Favorites stage 14 Tour de France 2024 | All cards on the table, please!

The riders start off in Pau, where Friday's crazy stage also ended. We often start mountain stages in the Tour de France from this southern French city, which has earned it the nickname 'The Gateway to the Pyrenees'. From the starting point, we head towards the pilgrimage site of Lourdes, bringing the major cols into sight.

The first seventy kilometers of the stage are fairly flat, with an intermediate sprint in Esquieze-Sere serving as the starting point for the first major climb of the day: the Col du Tourmalet. With its nineteen kilometers at 7.4 percent, it's a well-known climb in this Tour de France. At the top of the climb, the Souvenir Jacques Goddet is also awarded.

From the 2115-meter-high Tourmalet, we descend via La Mongie to Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, where the next climb of the day begins: the Hourquette d'Ancizan. With its 8.2 kilometers at 5.1 percent, this climb is not expected to be the decisive one of the day.

A nine-kilometer descent to Guchen brings us back below an altitude of 1000 meters above sea level, after which we ride through the valley for a short while. From Saint-Lary-Soulan, we begin the final climb of the day, the Pla d'Adet.

The first three kilometers of this final climb are the toughest, with gradients of 9.0, 10.5 and 11.7 percent consecutively. After that, the average gradient gradually decreases, with the last hundred meters being slightly uphill.

Climbs
89.6 km: COL DU TOURMALET (19.0 km at 7.4%)
123.4 km: HOURQUETTE D'ANCIZAN 8.2 km at 5.1%)
151.9 km: SAINT-LARY-SOULAN - PLA D'ADET (10.6 km at 7.9%)

Times
Start: 1:20 PM
Finish: around 5:32 PM

The wind comes from the east, meaning it will be mostly against the riders for most of the day. Only on the final climb will there be a tailwind (partly), with temperatures around 25 degrees Celsius.

The big names will get another chance to go for the stage win on Saturday, because we are mainly looking at Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates) for this stage. Both riders have won one stage each in this Tour de France so far, but the Pla d'Adet offers a new opportunity for the top contenders.

The other general classification riders are unlikely to be able to match these men uphill, but due to the large time gaps, some riders further down the standings might join an early breakaway. Sunday's stage, which starts uphill, is better suited for this, but Saturday also presents a possible opportunity.

Specifically, we're talking about riders in places seven to twelve, who often choose to attack and climb well. Adam Yates (UAE-Team Emirates) already tried on Friday, but Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek, eighth), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech, ninth), Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R, tenth), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious, eleventh) and Ben Healy (EF, twelfth) have made great things happen in this way before. However, like we said, Sunday's stage is more suited to this scenario.

They might not match the earlier mentioned riders uphill, but Remco Evenepoel, Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step), Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) and Joao Almeida (UAE-Team Emirates) will likely finish close for their general classification.

And then there's the option that a breakaway without immediate threat to the general classification might make it to the end. In that scenario, we think of riders like Oier Lazkano, Enric Mas, Javier Romo (Movistar), Richard Carapaz (EF), Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Simon Yates, Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla), Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Egan Bernal (INEOS) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X).

Top favorites: Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates)
Outsiders: Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost)
Long shots: Joao Almeida, Adam Yates (UAE-Team Emirates), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Wout Poels, Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R), Javier Romo and Oier Lazkano (Movistar)