Ballsy Vingegaard pushes himself to the limit, but concedes to superdominant Tadej Pogacar

Tadej Pogacar has won the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France. The yellow jersey holder saw Visma | Lease a Bike put all their cards on the table for Jonas Vingegaard, who then went all-in on the Plateau de Beille. Pogacar was able to follow and broke the Dane's resistance by riding off solo over five kilometers from the top.

The peloton started the stage at 12:05 PM, with the finish already being crossed at 5:30 PM, after a blistering fast ride. From the start, they immediately climbed the Col de Peyresourde (6.9 km at 7.8%), before descending and passing through a valley to reach the base of the steep Col de Menté (9.3 km at 9.1%). This climb was quickly followed by the Col du Portet d'Aspet (4.3 km at 9.6%), and then another solid stretch of valley. This brought the men to the Col d'Agnes (10.0 km at 8.6%), and the final section was - after a third stretch of valley - the Plateau de Beille, a grueling climb of 15.8 kilometers at 7.9%.

That was promising. The favorites for the day's victory were mostly the general classification contenders, with Vingegaard undoubtedly trying to claw back time on Pogacar. In the overall standings, the Slovenian of UAE-Team Emirates was almost two minutes ahead, so there was work to be done for Visma | Lease a Bike. On the first climb, the attackers still had the upper hand, with Romain Bardet, David Gaudu and Oier Lazkano riding ahead for a while, with Gaudu collecting mountain points on the Peyresourde. After the rapid descent, everything came back together in the valley.

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Visma | Lease a Bike takes control, excellent climbers at the front

In the valley, a large breakaway group finally got away, as expected. Green jersey Biniam Girmay slipped into the group, picking up 20 points at the intermediate sprint, which became 15 after a demotion due to a faulty move. The group of 21 included strong climbers like Jai Hindley, led by Bob Jungels of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, and Enric Mas of Movistar. On the steep Col de Menté, more strong riders like Richard Carapaz and Laurens De Plus started to bridge the gap from the peloton.

Back in the peloton, Visma | Lease a Bike took the lead as planned. Vingegaard's teammates set the pace, never allowing the lead to exceed a minute and a half. We crossed the Col du Portet d'Aspet with Jungels still going full throttle at the front, before the lead of the now significantly reduced breakaway group increased to 3.30 minutes through the third valley section. A status quo followed as we made our way towards Plateau de Beille, where everything would be decided!

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Vingegaard broken by Pogacar

After some tactical maneuvers on the way towards the base, Hindley, Carapaz, De Plus, Mas and Tobias Halland Johannessen (who joined later on) were the five men who got to dream of a stage win. Visma | Lease a Bike then pushed the pace up a notch, especially with Matteo Jorgenson putting in a huge effort towards and on the final climb. Vingegaard's attack couldn't wait and came very quickly. Pogacar followed easily, while Remco Evenepoel, as has often been the case in this Tour, wasn't quite good enough and had to give up terrain bit by bit. The Belgian, like the two leaders, picked off breakaway riders one by one but had already lost half a minute at eight kilometers from the top.

With still eight (!) kilometers of climbing to go, Vingegaard didn't look back and kept an incredible pace. All cards were on the table, with the big question being whether Pogacar had even more in store... And the answer came over five kilometers from the top. The yellow jersey looked back once more, accelerated, and Vingegaard conceded. The Slovenian's lead then steadily increased. At the finish, he eventually won by a full minute over the completely exhausted Vingegaard, who nevertheless solidified his second place in the GC. Evenepoel lost almost three minutes to Pogacar. His teammate Mikel Landa brutally took fourth place, well ahead of João Almeida and Adam Yates.

Results stage 15 Tour de France 2024

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