2023-07-17 01:11:40
This time, the peloton left the freedom to play for the win in the breakaway. This Sunday, the fugitives were able to isolate themselves to compete for victory during the 15th stage of the Tour de France between Les Gets Les Portes du Soleil and Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc. It was a duel between Wout that led to the end of this 179km long stage. Between van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Poels (Bahrain Victorious), it was therefore the Dutchman who surprised everyone by dropping off the Belgian on the Côte des Amerands (cat 2, 2.7km at 10.9%) at 10km from the finish and finishing solo for his first victory on a Grand Tour.
As for the favorites, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) observed each other for a long time in the final ascent to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, before the white jersey placed an attack with a red flame. But the yellow jersey did not let itself be unclasped and managed to resist to maintain its 10-second lead in the general classification.
Ciccone new polka dot jersey
The day had started with a substantial breakaway of 35 riders who started at the front, while the peloton let slip. In this group, climbers and even (ex)-candidates for the general, with the presence in particular of Thibaut Pinot, Mikel Landa, Guillaume Martin or Giulio Ciccone. The latter has also made a harvest of points in the mountain classification until he offered the polka dot jersey on Tuesday, Monday being devoted to the riders’ rest.
In the peloton, the main animation at the start of the race was unfortunate with a collective crash after Sepp Kuss was hit by the arm of a spectator. Fortunately, more fear than harm and the luxury team member of the yellow jersey was able to hit the road without too many consequences, just like his rivals who also fell.
At the front, the group of 35 gradually withered until three men isolated themselves at the top of the Col des Aravis (cat. 3, 4.4km at 5.8%): Wout van Aert , Wout Poels and Carlos Soler (UAE Emirates). And it was in the next difficulty that Poels launched an offensive, leaving van Aert unmoved, while Soler had cracked a few hundred meters earlier.
As for the favorites in the general classification, it was a draw that we witnessed. After rolling Adam Yates on the last ascent, Tadej Pogacar tried to land Jonas Vingegaard 500m from the finish. In vain. We will therefore have to wait for Tuesday’s time trial to really see which of the two UFOs of this Tour will be the strongest in the individual effort. For third place, Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) increased his lead over Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), now 5th, but saw Adam Yates (UAE Emirates) return to 4th place.
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