Published on : 07/18/2026
The 14th stage of the Tour de France, from Mulhouse to Markstein Fellering, left little room for breakaway attempts. We look back on the day with Raphaël Jeune, the team’s general manager.
Raphaël Jeune, general manager: “After three days of attacking, of being on all fronts—especially trying to win for Team Cofidis—today was a crucial day for Pogacar. He wanted to win. It’s a stage where, typically, there’s nothing you can do. The plan was to conserve energy for Milan Fretin’s lead-out train, to finish the Tour strong and contest the sprint on a stage next week. For Ion Izagirre and Alex Aranburu, these weren’t climbs that suited them perfectly. It was a bit long. They spent most of the day in the yellow jersey peloton, and in the end, their strategy was the same as our sprinters’: to conserve energy so they can contend for the win on one or two stages next week.”