocating today and when there's air, I can breath," said the AG2R teammate of Bardet.

"With Romain we were supposed to attack on the final climb but Nibali beat us to it, so I went with him."

That was a smart move as it allowed him to gain time on the four riders directly above him.

Nibali had won the three previous uphill finishes in this race and when he started to close in on Majka, it looked like he might maintain a 100 percent record on the summits.

But he said that wasn't his aim.

"When I attacked I tried to gain time, I saw that with a 50-second lead it would be difficult to catch Majka for the victory," said the 29-year-old Italian.

"I tried to manage the situation and just put some time into Valverde and the other rivals.

"I felt good so I could try something and things went well."

The day had begun with a 17-man breakaway quite early on which had been reduced to 10 by the top of the second of three categorised climbs, the hors category Col d'Izoard - the highest point in this year's race at 2,360m.

They had a gap to the peloton of around 3min then but the bunch closed in to just over a minute behind by the start of the final ascent to Risoul.

Another breakaway companion had got back on by then but immediately the attacks started, firstly from De Marchi and Rodriguez, but then Majka swept past everyone.

Unlike the previous day's stage when he and Leopold Konig were caught by Nibali, this time the Pole had the strength to go all the way to the end.

Results from the 14th stage of the Tour de France, a 177.0km ride from Grenoble to Risoul on Saturday:

1. Rafal Majka (POL/TIN) 5hr 08min 27sec

2. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/AST) at 0:24.

3. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 0:26.

4. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 0:50.

5. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 0:50.

6. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 0:54.

7. Frank Schleck (LUX/TRE) 1:01.

8. Laurens ten Dam (NED/BKN) 1:07.

9. Leopold Knig (CZE/APP) 1:20.

10. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 1:24.

11. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/TRE) 1:24.

12. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 1:24.

13. Jon Izagirre (ESP/MOV) 2:18.

14. Michael Rogers (AUS/TIN) 2:34.

15. John Gadret (FRA/MOV) 2:37.

16. Bauke Mollema (NED/BKN) 2:40.

17. Ben Gastauer (LUX/ALM) 2:44.

18. Arnold Jeannesson (FRA/FDJ) 3:09.

19. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 3:09.

20. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 3:20.

21. Simon Yates (ENG/ORI) 3:25.

22. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/BKN) 3:31.

23. Brice Feillu (FRA/BSE) 3:57.

24. Rui Costa (POR/LAM) 4:46.

25. Tony Gallopin (FRA/LTB) 4:59.

26. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/LTB) 4:59.

27. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) 5:16.

28. Marcel Wyss (SUI/IAM) 6:17.

29. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 6:37.

30. Mikel Nieve (ESP/SKY) 6:37.

31. Joaquin Rodriguez (ESP/KAT) 6:52.

32. Alessandro De Marchi (ITA/CAN) 6:55.

33. Jos Serpa Perez (COL/LAM) 7:08.

34. Michele Scarponi (ITA/AST) 7:08.

35. Luis ngel Mat (ESP/COF) 7:30.

36. Benjamin King (USA/GRM) 8:55.

37. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 9:07.

38. Giovanni Visconti (ITA/MOV) 10:13.

39. Peter Velits (SVK/BMC) 10:18.

40. Mickal Cherel (FRA/ALM) 10:18.

41. Peter Stetina (USA/BMC) 10:18.

42. Tom Dumoulin (NED/GIA) 10:18.

43. Amal Moinard (FRA/BMC) 10:18.

44. Jos Herrada Lopez (ESP/MOV) 10:27.

45. Jan Bakelants (BEL/OPQ) 10:57.

46. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL/OPQ) 10:57.

47. Jrme Pineau (FRA/IAM) 10:57.

48. Michael Schr (SWI/BMC) 11:36.

49. Jos Joaquin Rojas (ESP/MOV) 12:48.

50. Rudy Molard (FRA/COF) 12:59.

51. Tanel Kangert (EST/AST) 13:18.

52. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 13:18.

53. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/IAM) 13:22.

54. Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (DEN/AST) 13:34.

55. Chris Horner (USA/LAM) 13:39.

56. Martin Elmiger (SUI/IAM) 13:47.

57. Reto Hollenstein (SUI/IAM) 13:47.

58. Paul Voss (GER/APP) 13:47.

59. Tony Martin (GER/OPQ) 13:47.

60. Rubn Plaza (ESP/MOV) 13:47.

61. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/LTB) 13:47.

62. Imanol Erviti (ESP/MOV) 13:47.

63. Kvin Reza (FRA/EUC) 13:47.

64. Alexandre Pichot (FRA/EUC) 13:47.

65. Matthew Busche (USA/TRE) 14:28.

66. Florian Vachon (FRA/BSE) 15:22.

67. Johan Van Summeren (BEL/GRM) 15:22.

68. Florian Guillou (FRA/BSE) 15:22.

69. Sergio Paulinho (POR/TIN) 15:32.

70. Nicolas Roche (IRL/TIN) 15:32.

71. Christian Meier (CAN/ORI) 16:11.

72. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 16:52.

73. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 16:52.

74. Bartosz Huzarski (POL/APP) 17:30.

75. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 17:38.

76. Jan Brta (CZE/APP) 18:25.

77. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 18:51.

