Carlos Rodriguez of Spain won the stage after he mugged Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar on the last descent after being dropped on the final climb.

After an attack by Pogacar, the top two in the race clashed on the last climb.

Pogacar came in second, with Vingegaard third, although the Dane extended his overall advantage by a second thanks to bonus seconds for crossing the Col de Joux Plane first.

Racing without taking a breath

When the race neared the final six kilometers of the hors category Col de la Joux Plane climb, the struggle between the top two yellow contenders began.

Despite many minutes of explosive riding from Pogacar, the overall standings had altered little.

As competitors, the two riders are ideally balanced – Pogacar is more explosive, but Vingegaard looks to have a better ‘diesel’ engine that allows him to keep up with his rival.

Pogacar was held up by media motorbikes when he attacked towards the top of the final hill, and the two-time winner had spilled a drinks bottle a few kilometers earlier, which looked to disturb him.

With a week left in this thrilling three-week race, both riders appear to be at their limit, and stage 15 – a 179km race from Les Gets to Mont Blanc – promises to be another fierce clash.

Several people ditch their cars at the early incident.

After a massive early crash that saw several riders hit the ground on a wet right-hand curve, the stage had to be stopped and resumed.

Antonio Pedrero of Movistar in Spain was forced to abandon after being treated on the side of the route.

Esteban Chaves of Colombia, Louis Meintjes of South Africa, and Ruben Guerreiro of Portugal all dropped out.

After a separate collision, Britain’s James Shaw and France’s Romain Bardet both dropped out of the race.

Brits have had a mixed day.

A year after winning magnificently on Alpe d’Huez, Tom Pidcock lost time after falling behind on the penultimate hill.

The Ineos rider has dropped out of the top ten in the overall standings and will now concentrate on winning stages.

Adam Yates, Pogacar’s primary climbing domestique for UAE-Team Emirates, finished fourth on Saturday and is now fifth in the overall standings.

Simon, the twin brother, lost ground for Jayco AlUla but stays sixth overall.

Stage 14 results:

1. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) 3hrs 58mins 45secs

2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE-Team Emirates) +5secs

3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) same time

4. Adam Yates (GB/UAE-Team Emirates) +10secs

5. Sepp Kuss (USA/Jumbo-Visma) +57secs

6. Jai Hindley (Aus/Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 46secs

7. Felix Gall (Aut/AG2R-Citroen) Same time

8. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrian-Victorious) +3mins 19secs

9. Simon Yates (GB/Jayco AlUla) +3mins 21secs

10. Guillaume Martin (Fra/Cofidis) +5mins 57secs

General classification standings:

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) 53hrs 48mins 50secs

2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +10secs

3. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +4mins 43secs

4. Jai Hindley (Aus/Bora-Hansgrohe) +4mins 44secs

5. Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) +5mins 20secs

6. Sepp Kuss (US/Jumbo-Visma) +8mins 15secs

7. Simon Yates (GB/Team Jayco-AlUla) +8mins 32secs

8. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +8mins 51secs

9. Felix Gall (Aut/AG2R-Citroen) +12mins 26secs

10. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +12mins 56secs