Spain's Sanchez wins 14th stage of Tour de France

Spanish cyclist Luis Leon Sanchez rode to victory in the 14th stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, giving a welcome boost to his stricken team.

Sanchez went on unchallenged to finish 47sec ahead of Slovakian Peter Sagan (Liquigas) with FDJ rider Casar in third and the main peloton, including race leader Bradley Wiggins, coming over the finish 18 minutes in arrears.


The day was marred by a series of punctures, caused by tacks thrown on to the road, on the final climb of the day.

Race leader Bradley Wiggins temporarily called a halt to competitive racing after defending champion Cadel Evans was among those to suffer a puncture.

Wiggins, who still leads by more than two minutes, slowed the pace to allow Evans to return to the group.

However, the day's drama was unfolding back at the summit of the Mur de Peguere, a Pyreneean mountain which was making its debut as a climb in the Tour.

Race official Jean-Francois Pescheux confirmed: " Pescheux later explained: "One or two spectators had thrown nails on to the road, we don't know why, but there were around 30 punctures altogether."

"The nails were mainly thrown on the ground around 200m from the summit."