Tour de France Stage Report: On the final climb of the day to Plateau de Beille, the two main protagonists of the 2024 Tour de France were together – Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) were well ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step). The yellow jersey didn’t attack, but rode away from the Dane with around 5 kilometres to go. Another solo stage win for Pogačar and another minute on Vingegaard, over two minutes on Evenepoel and no one else matters.
The stage 15 finale
Tadej Pogačar won the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France. The yellow jersey dealt a hammer blow to Jonas Vingegaard on Plateau de Beille, who lost more than a minute. Remco Evenepoel took third place, almost three minutes behind.
Another stage and more time for Tadej Pogačar
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France general director: “The third Sunday of the Tour could prove crucial. Whatever’s happened on the previous days in the mountains, the terrain on this stage is ripe for revenge or confirmation, with 4,850 metres of vertical gain on the menu over almost 200 kilometres of racing. All manner of scenarios could play out, and it’s not unrealistic to imagine that team-mates of the GC contenders will attempt to infiltrate the breakaway climbing the Peyresourde. That would prove invaluable given what lies ahead, especially in a finale that features the climbs of the Col d’Agnes and the Port de Lers followed by the final haul up to Plateau de Beille.”
Stage 15 profile
On the big French holiday of the 14th of July, the Tour races over 198 kilometres from Loudenvielle to the top of Plateau de Beille. There are five categorised climbs with a total of more than 5,000 metres of climbing. The Col de Peyresourde (6.9km at 7.8%) comes straight after the start, then the Col de Menté (9.3km at 9.1%) and Col de Portet-d’Aspet (4,3km at 9.7%) follow. After those steep challenges there are about 60 kilometres of easier road. The second half of this stage has the Col d’Agnes (10km at 8.2%) and the final climb to Plateau de Beille (15.8km at 7.9%). There are almost 16 kilometres of climbing to the finish at an average of almost 8%. As this is the eve of the second rest day, you can expect riders to give it everything and of course the French will want a home winner on Bastille Day.
Remco Evenepoel dropped to 3rd place overall in stage 14, can he move up?
The fifteenth stage started with the climb of the Col de Peyresourde. Many riders attacked, including Romain Bardet, Richard Carapaz, David Gaudu, Oier Lazkano and Biniam Girmay. A first leading group got together, but it included a number of riders who only wanted to be there for the intermediate sprint. Girmay took full points, but was later put back to third place by the jury due to his ‘treatment’ of Michael Matthews.
Yellow and green jersey’s at the start – Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarche_Wanty) are they safe?
The peloton didn’t want to give much time to a break. Visma | Lease a Bike had put Christophe Laporte in the lead, but the break was falling apart as Richard Carpapaz and Simon Yates were trying to jump across. They succeeded with a number of others, so that after about 50 kilometres there was a solid leading group.
Kilometre 0 – 197.7 to go to the Plateau de Beille
Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla), Laurens De Plus (INEOS Grenadiers), Jai Hindley and Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Richard Carapaz and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Enric Mas, Alex Aranburu and Javier Romo (Movistar), Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty), Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich-PostNL) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility). Sixteen strong men.
Let the battle commence
Bad luck for Meintjes as he had a puncture. In that peloton it was still Visma | Lease a Bike on the front. In the valley after the Col de Portet-d’Aspet, the lead increased slightly. They started the Col d’Agnes, the penultimate climb of the day, with a lead of 3:40.
Biniam Girmay wanted to get the intermediate points
The co-operation in the leading group wasn’t that good. Just before the Col d’Agnes (10.1km at 8.1%), Hindley, Jungels, Sobrero, Healy, Romo, Mas and De Plus pushed on. There was now a complete loss of co-operation in the chase group, after which Carapaz had to chase solo. The leaders were now Hindley, Mas and De Plus, with Carapaz they were the best climbers of the early break.
Matteo Sobrero Matteo (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) was the engine of the break today
It took a while, but Carapaz managed to catch the leaders. The four riders rode together to the top of the Col d’Agnes. In the peloton; Visma | Lease a Bike was still in the lead. They clearly had a plan, which was to make the race as hard as possible. A strong Wilco Kelderman set a hard pace, and the group of favourites continued to thin out. At the top of the Col d’Agnes there were only 19 riders in what was left of the peloton.
