Tourmalet terrorises the Tour

THERE was terror on the Tourmalet.

The mythical climb has blown the Tour de France apart after a breathless Stage 14 took a body count.

Thibaut Pinot won, while compatriot Julian Alaphilippe will spend a 10th day in the yellow jersey after taking second to give the French a one-two finish.

In a huge shock, defending champion Geraint Thomas cracked with 1km remaining and conceded another 30 seconds to Alaphilippe to send pre-race predictions to the scrapheap.

They say the yellow jersey gives you wings but Alaphilippe had a jet engine and, with a lead of 2min 2sec over Thomas, he is now a genuine contender for the title. He was even congratulated by French President Emmanuel Macron at the finish.

Richie Porte cracked with 5km remaining of a gripping final climb, finishing 2min 4sec back.

But by the time the Aussie faded, plenty had gone before him.

The shortest stage of the Tour — at 117.5km — was its most brutal, with a frightening pace set by Movistar on the two major climbs of the day putting the peloton on its knees.

Romain Bardet was dropped with 60km to go and, a picture of suffering, lost a staggering 20 minutes in 57km.

Mitchelton-Scott leader Adam Yates checked out moments later and while he would rejoin the front group in the valley, he was dispatched as soon as they hit the Tourmalet and lost 6min 42sec.

Dan Martin then succumbed to Movistar’s searing pace a long way from home and conceded 5min 35sec before Nairo Quintana fell victim to his own team’s power and slipped 3min 24sec.

Jakob Fuglsang, Rigoberto Uran and Thomas were all dropped inside the last 2km, with Pinot leading a tiny group of six riders over the line after a war of attrition.

Such was the carnage, Porte actually improved his position on general classification, moving from 15th to 12th, 6min 49sec down on Alaphilippe and 4min 35sec off the podium.