Tour de France: Vingegaard clings on to yellow jersey as Poels wins stage 15 - as it happened
4h ago 12.51 EDT Update on who's in what jersey after stage 15 After another exciting mountain stage, there’s been one change in the jersey competitions. While, Vingegaard, Philipsen and Pogacar hold on to their respective jerseys, Ciccone now takes the polka dot jersey from Powless. Yellow: Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 62hr 34min 17sec
Green: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 323 points
Polka-dot: Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers)
White: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates)
Updated at 12.51 EDT
4h ago 12.46 EDT Stage winner, Poels has been chatting about his victory in the obligatory post-race interview. The 35-year-old is celebrating his first ever Grand Tour stage win, during what is his tenth Tour. He says: “I’ve always dreamed to win a stage in the Tour, and especially with what happened with the team in the last three weeks with Gino [Mader]. I mean, all the emotions come then. It’s just incredible to win a stage, which was always my dream to win a monument and a stage in the Tour. I’m super happy.” He says he only started to believe he’d get the win in the last kilometre. “I had to keep fighting,” he says, referencing the battle with van Aert. Netherlands' Wout Poels celebrates on the podium after the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France. Photograph: Daniel Cole/AP
Updated at 13.01 EDT
4h ago 12.26 EDT The top five on General Classification Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 62hr 34min 17sec Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) +10sec Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +5min 21sec Adam Yates (UAE Emirates) +5min 40sec Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +6min 38sec
Updated at 12.27 EDT
4h ago 12.23 EDT The top five on stage 15 1. Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious)
2. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)
3. Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies)
4. Lawson Craddock (Jayco Alula)
5. Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) Wout Poels of Bahrain-Victorious celebrates his first ever Tour de France stage victory as he crosses the line in Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc. Photograph: Martin Divíšek/EPA
Updated at 12.32 EDT
4h ago 12.17 EDT Phew. That was quite a spicy finish. Updates on standings and a race report from my colleague on the scene will be coming in shortly. I’m going to wrap this up, thank you all for your messages and get ready for my post live blog bike ride.
4h ago 12.14 EDT Vingegaard is coming round but Pogacar manages to roll over the line with him. There is nothing to separate these two, but Pogacar did well try. Rodriguez comes across not long after to cement his place as third on the GC.
4h ago 12.11 EDT This is tense. It’s 1km to go. What is going to happen? I’m on the edge of my seat.
4h ago 12.09 EDT It’s 2km left for the yellow jersey group. The trio are still together, Yates is still away. Van Aert crosses the line second and is 2min 5sec down.
Updated at 12.11 EDT
4h ago 12.08 EDT Adam Yates has just ridden away from Pogacar and Vingegaard. Rodriguez is back. What’s happening??
Updated at 12.09 EDT
4h ago 12.07 EDT Wout Poels of Bahrain Victorious wins stage 15!! Wout Poels has taken the stage win! It’s been a brutal day in the mountains, but the Bahrain Victorious rider has played a blinder. Holland's Wout Poels celebrates victory at Saint-Gervais. Photograph: Goding Images/Shutterstock
Updated at 13.11 EDT
4h ago 12.04 EDT 1km to go: Poels is now more than 1min 30sec clear but van Aert is trying to hang on for second. Pretty remarkable ride from the Belgian given the amount of climbing in this stage.
4h ago 12.01 EDT 2km to go: In the yellow jersey group, Gaudu, Rodriguez and Kuss have all been dropped. It’s now just Adam Yates, Pogacar and Vingegaard.
5h ago 11.57 EDT 3km to go: Poels’ lead keeps increasing. It’s more than 1min now. He looks unstoppable. Meanwhile, Hindley has dropped off the back of the yellow jersey group but Rodriguez and Gaudu are still in there. Could the final podium positions be decided today?
Updated at 11.58 EDT
5h ago 11.56 EDT 4km to go: Pidcock has just flown back into the yellow jersey group with a trademark descent. He’d been dropped on Côte des Amerands.
5h ago 11.54 EDT 5km to go: Back to the action. In the battle of the Wouts, Poels has extended his lead over van Aert to 40sec. It looks like the stage win could be his.
