Here’s Jeremy Whittle’s report from Carcassonne.
GC after stage 15
- 1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) 60hrs 00mins 50secs
- 2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +2mins 22secs
- 3. Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +2mins 43secs
- 4. Romain Bardet (Fra/Team DSM) +3mins 01secs
- 5. Adam Yates (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +4mins 06secs
- 6. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea-Samsic) +4mins 15secs
- 7. Louis Meintjes (SA/Intermarche-Wanty) +4mins 24secs
- 8. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) same time
- 9. Tom Pidcock (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +8mins 49secs
- 10. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +9mins 58secs
An emotional Jasper Philipsen speaks.
It makes it super-unbelievable. I know what it was like to lose so many times, it was incredible. I cannot believe it. I knew Wout [Van Aert] was coming close, and I also knew the finishing line. I knew I had to make some positions and it was good I could pass Mads [Pedersen]. I am going to cry on television. It’s been a massive Tour for this team. We worked super-hard. It’s been a tough Tour we believe it was possible; I am so happy. I knew I had good legs. We just had to wait, and today was the day.
The Alpecin–Deceuninck rider took it, and just as it looked as if Van Aert might rescue something from a torrid day for Jumbo-Visma, he was beaten by his fellow Belgian. It was worth Philipsen hanging on in the Alps to deliver that win. And after all that chaos and agony, and heat. Another ridiculous day on Le Tour. There will be sore muscles and bones on the rest day.
🏆 A first Tour stage win and what a way to do it!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2022
The slow-motion look at 🇧🇪 Jasper Philipsen's win
🏆 Une première victoire sur le Tour avec la manière !
Admirez au ralenti le sprint victorieux de 🇧🇪 Jasper Philipsen !#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/SWuxIHEU5u
Updated
Jasper Philipsen wins the 15th stage!
Pedersen goes, Groenewegen is in there, and Van Aert gets into the battle but it looks like Jasper Philipsen gets there, having gone early, and he hangs on as Van Aert lunge, going again at the line. Pedersen was third, Sagan fourth.
Updated
1km to go: Now they make their movements, Van Aert having to fly solo. Thomas is caught as they wind up for the sprint.
2km to go: Christophe Laporte attempts to pull the gap down, and hands to Bora. The gap is at 7 seconds, and Thomas has gone, it was too much for him. Or has he? He seems to be time-trialling home.
3km to go: Thomas has 12 seconds on the field, looking back to see if he can stay away, and he’s going faster than the peloton.
4km to go: The Bora sprint train gets involved and now the gap starts to ebb, with Benjamon Thomas trying his best to stay away. He’s flying along, Gourgeard is dropped back into the pack.
5km to go: The peloton splits, the workload is heavy, and the gap drops to 15 seconds. Will it be a sprint finish? That’s yet to be decided. Van Aert is slipstreaming in the middle of the peloton.
7km to go: Vingegaard keeps safe, up the front, off the back of Christophe Laporte, Van Aert is sat back in the back, biding his time perhaps. Jonathan Castroviejo leads Ineos’s effort to close down the gap, with others on the coattails.
10km to go: The two leaders are 25 seconds clear, taking advantage of the disorganisation in the pack. The sprint teams have burned too many matches.
12km to go: Ineos lead the peloton, Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates up there, with a mark clear on Vingegaard’s shoulder. Daniel Martínez’ turn on the front is taking the gap down to 14 seconds or so. Behind the two leaders, the pack is visible, as Thomas asks Gougeard to take up the pace. Suddenly, Ineos slow down, and that slows the chase. Luke Rowe, the road captain, tries to get Ineos back in formation. The hills and roundabout have caused problems for the pack.
15km to go: Trek-Segafredo are asked to keep the chase going, as the calculations are made for the sprint ahead. Thomas and Gougeard are up to 60km/h, into a tailwind, and the field behind them are going slower. The gap is staying as it was as Nils Pollit, an early breakaway rider, takes it up at the front of the peloton. Jumbo-Visma have only three riders left in a peloton of 97 riders.
20km to go: The approach to Carcassonne begins, with Quinn Simmons leading the Trek team’s effort at the front of the peloton. The pace is breakneck as the pack descends together, around 44km/h. The sprint finish seems the most likely outcome at this stage. The likes of Van Aert and Sagan are involved.
