Australia's Michael Matthews won his first Tour de France stage of the year after coming second twice ©Getty Images

Australia's Michael Matthews triumphantly sprinted to victory on stage 14 of the Tour de France as Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard maintained his position in the yellow jersey. 

The Team BikeExchange-Jayco performer concluded the race in 4 hours 30min 53sec, a substantial 15 seconds ahead of Italy's Alberto Bettiol, for his first stage win in the race for five years. 

Thibaut Pinot trailed in third comfortably, coming 34 seconds behind Matthews and 16 seconds before his closest competitor - Spain's Marc Soler of UAE Team Emirates.

Austria's Patrick Konrad of Bora-Hansgrohe capped off the top five after finishing 58 second behind the winner on the hilly stage. 

Matthews struck around 50 kilometres left of the 192.5km stage from Saint-Étienne to Mende, taking the initiative and executing a solo attack.

Austria's Felix Großschartner of Bora-Hansgrohe, Spain's Luis León Sánchez of Team Bahrain Victorious and Denmark’s Andreas Kron of Lotto-Soudal launched an offensive of their own to catch Matthews.

Italy's Alberto Bettiol sought to out manoeuvre Michael Matthews but the Australian did not give up on his quest to victory ©Getty Images
Italy's Alberto Bettiol sought to out manoeuvre Michael Matthews but the Australian did not give up on his quest to victory ©Getty Images

The Australian held them off before Bettiol of EF Education-Easypost succeeded in overtaking the race leader during the final climb.

The Italian's push to victory did not last as Matthews reclaimed the lead and then the stage win.

This was Matthews' first stage win of the Tour de France having finished second on stages six and eight.

"In my career I've had so many rollercoasters up and down but my wife and my daughter, they kept believing in me," Matthews, the winner of a stage in 2016 and two in 2017, said.

"How many times have I been smashed down and all the time I get back up.

"This was for my daughter today.

"She's four years old and I really just wanted to show her why I'm away all the time, to show her what it's for.

"Today was that day.

"I wanted to show everybody I'm not just a sprinter.

"I can ride like I rode today."

Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma coordinated throughout the stage to maintain a 2min 22sec advantage over Slovenia's Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates, who is chasing a third consecutive Tour de France victory having won in 2020 and 2021. 

Britain's Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers lost 17 seconds on the Dane, falling to a 2:43 deficit.

Stage 15 is scheduled to be held tomorrow with competitors travelling 202.5km on a flat surface from Rodez to Carcassonne.