Updated at 11.54 EDT
5h ago 11.53 EDT 6km to go: As the lead riders start the ascent up Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, it feels about time to share the words Tom from North Carolina sent me earlier. He emailed in to say: “So excited about today’s stage to the top of Mont Blanc! Who do you fancy: Pogi or Jonas?”
5h ago 11.49 EDT 7km to go: UAE Emirates have now taken control of the yellow jersey group and are pushing hard up the Côte des Amerands. Poels has gone over the top of the climb with a 30sec advantage over Soler and van Aert. Now they head straight for the final climb…
5h ago 11.45 EDT 9km to go: Warren Barguil of Arkéa–Samsic looks to have good legs, as he breaks off the front of the chase group. Van Baarle has finally finished his turn on the front of the yellow jersey group.
5h ago 11.42 EDT 9km: June in Canada has emailed in to ask after Canadian cyclist Woods. He’s back in the peloton so won’t be troubling the leaders today. Elsewhere, the chase group has hit the climb and Ciccone is eyeing up some more mountain points.
5h ago 11.39 EDT 10km: Poels hasn’t waited long. He’s launched an attack and van Aert hasn’t reacted. Dutch rider Wouter Poels. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 11.49 EDT
5h ago 11.38 EDT 11km to go: Here it comes…the leading riders, Poels and van Aert, have started the climb. Soler is just behind, having been distanced on the descent.
5h ago 11.30 EDT 18km to go: The lead group are approaching the Côte des Amerands. It’s a second category climb as it’s only 2.7km long but it has an average gradient of 10.9% and a max of 17%. It’ll be a real stinger at this stage in the day. After this, they’ll have a brief respite before going straight into the final climb to the finish.
Updated at 13.17 EDT
5h ago 11.24 EDT 24km to go: For those following the fortunes of Petit, he’s still hanging on in the gruppetto (20min behind).
5h ago 11.20 EDT 29km to go: Now that van Aert is in the lead group, the gap to the peloton has gone out to nearly 7min. Meanwhile, the remainder of the breakaway is 50secs behind and has 15 riders in it, including Ciccone, Guillaume Martin, Thibaut Pinot and Mikel Landa. The green jersey group is 19min behind.
Updated at 11.34 EDT
5h ago 11.08 EDT Crash for Neilands in the front group 36km to go: Neilands has been shown leaning up against a concrete wall but seems to be getting up gingerly. From the coverage, it looks like he was trying to grab a bidon from a motorbike and went over the handlebars. Latvia's Krists Neilands. Photograph: Goding Images/Shutterstock
Updated at 12.04 EDT
5h ago 11.02 EDT 42km to go: The lead group now contains Soler, van Aert, Krists Neilands and Wout Poels.
Updated at 11.06 EDT
6h ago 10.57 EDT 46km to go: Both van Aert and Woods have broken off the group to join Soler. Has van Aert been given the go-ahead to go for the stage win? Meanwhile, van Baarle continues to lead the main group up the Col de Aravis. The gap stays at around 6min. No major talking points in the GC battle yet.
Updated at 11.00 EDT
6h ago 10.55 EDT 47km to go: Marc Soler of UAE Emirates has attacked. Ciccone, van Aert and Woods are trying to limit the damage.
6h ago 10.49 EDT 49km to go: We’re back on the next climb – the Col de Aravis. Really didn’t get much of a break, did they? Back in the peloton, Jumbo-Visma are setting a high pace with Dylan van Baarle on the front. The gap has been reduced to just over 6min from around 9min earlier.
6h ago 10.43 EDT 54km to go: Ciccone goes level with Powless on the King of the Mountains classification. He’ll want to secure a lead on the next climb, which is coming up shortly after a brief descent.
