Tour de France, Stage 14

Today we headed west out of the Val d’Aran (rather than east) and we were only going about 20km or 30 minutes’ driving time.

We followed the road up and over what the Aranese call the Port de Portilhon and the French the Col du Portillon, to head down to Bagnères-de-Luchon.

Our reason for visiting Luchon on this particular day was because stage 14 of the Tour de France was passing through, having started about 170km away in Pau, and the end of the stage was Superbagnères, the ski station above Luchon.

We hadn’t managed to get the limited availability tickets for the cable car up to Superbagnères for the finish line, but we managed to find somewhere to park in an absolutely packed town, and then to bag about a metre of kerb along the route as it led up towards the final 16km climb up to Superbagnères.

The initial excitement, not long after we arrived at our spot, was a near altercation between the French security men holding the checkpoint at the last junction before the climb and several cars from Norwegian and French TV, who the security guys wouldn’t allow onto the road up the mountain. At the same time, various team support vehicles and other Tour officials arrived behind the TV cars, and who were allowed to pass. At one point there were at least half a dozen cars and vans honking horns and demanding to be let through.

Eventually someone more senior arrived to resolve matters and the road was cleared in good time before the front runners and their police escorts arrived.

The eventual stage winner, the Dutchman Thymen Arensman, was alone out in front as he passed us.

The next few riders came along in a small group, then a few individuals, and then some larger groups, including Tadej Pogocar, the current wearer of the Maillot Jaune (Yellow Jersey) surrounded by teammates, and then a little later a group including Brit Geraint Thomas.

The atmosphere was great, and the strength and stamina of the riders was extraordinary. , The thousands lining the road cheered and clapped excitedly as each rider passed us.

I have to confess that, as the riders zoomed by, it wasn’t possible to recognise any more than team colours at most and I just kept taking as many photographs as I could.

After all of the riders had swept by, followed by all of the support vehicles and police escort, we walked the short distance along the road towards the centre of town where we found a sort of fan village (for invited guests) but most importantly with a large screen showing the live coverage of the final moments of the stage as Arensman won the stage, followed a minute later by Pogocar just beating the third placed Jonas Vingegaard in the last few metres.

For a more technical explanation of what happened throughout the stage and who was who, the official write up is here: https://www.letour.fr/en/news/2025/stage-14/are…

Afterwards, it was time to join the slow moving line of cars, and many cyclists too, climbing back over the pass to return to the Val d’Aran.Læs mere