25km to go: Once over the brow of a small climb, the field flies along through the Aude region, with Groenwegen’s move to get back in touch likely to be successful. And there’s a chance that Thomas and Gougeard may stay away, too, though the heat seems approaching unbearable, with tar visibly melting at the side of the road. When the Bike-Exchange pack get their man on the back of the peloton, some of them drop off, their work done for the day. Then comes another crest of a hill, and at the head of the field, some flatter terrain for the leading pair to take on. The gap starts to drop to around 20 seconds.
30km to go: Alexis Gougeard and Benjamin Thomas have gone away from the front in search of a first French stage win of Le Tour. It’s been fallow ground for the host nation this year, the likes of Pinot, Barguil and Bardet all somewhat faded forces. They have around 30 seconds. It continues to be chaotic and uncertain. Michael Martin, Saturday’s winner, is back working for Bike-Exchange and Groenewegen.
35km to go: Groenewegen’s group just under a minute back on the peloton, including John Degenkolb, a former stage winner, and Paris-Roubaix winner, whose best days are probably behind him. He suffered this accident in 2016.
Per AFP
German sprint specialist John Degenkolb has undergone surgery to repair a deep cut on his leg and suffered a fractured forearm as he and five other Giant-Alpecin teammates were mowed down by an English driver whilst training near Alicante, southeast Spain, on Saturday.
Warren Barguil, Chad Haga, Fredrik Ludvigsson, Ramon Sinkeldam and Max Walscheid were also taken to hospital in Alicante, but were said to be in a stable condition.
“They are lucky to be alive,” Degenkolb’s agent Jorg Werner told SID, an AFP subsidiary.
According to a team statement, France’s Barguil suffered a fractured scaphoid that may require surgery.
American Haga was airlifted to hospital and underwent successful surgery on neck and chin wounds with an orbital fracture to be treated once the swelling around his eye recedes.
40km to go: That’s been an insane last 20 km or so, with prangs and intrigue and possibly the balance of the whole Tour thrown into flux. And with the sprint teams trying to get their men back on, there’s plenty of room for more where that came from. Le Tour just never disappoints. At the front of the field, Alexis Gougeard and Benjamin Thomas, of AG2R and Cofidis, have opened up a gap. Not much of one but they have added to the chaos of a field hurtling along.
💪 @TrekSegafredo sets a very high pace in the Côte des Cammazes! @FabioJakobsen and @CalebEwan are dropped!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2022
💪 @TrekSegafredo imprime un tempo infernal dans la Côte des Cammazes ! @FabioJakobsen et @CalebEwan sont distancés !#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/OI8XvSaV85
🇦🇺 @Blingmatthews and 🇳🇱 @GroenewegenD are also distanced in the ascent.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2022
C'est maintenant 🇦🇺@blingmatthews et 🇳🇱@GroenewegenD qui sont distancés du peloton. #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/oiaPNrjhmX
48km to go: Les Cammazes, this climb, has caused big problems, with Pogacar zipping around with intent. Simon Geschke take the mountain points at the top. It’s left to Van Aert to close the gaps for Vingegaard who has had a tough day in the saddle. There’s four more climb, uncategorised, to come before the end.
Updated
Trek-Segafredo split the field on the climb
50km to go: The breakaway duo is back in the field, and off goes Jonas Rutsch, of Trek-Segafredo, who starts another break, and back in the field, the likes of Caleb Ewan and Fabio Jakobsen are dropped, and will not be taking part in the final sprint. Trek follow their man and take the pace up. Mads Pedersen, is their man, and they are doing their best to mean he is the sole sprinter left in the final surge to the line. Dylan Groenewegen goes off the back, too as does Jasper Philipsen. Vingegaard is back in the pack, but isolated, too, and he might have to get used to that over the next week. Bauke Mollema, such an engine, leads the field over this third-category climb, one that looks likely to be decisive.
55km to go: There’s an intermediate sprint, the first two, just 30 seconds ahead, just idle through. Van Aert takes third, and Pogacar is behind him, ratcheting the pressure down on Vingegaard, who showed signs of annoyance in making his way back up the field. This race is not over by any means. And the peloton is very nervous indeed, too.
Another crash! Vingegaard in yellow is down!
It’s Jumbo-Visma again! The race leader is down, as is Tiesj Benoot, his support rider, who went down in front of him. Sepp Kuss has had to go back to help them out. It was just a touch of the wheel, but the heat is getting to the riders. Pogacar decides to take up the pace, and goes off at the front of the peloton. Vingegaard looked to have taken a knock to the head but no obvious surface damage, Pogacar let him back on. Benoot looks to be bashed up badly, and that could be another lieutenant down.
