Oscar Freire, who has slowly been building up his lead in the sprinter standings of the 2008 Tour de France, opened up a gap between himself and his challengers on July 19, winning the 194.5km stage 14 between Nîmes and Digne-les-Bains.

It was his first stage win in this year's Tour and fourth in his career, having previously grabbed two in 2006 and another one in 2002.

Freire won in a bunch sprint, outracing six-time green jersey winner Erik Zabel, looking for his first stage win since 2002, and Colombian Leonardo Duque on the last 100m of the stage. The Spaniard, riding for team Rabobank, is now on 219 points, with second-placed Thor Hushovd on 172 and Zabel on 169.

In the overall standings, Cadel Evans from Silence Lotto remains top, although he was made to sweat when Austrian Bernhard Kohl, who is currently fourth 46 seconds behind, made an attack on the fourth-category climb just before the finish.

That was a bit of a worry,” Evans said after the finish, as quoted by the Tour's official website letour.com. "I had to follow but he didn’t gain any time by the finish. Tomorrow the challenges to my yellow jersey will begin."

Kohl picked enough points on the climb to reduce the gap to the leader in the king of the mountains competition, Gerolsteiner teammate Sebastian Long, to a solitary point.

The climbers standings, and the general classification too, can change dramatically on July 20, when the Tour finally makes it into the Alps. Stage 15 will begin in Embrun and from the start, the peloton will face a highest-category climb to Col Agnel, followed by a long descent and a finish at the top of a first-category climb to Prato Nevoso 183km from the starting line.