Jonas Vingegaard was wearing the KOM jersey for Pogačar today
The four leaders were joined on the descent by Halland Johannessen. In the valley towards the final climb, the five were able to press on and at the foot of the Plateau de Beille (15.8km at 7.8%) they had a lead of 2:20. In the peloton, Kelderman’s work was over after leading for a long time.
Don’t look back, Tadej!
Matteo Jorgenson took over, the American immediately split the group of favourites. João Almeida, Giulio Ciccone, Felix Gall and Derek Gee, soon had to let go. Tadej Pogačar, like Jonas Vingegaard, only had one domestique left on the flanks of the Plateau de Beille. The five escapees tried to stay away from the GC riders, but it became clear that this was not going to work.
Visma took control
This was due to the work of Kelderman and Jorgenson, who distanced almost all the favourites. Jorgenson pulled over 10 kilometres from the finish, after which Vingegaard accelerated. Pogačar stuck to his rear wheel and so we would have a duel on Plateau de Beille. Nine kilometres from the finish, the two caught Carapaz, the last remaining escapee. After holding the two for a few hundred metres, the Olympic champion had to give up the struggle.
The move was going to come from Vingegaard
Behind Vingegaard and Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel was the best. The ‘best young rider’ initially managed to followed at 20 seconds, but lost more and more time. The Belgian did a good job in the battle for the podium, as his closest competitors, Almeida and Rodríguez, lost even more time. His place on the final podium of the Tour de France seems sure now.
Vingegaard attacked and Pogačar followed
At the front Vingegaard continued to set the pace, but Pogačar made it look easy on his wheel. Pogačar looked like he was just going to follow the Dane from the beginning of the final climb, but that changed 5 kilometres from the summit. The Slovenian shot away and left Vingegaard looking hopeless. Vingegaard couldn’t do anything and lost more than 30 seconds with 3 kilometres to go.
Has Pogačar won the 2024 Tour?
Pogačar didn’t take it easy in the last kilometres and took more time. The yellow jersey crossed the line with a very good lead at the top of Plateau de Beille. He dealt a big blow to Vingegaard, who eventually came in at 1:08. Evenepoel was third at 2:51.
Pogačar just rode away from the floundering dane
Vingegaard rode well, but…
Stage winner and overall leader, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “It has been an incredible day. I would have never imagined this kind of outcome seeing how the second week began. I’m super happy with my shape. It was a super hard and super hot day, and I normally struggle a bit with warm weather. My team did a super job with all the cooling down strategies. Visma decided to control the race today and set a hard pace on the climbs. It was fair racing, and it sat well with us as we had already created some meaningful gaps yesterday. I was never worried – all I cared about was keeping myself cool, hydrating and eating enough. The Visma team knew that the final climb was so steep that using somebody’s slipstream was not so influential, and they were probably hoping that I wouldn’t survive Jonas’ strong pace all the way to the finish. I was a bit on the limit when he first attacked, but afterwards I could feel he was suffering a bit. He tried to drop me one more time and I saw he didn’t have the legs to do it, so I gave it a go myself even though I was aware I might crack as well. Luckily, it went well. The Tour GC is looking really good right now. We have a comfortable lead and just need to keep focused on these final six days of racing. I have won a lot of stages in the Pyrenees. Somehow I like these mountains, and it is reciprocal! As for Plateau de Beille in particular, Adam Yates had told me this was the hardest climb he had ever done and I’m very glad I could win here.”
It was a lonely, but solid third place for Remco Evenepoel
# Catch up with all the Tour de France and Woman’s Giro d’Italia news in EUROTRASH Monday. #
Tour de France Stage 15 Result:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 5:13:55
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:08
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 2:51
4. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 3:54
5. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 4:43
6. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates at 4:56
7. Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain Victorious at 5:08
8. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers
9. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost at 5:41
10. Felix Gall (Aust) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at 5:57.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 15:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 61:56:24
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 3:09
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 5:19
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 10:54
5. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 11:21
6. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 11:27
7. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates at 13:38
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 15:48
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 16:12
10. Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain Victorious at 16:32.
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