Updated
60km to go: The crash had caused a split into the peloton, but it slows down to let those off back catch up, including Van Aert, There were a few others who went down, including Jakob Fuglsang, and meanwhile, Steven Kruijswijk, his arm already in a sling, and on an oxygen mask, is carried off in an ambulance. This was a quiet day, too. The Tour is the Tour.
Steven Kruijswijk has crashed out, Jumbo-Visma lose another rider
Another crash, and Steven Kruijswijk is down on the floor. Wout van Aert goes back to help his Jumbo-Visma teammate, but Kruijswijk signals his race is over, it’s a broken collarbone, his right-hand collarbone. Jumbo-Visma, and Jonas Vingegaard, have lost a major domestique ahead of the Pyrenees. And on the day Primoz Roglic pulled out, too.
64km to go: Another protest on the road, but it seems the organisers have managed to clear it. On a day of 40 degrees, perhaps a climate emergency protest has some justification.
Updated
65km to go: After a few km of getting cleaned up, Doull sets off to rejoin the pack. He’s an Olympic gold medallist on the track, a former Ineos rider, but had to leave to join EF Education–EasyPost to get a Grand Tour ride. Let’s hope his injury isn’t too hard on him and he can make his way to Paris. The gap, by the way, to Pollit and Honore is going back up but they will surely not last the pace.
72 km to go: Owain Doull, the Welshman, comes a cropper in a peloton climbing up a slight incline, and it’s an abandoned bidon that’s responsible, as he took a drink he clatters to the floor. An occupational hazard, unfortunately, and his elbow gets tended to by the medics car. Nasty one but he should be OK to plough on.
🏴 @owaindoull crashes at the back of the peloton! The Welshman sets off again.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2022
🏴@owaindoull est victime d'une chute à l'arrière du peloton ! Le Gallois repart.#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/MYQps1sJBj
Updated
75km to go: A descending part of the stage, a chance to feel the breeze, for the leaders, whose gap lowers back to around the minute mark. Vingegaard, in yellow, descends with Tiesj Benoot acting as his guard, should anything go wrong. He goes to the back of the field to chat to the team car, which is not the norm for those in the maillot jaune, but no problems are known as it stands. It may be as simple as a call of nature. Taking on a lot of fluids, even in this heat, means the bladder may still be called upon.
80km to go: Memories of Cav, who is sorely missed this year, it has to be said. He’s done a couple of TV spots but his absence is a reminder of the lack of sentimentality in Le Tour. It’s no hiding place for fading heroes, especially in the sprints. Not that Cavendish believes he is fading, of course.
🏆 Since 2021 the city of Carcassonne has been deeply linked to 🇮🇲 @MarkCavendish.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2022
🤩 This is the place where, a year ago, he claimed a historical 𝟑𝟒𝐭𝐡 stage win on the Tour de France! #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/tQygBK8h9k
85km to go: Lovely scenery and the riders will appreciate the shade that trees are offering by the side of the road, as they make their way into the Haute-Garonne departement. The excitement level is being stifled by the heat.
90km to go: Michael Forbes gets in touch: “Looking at the finish of today’s stage, it seems such a pity that they don’t include tricky technical sections at the finishes. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the final section included a couple of kilometres around the very narrow streets of Carcassonne, finishing in Pl. Carnot?”
95km to go: The field are passing through Lautrec today, and that’s actually, as it sounds, being the home of the family of the artist Toulouse-Lautrec. By the way, the gap to Pollit and Honore is around a minute and they surely don’t have long left for this world.
Per Wiki: “In addition to his alcoholism, he developed an affinity for brothels and prostitutes that directed the subject matter for many of his works recording many details of the late-19th-century bohemian lifestyle in Paris.”
100km to go: They’ve passed a feed station, and it has to be said that as quickly as they are going, there’s not a lot of jeopardy going on, the peloton back as one, and the two riders up front’s leading dropping to 1’ 30” or so. Honore and Pollit don’t seem to be up there too long. The heat seems to be sapping any potential heroics today. Perhaps it’s a good thing that tomorrow is a rest day. Tuesday, from Carcassonne to Foix, and over 178.5km of climbing, looks likely to be hugely tough.
Updated
110km to go: Franck Bonnamour, from the B&B Hotels, has gone off the side of a road, and into one of those ditches you find roadside in France, and is dusting himself down, his jersey covered in dust, his bare skin bearing the signs of a few scratches. He looks annoyed, suggesting he was bumped off the side of the road.
120km to go: Guy Hornsby gets in touch: “I’m with you as I think Cav will have one last hurrah. He’s still quality and if he can get a team that supports him we should see him with a decent chance at least. There’s so much sprinting talent is no simple task though. I’m a romantic though so here’s hoping.”