78. Jens Keukeleire (BEL/ORI) 18:51.

79. Peter Sagan (SVK/CAN) 21:41.

80. Daniel Oss (ITA/BMC) 21:41.

81. Matteo Montaguti (ITA/ALM) 21:41.

82. Michal Golas (POL/OPQ) 21:41.

83. Matteo Tosatto (ITA/TIN) 21:54.

84. Koen de Kort (NED/GIA) 21:54.

85. Markel Irizar (ESP/TRE) 21:54.

86. David Lopez (ESP/SKY) 21:54.

87. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 21:54.

88. Jos Mendes (POR/APP) 21:54.

89. Adam Hansen (AUS/LTB) 21:54.

90. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) 21:54.

91. Gatis Smukulis (LAT/KAT) 22:07.

92. Gregory Rast (SUI/TRE) 22:07.

93. Lars Boom (NED/BKN) 22:40.

94. Bram Tankink (NED/BKN) 22:40.

95. Marco Marcato (ITA/CAN) 25:24.

96. Fabio Sabatini (ITA/CAN) 25:24.

97. Sbastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 25:24.

98. Jrgen Roelandts (BEL/LTB) 25:24.

99. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/AST) 25:24.

100. Jens Voigt (GER/TRE) 25:24.

101. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 25:24.

102. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/ALM) 25:24.

103. Simon Clarke (AUS/ORI) 25:24.

104. Tiago Machado (POR/APP) 25:24.

105. Simon Gerrans (AUS/ORI) 25:24.

106. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/BSE) 25:24.

107. Kristijan Durasek (CRO/LAM) 25:24.

108. Armindo Fonseca (FRA/BSE) 25:24.

109. Sbastien Reichenbach (SUI/IAM) 25:24.

110. Roy Curvers (NED/GIA) 25:24.

111. Svein Tuft (CAN/ORI) 25:24.

112. Simon Spilak (SLO/KAT) 25:24.

113. Lieuwe Westra (NED/AST) 25:24.

114. Luke Durbridge (AUS/ORI) 25:24.

115. Jean-Marc Bideau (FRA/BSE) 25:24.

116. Michael Albasini (SUI/ORI) 25:24.

117. Nlson Oliveira (POR/LAM) 25:24.

118. Danny Pate (USA/SKY) 25:24.

119. Maciej Bodnar (POL/CAN) 25:24.

120. Perrig Quemeneur (FRA/EUC) 25:24.

121. Cedric Pineau (FRA/FDJ) 25:24.

122. Alex Howes (USA/GRM) 25:24.

123. Bryan Coquard (FRA/EUC) 25:24.

124. Jack Bauer (NZL/GRM) 25:24.

125. Tom Slagter (NED/GRM) 25:24.

126. Arnaud Gerard (FRA/BSE) 25:24.

127. Julien Simon (FRA/COF) 25:24.

128. Michael Morkov (DEN/TIN) 25:24.

129. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/EUC) 25:24.

130. Dmitriy Gruzdev (KAZ/AST) 25:24.

131. Tom Leezer (NED/BKN) 25:24.

132. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 25:24.

133. Albert Timmer (NED/GIA) 25:24.

134. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 25:24.

135. Niki Terpstra (NED/OPQ) 25:33.

136. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/SKY) 26:45.

137. Matteo Trentin (ITA/OPQ) 27:07.

138. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/SKY) 27:40.

139. Kristjan Koren (SLO/CAN) 27:40.

140. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 27:40.

141. Marcel Kittel (GER/GIA) 27:40.

142. Andr Greipel (GER/LTB) 27:40.

143. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA/OPQ) 27:40.

144. Vladimir Isaichev (RUS/KAT) 27:40.

145. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LTB) 27:40.

146. John Degenkolb (GER/GIA) 27:40.

147. Romain Feillu (FRA/BSE) 27:40.

148. Tom Veelers (NED/GIA) 27:40.

149. Benoit Jarrier (FRA/BSE) 27:40.

150. Benat Intxausti (ESP/MOV) 27:40.

151. Andreas Schillinger (GER/APP) 27:40.

152. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/KAT) 27:40.

153. Mickael Delage (FRA/FDJ) 27:40.

154. Elia Viviani (ITA/CAN) 27:40.

155. Daniele Bennati (ITA/TIN) 27:40.

156. Heinrich Haussler (AUS/IAM) 27:40.

157. Mark Renshaw (AUS/OPQ) 27:40.

158. Roger Kluge (GER/IAM) 27:40.

159. Zakkari Dempster (AUS/APP) 27:40.

160. Cheng Ji (CHN/GIA) 27:40.

161. Maarten Wijnants (BEL/BKN) 27:40.

162. Adrien Petit (FRA/COF) 27:40.

163. William Bonnet (FRA/FDJ) 27:40.

164. Arnaud Dmare (FRA/FDJ) 27:40.

165. Davide Cimolai (ITA/LAM) 27:40.

166. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/CAN) 27:40.

167. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/COF) 27:40.

168. Sep Vanmarcke (BEL/BKN) 27:40.

169. Luca Paolini (ITA/KAT) 27:40.

170. Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU/GRM) 27:40.

171. Sbastian Langeveld (NED/GRM) 27:40.

. Rafael Valls (ESP/LAM) Retired

. Dries Devenyns (BEL/GIA) Retired