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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jeremy Whittle at Carcassonne

Tour de France: Alaphilippe celebrates on stage 15 … but discovers Wellens won long before him

Tim Wellens celebrates winning stage 15 in Carcassone while Julian Alaphilippe (inset) thinks he has won despite finishing over a minute behind the winner
Tim Wellens celebrates winning stage 15 in Carcassone while Julian Alaphilippe (inset) thinks he has won despite finishing over a minute behind. Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

French stage wins in the Tour de France are increasingly rare, so when they do happen, there are wild cele­brations. Julian Alaphilippe, the former world road race champion, raised his arms in triumph in Carcassonne, thinking he had won, only to be told seconds later that he had in fact ­finished third behind two Belgians.

Ahead of the crestfallen Alaphilippe, Tadej ­Pogacar’s Emirates-XRG teammate Tim Wellens took a solo win on stage 15 of the Tour, well ahead of compatriot Victor Campanaerts, a teammate to Jonas Vingegaard.

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