Vingegaard holds off Pogacar in heated Tour de France duel

Overall leader Jonas Vingegaard tracked Tadej Pogacar's attack all the way to the stage 14 finish line as the defending champion tried, but failed, to take time off his Danish rival on another tense, baking day at the Tour de France on Saturday.

Australian Michael Matthews won the stage, a sizzling 192km run south-west from Saint-Etienne, after a see-saw struggle with Italian rider Alberto Bettiol up the final hill.

After three days in the mountains and a tense struggle Friday, gathering fatigue was exacerbated as the road temperature hit 60C as the race entered rustic, hilly terrain with dry stone walls everywhere.

Only 40 kilometres in, Pogacar had tried an attack before Vingegaard's Jumbo team reeled the Slovenian UAE man.

"It's a race. I tried and I'll keep doing that," said Pogacar who remains 2min 22sec off Vingegaard.

"Pogacar got away early when I was dozing," admitted the yellow jersey.

"But my team pulled hard and got him back."

The sweating peloton settled down as it raced along the narrow, roads packed with rowdy fans in otherwise empty countryside, Matthews and 20 other riders broke away.

The first time the 31-year-old Matthews tried to shake off his companions, he was reeled in and overtaken by Bettiol.

The inspired Australian rallied, caught Bettiol and left him trailing to take a fourth Tour de France stage win by a clear margin.

Matthews credited his wife for  the tactics that broke a four year gap in wins on the Tour.

"My wife said 'if you want to win try something different, something people don't expect from you'," he said.

"So that's what I did. Hopefully today my wife and my daughter are proud of me," said the BikeExchange rider.

"I wanted to show my daughter why I'm away so much and this is why we sacrifice so