The gap is going down to 2’33”, and one of the Quickstep riders is in the breakaway, which beyond the Jakobsen win, suggests the team is not in the shape it would be when Cavendish was around. Morkov going off the back is not a good sign, though it’s their team currently leading the pack. This is the second-longest stage of Le Tour, the longest one stage six being won by a then-dominant Pogacar.
Amazing work from Toms Skujins in the Trek team Not bad for someone who says he’s a “potato ambassador”.
😉 @Tomashuuns playing the "Let's see how many bottles can fit in this jersey" game.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2022
😉 @Tomashuuns testant les capacités de stockage de son maillot.#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/jQYx4yZEm4
133km to go: A third category climb approaches, with the leading pair’s gap of three minutes. The temperature, since you may well be hunkering down in the UK, is approaching 40 degrees in this Occitanie region, in the south east.
140km to go: A speedy downhill section takes our dynamic duo of Pollit and Honore up ahead on a speedy next 10 clicks. Michael Mørkøv, the lead-out man for Jakobsen in the Quickstep team, is reported to be 13 minutes back off the peloton.
🇩🇰@MichaelMorkov was distanced in the first few KMs of the stage and is having a tough day 12'45" behind the race lead.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2022
🇩🇰@MichaelMorkov a été distancé dès les premiers kilomètres de l'étape ! Il vit une journée galère, il est désormais à 12'45" de la tête de course.#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/L4wmeeggIx
Updated
150km to go: Paulo Biriani messages in: “Can someone please let Geraint Thomas know it’s okay to go past Pogacar. It’s not illegal or anything.”
Andrew Benton: “Your mention of Cav made me wonder if he’s ridden his last tour - such a pity that he is not competing this year. Do you think that respect for Eddy Merckx - not wanting to give Cav the chance to beat his record - was a factor in the decision not to include him in the Quick-step team?”
I was reading Cavendish is in negotiations with a couple of teams, and surely that means he gets another go. The Merckx thing: they are Belgian, though owned by a Czech businessman, so who knows? They seem to have believed Fabio Jakobsen was the better sprinter, and it’s a results business, and he did win the second stage.
155km to go: Honore and Politt open up the gap to 2’ 40”, may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, and Van Aert in back in the peloton to shield Vingegaard.
Van Aert gives up breakaway attempt
160km to go: Two sprint teams, Trek-Segafredo and Alpecin, are leading the chase, and that means Jumbo-Visma, without Primoz Roglic, don’t have to take the strain. Instead, Van Aert is taking it by leading the race, but whar’s this, the team have asked him to drop back. He is handed a bottle, and told to slow down, so he stops for a comfort break, and soon enough the field will be with him. That leaves Honore and Politt up front, and without Van Aert’s engine to pull them along. Bonne chance.
Updated
165km to go: Van Aert and his two mates seem determined to stay away, opening up the gap to over two minutes. Nils Politt is no slouch, having come second in Paris-Roubaix in 2019, and won the 12th stage of last year’s Tour, from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nimes. The day after that the 2021 Tour went to Carcassonne, where Mark Cavendish won the sprint.
175km to go: The chase to the Van Aert group lowers the advantage a little but Jumbo’s tactics, which have been exemplary all Tour, seem odd. Vingegaard lacking support in a group of 60 that’s split the peloton.
185km to go: Why Van Aert is doing this is unclear, though he attempted similar the sixth stage, and pegged out at the end. The gap is 1’ 45” or so, and the gap is opening up. The word from Alberto Contador on the Eurosport motorbike is that it’s hot, very hot. Alexis Gougeard is the lone chaser, he’s from the AG2R team. But two Trek riders join the effort. They are flying along, and splits developing within the peloton. Vingegaard is wise to the move, and keeping up the front.
Updated
195km to go: Not easy for anyone this, is it? Wout van Aert decides to go off at the front, despite his role as Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma bag-man, and that will make the others work. Mikkel Honore of Quick-Step, another flying Dane, and Nils Politt of the Bora team, go off with him as they fly off. The other sprinters’ teams have a long day of chasing to do if his continues.
And away we go!
Lovely, riverside scenes as Christian Prudhomme lets them get underway, he does some arm-waving to get them to calm down as they bare their teeth ahead of a breakaway attempt. Jonas Vingegaard is slipstreaming the car, but off go three in the early break, Ben Thomas of Cofidis idling up front as they shilly-shally along, no pattern of play visible. This may take a while to set up.
