Tim Wellens won the 15th stage of the Tour de France to Carcassonne. The Belgian settled 43 kilometers before the finish line from an eight -member group. Florian Lipowitz crossed the finish line in the classification driver field and confidently defended his third place in the overall classification.
For Wellens, it is the first day of the day on the tour of France. The 32-year-old has won all three Grand Tours Etappen. With Giro and Vuelta, Wellens each get two daily victories. For the UAE team, it is also the fifth success on this tour and the first one who does not go to Tadej Pogacar.
Second, Victor Campenaerts, who reached the finish line with a gap of 1:28 minutes. The sprint of a larger chase group was curious. Julian Alaphilippe, who had fallen at the beginning of the stage, was the fastest and cheered up his right arm. The peloton with Lipowitz and Pogacar arrived with a backstadt of 6:07 minutes. In the youth classification, the German remains ahead of Oscar onley.
| Place | driver | Time |
|---|---|---|
1 | Florian Lipowitz | 54:28:37 |
2 | Oscar onley | + 1:25 |
3 | Kévin Vauquelin | + 2:28 |
4 | Carlos Rodriguez | + 10:33 |
5 | Ben Healy | + 10:48 |
After the exertion in the Pyrenees, the 15th stage over 169 kilometers from Muret to Carcassonne. On hilly terrain with three mountain ratings, the professionals had to cope with 2400 meters of altitude. Even if the last kilometers were flat after a departure, a sprint final was considered unlikely. “I don’t think I have a chance today”the German Sprinter Phil Bauhaus also explained before the start.
It was a very special day for Florian Lipowitz. For the first time, he was wearing the white jersey of the best young professional and, as is customary, was allowed to tackle the first neutral kilometers at the top of the field with the other jersey carriers.
Chaotic start – Lipowitz in the fall
Less than 20 kilometers after the race was released, there was a fall in the middle of the main field on a passage through the town, so many drivers were stopped. Lipowitz and Jonas Vingegaard were affected by the classification drivers, but were able to continue driving immediately. “I stood, then they are inside me from behind, then I lay”Lipowitz explained in an interview with the sports show. But he didn’t hurt himself. “After that it was Superhart to come back”, So the 24-year-old.
Lipowitz initially had a gap of one minute due to the chaos. Due to the fall and attacks, the field was divided into several parts. Pogacar tried to calm the first field at the front so that everyone can catch up again. Only after around 40 kilometers did the chaos lay down and everyone was back in the main field.
At the top, an outlier group with 15 drivers had formed. Mathieu van der Poel was there, he certainly had the sprint rating in view after 60 kilometers. The Dutch drove here at the top, without anyone in dispute the 20 points. As the third in the sprint rating, he approaches Pogacar and Jonathan Milan.
There was no movement in the mountain ranking, Lenny Martinez in the mountain jersey and his competitors in the fight for the dotted jersey were not represented at the front. There were also a maximum of only nine points, all of which went to outliers.
Many attacks, many outlier groups
After the intermediate sprint, it was shown that the group of the day had not yet been found. There were always new attacks, the number of drivers at the top and in the persecution repeatedly changed. Typical for a wavy stage. A quartet then reached the hardest climb of the day. Tim Wellens, Quinn Simmons, Victor Campenaerts and Michael Storer went to the last climb of the day.
The route planners had already set the only mountain ranking of the 2nd category at PAS Du Sant at the beginning of the climb. An unpleasant increase with a 10.2 percent slope and 2.9 kilometers in length. Storer attacked here and tried to break away. With 20.1 km/h on average, the Australian went over the ramp, but he could not shake off his colleagues. After all, he collected five mountain points.
After the mountain ranking and 43.6 kilometers before the destination, Wellens attacked from the top group, which at that time consisted of eight professionals. The Belgian was able to break away – the distance to the main field with the yellow jersey was already six minutes. At this point it was clear that the victory went to an outlier.
30 kilometers before the finish, Wellens already had a minute lead. It has already been 1:50 minutes over the last three and a half kilometers – and waves already clapped the fist. At that time he already had more than one kilometer ahead and it was clear that the pursuers were no longer coming.
On the Mont Ventoux after the day of rest
After the day of rest, a myth continues on Tuesday. In the 16th stage, the destination is on the Mont Ventoux. At the 15.7 -kilometer final increase, the professionals have to overcome height meters in 1910. Most recently, the tour made at the Mont Ventoux station in 2021, at that time there were even two passages over the “giant of Provence” – but the goal was in the valley. Wout van Aert won the stage. This time Pogacar is likely to be the favorite for the day’s victory, the Slovenian likes to enter the winner’s list in iconic places.