A hell of a number by Wout Poels. At 35, the Dutch rider from Bahrain-Victorious put on an authentic festival to win the 15th stage of the Tour de France this Sunday, in Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc. First bouquet on the Grande Boucle for Poels, impressive solo winner, far ahead of the Belgian Wout van Aert. Frenchman Mathieu Burgaudeau took third place.
Another big pedal stroke to give for the Tour de France peloton before enjoying a second day of rest on Monday. And what an alpine stage again after a daunting day on Saturday. The runners faced 179km between Les Gets and Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc with five cols to climb picked up in a hundred kilometers, with passages at 17% in the Côte des Amerands, all with 5000 meters of vertical drop! Once is not custom, the French Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) launched the breakaway of the day alongside the Kazakhstani Alexey Lutsenko (Astana). Without creating a significant gap, the two men initiated a movement followed by about thirty runners. After 50km of racing, a new collective fall disrupted the peloton. After an impressive pileup this Saturday, it was this time the imprudence of a spectator who caused this strike. Still grouped after 50 kilometers of racing, the peloton took advantage of the generosity of the road and tried to roll at full speed to catch up with the men in front. A spectator took a selfie with his back to the riders and the Dutchman of the Jumbo-Visma team Nathan van Hooydonck could not avoid the individual. Destabilized, he fell to the ground, dragging other athletes behind him. About thirty cyclists fell in total. An incident which largely slowed down the peloton and allowed the breakaway of the day to widen the gap.
After nearly 50km in pairs, Alaphilippe and Lutsenko were caught by around thirty pursuers. In this group, the tricolors were well represented with in particular Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama FDJ), Warren Barguil (Arkéa Samsic) or Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergie). The duel between Neilson Powless (EF) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) raged to take control of the climbers’ classification. Cooler, the Italian who has made less effort since the start of this Grande Boucle has put the American in the hard. The polka dot jersey of the last Dauphiné criterium came back up to Powless with 58 points, it passed him since he was better ranked overall. In the end of the stage Wout van Aert blasted the race and ran away with a big acceleration. Only the strongest of the breakaway were able to hang on to the wheels of the green jersey of the last Tour de France. Marc Soler (UAE), Krists Neilands (Israel Premier-Tech) and Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) found themselves up front alongside the Belgian. Quickly, it was a duo that paved the way to present themselves at the foot of the Amerands wall after the fall of Neilands and the shortcomings of Soler downhill, the two Wouts will play for a prestigious victory at the top of Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc. Dean Wout Poels placed a sharp attack before the summit of the Côte des Amerands and left the Jumbo-Visma handyman behind. The Dutchman then only widened the gap on his pursuers in the final and offered himself the first victory of his career on a Grand Tour. Resurrected after two years without the slightest result, the 35-year-old climber offers his team a second success on this Tour de France after the victory of Pello Bilbao during the 10th stage in Issoire. Behind, Wout van Aert and the French Mathieu Burgaudeau complete the podium.
In the end of the stage the UAE team rode hard to blow up the peloton. After a last stint from the Polish Majka, the first jersey of this Tour Adam Yates took his leader Tadej Pogacar on his wheel. As always, apart from Jonas Vingegaard no one could keep up. Without attacking in the last kilometer, the two leaders of the general observed each other in the final ascent, 1km from the summit with panache Tadej Pogacar tried to distance his rival but in vain. Still 10 seconds apart between the Dane and the Slovenian. For the rest of the general, David Gaudu moved up to 9th place and Guillaume Martin returned to the Top 10. Carlos Rodriguez was hot, the winner of the day before saw Adam Yates come back to 20 seconds from his third place.
Monday, rest for the peloton, before a time trial Tuesday of 22.4 km between Passy and Combloux.
