Tour De France 2015: Results, Highlights and Standings After Saturday's Stage 14

It was a historic day for African cycling, as Steve Cummings of MTN-Qhubeka scored the team's first-ever stage win at the Tour de France, prevailing at Stage 14—on Nelson Mandela's birthday.

The Englishman sprinted to the finish after riding a gruelling race to stay in position, capturing his second win at a Grand Tour. 

Yellow jersey Chris Froome finished outside the top places, but he extended his lead in the Tour to over three minutes, with Nairo Quintana of Movistar moving into second overall. 

Here are the full results from Stage 14, along with the overall classifications, per Le Tour:

With Stage 13 ending in Rodez on Friday afternoon, the riders had the opportunity to stay in the town where Saturday's race would begin. Once again, temperatures were incredibly high, making hydration and strategy even more important. 

An early crash in the centre of the peloton complicated matters, splitting the riders at the earliest point. Robert Gesink, Thibaut Pinot and Steve Morabito were all involved, with the latter forced to abandon his race. 

Cyril Gautier made the first break of the day on the back of his excellent form on Friday. Ruben Plaza of Lampre-Merida went with the leader to edge away from the pack. 

Christophe Ena/Associated Press

With the continual uphill tasks at hand, and climbing the mandate at this specific stage, racing was not the order of the day, as survival was key until the 137-kilometre point where the gradients became extreme.

Gautier and Plaza were soon dragged back to the peloton, as green jersey Peter Sagan went on the attack. Warren Barguil, Giampaolo Caruso, Bartosz Huzarski and Pieter Weening kept the Tinkoff-Saxo rider company as the race began to take shape.

Sagan led a field of 24 riders who had gained a one-minute advantage on the main pack. With 44 kilometres of climbing in the early stage, no one could pull away with conviction. But with flatter roads ahead, the leaders gained a seven-minute lead on the peloton as they prepared for the challenge of the second-category Cote de Sauveterre climb. 

The Tour's official Twitter account highlighted the action and the task ahead:

Jeff Pachoud/Associated Press

Sagan further tightened his grip on the green jersey—prevailing on the intermediate sprint—as Team Sky kept the pace at the front of the peloton, once again repeating the wonderful work they have done to keep Froome with the yellow jersey on his back. Sky edged the gap to under seven minutes from the leaders, keeping their riders in the hunt. 

However, it was clear two separate battles were developing, with the divide being maintained by the breakaway. Cycling commentator Ned Boulting highlighted the tactical split:

As the leaders hit Cote de Sauveterre, the groupings began to thin out, with the gradients punishing the sprint specialists. The peloton also lost riders as the climbs became challenging, with the race being stretched from front to back. 

With three kilometres remaining, the race hit the 10 percent gradient before the Mende finish, and the climbers showed their worth as the likes of Sagan were dropped from the front. 

Pinot and Bardet rode together at the front to help each other to the finish line, but they were caught by the aggressive Cummings with 1.3 kilometres to race. 

Peter Dejong/Associated Press

And it was Cummings who made his move with a devastating sprint, with the two Frenchman unable to respond. 

The winner was delighted with his performance after the race, and proclaimed his timing was all important in the victory, per Daniel Benson of CyclingNews.com:

"

I wasn't the strongest, I knew there were better climbers. I knew it would be really difficult to win. I was always waiting in the last 10 kilometres for an opportunity, but it was clear that FDJ were going to try and control it for Pinot, so I took advantage of that and waited and waited.

It's the Tour de France, and there were a lot of guys, everyone goes bananas at the bottom of the climb. I kept my calm and just time trialed up it. In the downhill bit at the end, I could manage to have a little carrot and chase them back. I saw Pinot was behind me, and he's cautious in the corners so I threw caution to the wind. I got a little gap, and I'm pretty confident with those climbers that a gap on the flat or downhill it's difficult to catch me.

"

Cummings planned his attack to perfection, and he was the only rider to navigate the climbs perfectly.

His all-around ability kept him in contention, despite not being a mountain specialist, and he had enough in the tank in the final minutes to steal the race in style. 

Once again, Froome looked impressive, despite not keeping up with the very front leaders of the stage, and he bombed toward the finish line with an impressive burst. It is this kind of effort that will surely see him take his second Tour title, with no one able to match his determination or verve.