Roglic pulls out of Le Tour
Primoz Roglic, who has served as a superdomestique for Jonas Vingegaard in the Jumbo-Visma team, has pulled out, seemingly to try and win his fourth successive Vuelta a Espanā. That starts on 19 August.
“To allow my injuries to heal properly, we have decided that I won’t start,” he said in a press release. “I’m proud of my contribution to the current standings and I trust that the team will realise our yellow and green ambitions. Thanks to everybody for your great support.”
He was “suffering a lot all day,” said his team manager Richard Plugge of Roglic on Saturday’s stage. It was on the fifth stage that Roglic, second in 2020, came down, dislocated his shoulder and then put it back in himself.
Roglic could equal the all-time victory haul of Roberto Heras if he takes a fourth Vuelta.
🇫🇷 #TDF2022
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) July 17, 2022
Primoz about his #DNS in stage 15 @LeTour
“I’m proud of my contribution to the current standings and I trust that the team will realise our yellow and green ambitions. Thanks to everybody for your great support.” pic.twitter.com/aw0juGFWwO
Updated
This tweet shows the undulations of today’s stage, all ending up in the beautiful walled city of Carcassonne.
🚲 Stage 15 / Étape 15 🚲
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2022
🚩 @VilledeRodez
🏁 @CarcaInfos
📏 202,5 km
⏰ 13:05 CEST > 17:39 CEST
⛰ 2x 3⃣c
💚 km 147#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/q6cocWSl5q
Updated
Two Covid withdrawals that we know of so far, and both Simon Clarke and Magnus Cort won stages earlier in Le Tour.
Magnus Cort woke up this morning with a headache and fever and has since tested positive for COVID-19. He will not start stage 15 of the Tour de France. His medical evaluation is ongoing.
— EF Pro Cycling (@EFprocycling) July 17, 2022
Heal up champ 🤍♥️ pic.twitter.com/NAGA0ixg8N
After an internal routine test carried out by the team, unfortunately Simon Clarke has returned a positive Covid test. Therefore, Simon won’t take the start of stage 15.
— Israel – Premier Tech / Israel Cycling Academy (@IsraelPremTech) July 17, 2022
All other riders returned negative tests and are ready to race today.
____
🇫🇷 #TDF2022
Jeremy Whittle saw Michael Matthews ride to victory on an airfield on Saturday.
Matthews, who until his latest success had been the rider with the most top-three, top-five and top-10 finishes but had not won a stage on the Grand Tour since 2019, finally squashed his reputation as the peloton’s nearly man with a solo win at the Mende aerodrome, high in the Lozère.
With temperatures hitting the mid-30s the team cars and roadside helpers could hardly keep up with the demands for cold drinks and ice. After an initial flurry of attacks led by the defending champion, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), died down, a breakaway of 23 riders including Matthews, Bettiol and Pinot built a lead of more than 10 minutes.
William Fotheringham wrote in this week’s Observer of the dominance of Jumbo-Visma team.
Vingegaard’s victory was also a rare example of a decisive Tour stage where team tactics worked to perfection, admittedly helped by Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates being reduced in numbers by the Covid-19 virus. However, it had already been obvious on several occasions in the first week that the team might not be up to the task ahead of them.
When Wout van Aert attacked to win the Calais stage, UAE were unable to put numbers around Pogacar. The same thing happened on the cobbled road to Arenberg the next day, when the young Slovenian’s strength disguised their weakness. Similarly, when Van Aert made his fruitless long-range attack en route to Longwy the next morning, two of Pogacar’s men were unable to hold the rampaging peloton midway through the stage.
Preamble
It has been a long old wait for the sprinters on Le Tour, who have spent the last couple of weeks going up hill and down dale in the Alps, and being hauled across puncheur stages like that on Saturday, when Michael Matthews, ostensibly a sprinter, showed his mettle by taking down a breakaway of climbers. A breakaway today is a possibility, depending on the legs left in the teams, but the plan will be to get the shredded remains of the sprint teams in place to deliver a finish. And then Wout van Aert, of the dominant Jumbo-Visma team, will probably win as Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar stay tight to each other back in the pack.
That, though, would suggest Le Tour was anything like predictable, and this year’s has been full of surprises. Per William Fotheringham ahead of the race.
On paper, today – finally – favours the sprint teams, but they will face a fierce battle to control things, with a lengthy third category climb 50km from the finish. The sprinters haven’t had a clear-cut sprint day since stage four, so won’t want to miss this one: let’s hope enough teammates have survived the Alps to keep it together.
