Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/542972
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JULY 2015 55 THE 34-year-old from the Wirral claimed African squad MTN-Qhubeka's first Tour stage success after powering past Frenchmen Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) in the finishing straight. The 178.5-kilometre route from Rodez finished at Mende airstrip after the punishing 3km ascent of the Cote de la Croix Neuve. Cummings had been part of the day's 20-man escape group and stayed in touch as Bardet led Pinot over the summit before the near 2km run-in along the f lat to the line. And there Cummings, in his third Tour, took his chance. Cummings rode for Team Sky in 2010 in support of Bradley Wiggins and in the 2012 Tour, riding for BMC Racing's Cadel Evans. Team Sky leader Froome had anticipated attacks on his near three-minute advantage, but in- stead enhanced his lead. It was the third British suc- cess of the 2015 Tour after Mark Cavendish's win on stage seven in Fougeres and Froome's suc- cess on Tuesday's 10th stage to La Pierre-Saint-Martin. Froome finished 20th on the stage, four minutes 15 seconds behind Cummings but one, sig- nificantly, second ahead of near- est overall rival Nairo Quintana (Movistar). The Colombian climber is now his nearest challenger, 3mins 10secs behind, after Tejay van Garderen conceded 40secs to Froome on the stage. The American is now 3:32 adrift after a stage played out through the stunning scenery of the Tarn Valley and stif ling heat. A puncture meant Richie Porte was unable to support Froome in the finale. The Briton had to handle at- tacks by himself and again came out on top. Australian Porte revealed Team Sky had been the subject of abuse in the Pyrenees and claimed he had been punched by a roadside spectator on the as- cent to La Pierre-Saint-Martin. Fans are in such close prox- imity at the Tour that incidents have happened across the 102 editions of the race. There has also been threats made on social media, although it is difficult to gauge how seri- ous these are. It is uncertain if any animos- ity directed towards Team Sky is down to the British squad's dominance or the rumours and innuendo which has resulted from its strong showing in the race so far. Team Sky sports director Nico- las Portal told cyclingweekly. co.uk: "I hope the public will chill out. It's pretty hard, espe- cially for me since I'm French. "There is just a barrier and nothing else on the road (to stop anyone). Anyone can cross the road and punch someone." A number of breakaway groups converged to form a 20-man es- cape, which included Britons Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) and Cummings. The group fractured on the lower slopes of the concluding climb as Bardet attacked and Pinot then bridged the gap after Yates had tried in vain to follow Bardet. The 22-year-old from Bury went on to finish 10th, 33secs behind Cummings. Behind Quintana made his move, with defending champion Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde following. Froome chased himself, with Contador and Van Garderen on his wheel. Pinot caught Bardet with 1.8km remaining and Cummings came from nowhere to pass the pair and power to the line for a mem- orable win. Today's 183km 15th stage is from Mende to Valence and should finish in a sprint, giving Cavendish the chance to go for a 27th Tour stage win of his ca- reer. It will likely be the last oppor- tunity before the concluding stage in Paris a week later. Sport TOUR DE FRANCE Cummings wins Tour de France 14th stage, Froome still leads Great Britain's Steve Cummings claimed a stunning smash and grab win on stage 14 of the Tour de France to Mende yesterday Stage 14 Results 1 Stephen Cummings (Gbr) MTN - Qhubeka 4hrs 23mins 43secs 2 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr at 02secs 3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 03secs 4 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx - Quick-Step at 20secs 5 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo at 29secs 6 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar at 32secs 7 Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Lampre-Merida 8 Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 9 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team all at same time 10 Simon Yates (Gbr) Orica GreenEdge at 33secs Updated Overall Standings (after stage 14) 1 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, 56:02:19 2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +3:10 3 Tejay van Garderen (US) BMC Racing, +3:32 4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar, +4:02 5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo, +4:23 6 Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky, +4:54 7 Robert Gesink (Net) LottoNL-Jumbo, +6:23 8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +8:17 9 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal, +8:23 10 Bauke Mollemba (Hol) Trek Factory Racing +8:53 Steve Cummings celebrates his stage victory yesterday Froome fumes at treatment Chris Froome claimed he was drenched in urine and called a "doper" after enhancing his Tour de France lead on a 14th stage won by fellow Briton Steve Cummings FROOME (Team Sky) now leads nearest rival Nairo Quintana (Mo- vistar) by three minutes 10 sec- onds, with his dominance bring- ing about innuendo and abuse. The 30-year-old insists he is a clean rider. He told ITV4: "A spectator threw a cup of urine in my face and said 'doper'." Froome added: "You don't do that to anyone. It's not in the name of sport. "That's extremely disappoint- ing. Unfortunately I think a lot of the reporting on the race has been very irresponsible. "What can I do? I can get angry. I'd rather keep my composure and stay focused on the race." Team Sky's director of business operations Fran Millar wrote on Twitter: "Froomey's interview say- ing he had urine thrown in his face by a spectator today. Total and ut- ter disgrace. These people are not fans. "Repercussions of a minority of people's baseless and evidence less speculation and innuendo means our riders being punched and urine thrown. "Watched this race when doped riders got away scott free. Our lads are clean + are facing abuse every day (and yes my brother (David Millar) doped - I know)." he incident happened on the 178.5-kilometres route from Ro- dez, which finished at Mende airstrip after the punishing 3km ascent of the Cote de la Croix Neuve. Froome finished 20th on the stage, four minutes 15 seconds be- hind Cummings but, significantly, one second ahead of Quintana. The Colombian climber is now his nearest challenger after Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) con- ceded 40secs to Froome on the stage, falling 3mins 32secs adrift. The stage was played out through the stunning scenery of the Tarn Valley and stifling heat and with Team Sky's riders again subject to abuse. Australian Richie Porte revealed he had been punched by a road- side spectator in the Pyrenees on the ascent to La Pierre-Saint-Mar- tin on Tuesday. Fans are in such close proximity at the Tour that incidents have happened across the 102 editions of the race. Mark Cavendish alleged he was soaked in urine in 2013. There has also been threats made on social media towards Team Sky and Froome, although it is difficult to gauge how serious these are. It is uncertain if any animosity is down to the British squad's domi- nance or the unfounded allega- tions which has resulted from its strong showing in the race so far. Froome said: "I certainly wouldn't blame the public for this. It really is the minority of people out there who are ruining it for everyone else. "I would blame some of the re- porting on the race, that has been very irresponsible. "Those individuals know who they are. It is not all the media. I'm not going to go into specific details here." Froome's wife, Michelle, did identify people responsible for the reporting which he addressed, telling five of them on Twitter: "I hope you're paying attention. Ig- norant, irresponsible fools." Froome has no doubts he was the target. He said: "I saw the guy. It was on a drag about 50, 60kms into the race. I was boxed in a little bit on the left. "I saw this guy just peering around and as I got there he just launched this cup towards me. There's no mistake it was urine."