Updated at 11.10 EDT
6h ago 10.39 EDT 55km to go: Rui Costa is not going to repeat history as he has been caught with 1.5km to the summit. The chase group – now the lead group - has been reduced to 24 riders, including Ciccone and van Aert. Intermarche–Circus–Wanty's Rui Costa in action during stage 15 of the Tour de France 2023. Photograph: Benoît Tessier/Reuters
Updated at 10.52 EDT
6h ago 10.37 EDT 56km to go: Could Rui Costa be looking to repeat history? The Portuguese rider went solo up the same ascent 10 years ago to take the stage 19 win in the 2013 Tour de France.
6h ago 10.34 EDT 57km to go: It has now been confirmed that Powless is off the back and about 1min 10sec behind the Ciccone group. He could be struggling to stay in the polka dot jersey today.
6h ago 10.25 EDT 59km to go: False alarm. Powless is back in. Sorry for any distress caused. Rui Costa is now on his own and has a gap of about 45sec.
Updated at 10.25 EDT
6h ago 10.21 EDT 61km to go: Bad news for those fans from the USA, as Powless is dropping off the breakaway group. Rui Costa, however, has made it across to Haller and they’re working together.
6h ago 10.19 EDT 62km to go: Riders are trying to stay cool any way they can. Giulio Ciccone douses himself with water to cool down as he cycles in a breakaway during the 14th stage the Tour de France. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images
6h ago 10.15 EDT 64km to go: Rui Costa of Intermarché–Circus–Wanty has attacked to try and bridge to Haller. It looks tough and hot out there. In fact, this stage has the second highest amount of elevation of all the stages in this year’s Tour. The highest amount of elevation comes on Wednesday’s stage next week, a day after the individual time trial.
6h ago 10.02 EDT 74km to go: Marco Haller of Bora-Hansgrohe has attacked on the latest descent. According to the commentary, he is a big Arsenal fan. The next climb, Col de la Croix Fry, is coming up in around 7km. It has been used in the Tour six times previously and was last ridden during the 2018 edition. After his crash yesterday, @romainbardet is deprived of an explosive stage 15 on roads where he has left his mark
The French climber from @TDSM_Firmenich has held the @Strava KOM up Col de la Croix Fry since @dauphine 2018 #TDFdata #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/IfkvfZ5JEZ — letourdata (@letourdata) July 16, 2023
Updated at 10.07 EDT
7h ago 09.51 EDT 79km to go: Bryan Coquard of Cofidis has just had a bike change. His handlebars had snapped in half. Didn’t look great and can only imagine how tense it must make him feel having an issue like that.
7h ago 09.41 EDT 85km to go: Alaphilippe and Lutsenko have been caught. With 85km to go and four more categorised climbs to come, there are 39 riders now in the leading group. Ciccone and Powless will be keen to hoover up as many mountain points as they can.
7h ago 09.39 EDT 87km to go: Powless, who along with Vingegaard held 54 points on the mountain classification, has now gone back into the lead and has 58 points. Ciccone though is hot on his heels and has pulled back a further two points with his sprint. I know there’s quite a few of you tuning in from the USA and keeping an eye on Powless.
7h ago 09.28 EDT 96km to go: Lutsenko reaches the summit of Col de la Forclaz de Montmin with Alaphilippe behind. They have a gap of 40 seconds on the chasers. Ciccone outsprints Powless for third place.
Updated at 09.29 EDT
7h ago 09.21 EDT 98km to go: With 2km to go on the climb, it’s as you were with Alaphilippe and Lutsenko still holding a 35sec advantage. Ciccone is speeding up in the chasing group.
7h ago 09.12 EDT 100km to go: With a subject header that has delighted me (“Annecy/Pastries/Weeping”), Duncan has emailed in to share a story about Annecy, pastries…and weeping. Here it is: “On the subject of pastries and Annecy, a few years back my wife and I each consumed a staggering mille-feuile (sic)…we then set off immediately and rode the 17km climb from the lake up to the ski station at Semnoz. I could taste the custard all the way to the top and was weeping a little by the end.”
Updated at 09.13 EDT
7h ago 09.08 EDT 103km to go: Alaphilippe and Lutsenko take a 30sec lead into the base of the first climb, Col de la Forclaz de Montmin. This climb might whittle that 35-man breakaway down a bit.
Updated at 09.08 EDT
Source: The Guardian
