Tour de France overall leader Tadej Pogačar has timed his attack to perfection, riding solo to victory on stage 14, a 152-kilometre ride from Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan.

In a stage featuring a climb in the Pyrenees, Pogačar attacked just under 5 kilometres from the finish after being led out by UAE Team Emirates teammate Adam Yates.

He left behind his closest rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, who finished second and third respectively.

Vingegaard was 39 seconds behind Pogačar, with Evenpoel one minute and 10 seconds adrift.

Pogačar now leads Vingegaard in the general classification by 1:57, while Evenepoel is 2:22 behind.

"It was instinct. We tried to go for the stage but more for the sprint," Pogačar said.

"In this situation, Adam attacked … I saw that if I bridged [the gap] to Adam then he could pull me a little bit and this was really perfect.

"I must say a big thank you to the team today, they were amazing and this victory is for all my teammates.

"The plan was to come to the final and make the sprint hard, maybe take some seconds and a stage win. 

"But in the end, [winning] like this, it's much better."

Chris Harper was the best-placed Australian in stage 14, finishing 4:09 behind Pogačar in 19th position.

His countrymen Jack Haig and Jai Hindley are 20th and 21st respectively in the general classification standings.

Reuters