Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel beat race leader Tadej Pogačar in a sprint finish to take Sunday’s 15th stage of the Tour de France, as former winner Jonas Vingegaard crashed out.
Evenepoel edged out the reigning champion at the end of the tough 11 km-long climb to the finish. Pogačar’s UAE Emirates-XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro was third, six seconds back.
“It’s amazing. I’m literally trembling from emotion,” Evenepoel said, at the finish of the 183.9km stage from Champagnole to Plateau de Solaison, after his first Tour road-stage victory following two time-trial successes.
“It’s been a hell of a day. A pretty hard start, I was actually feeling really bad in the beginning, but I really got better and better during the day. You have to understand how I’m racing with the best rider ever (Pogačar), and he has been doing a hell of a climb to try to win the stage with Isaac (Del Toro).”
The 2026 Tour de France.
After Vingegaard, who started the day in second, crashed out 20km from the finish, suffering what looked like a broken collarbone, Pogačar increased his lead in the overall standings to five minutes.
“I mean, it’s really bad news in the first place for himself, for his team and also for the race that he’s out,” added Evenepoel, who two years ago finished third overall behind Pogačar and Vingegaard. “It’s something you never wish to anybody. After that, you have to refocus and try to go for the maximum.”
The Belgian, a former winner of the Vuelta a España, moved up to second overall. Del Toro climbed from seventh to third, almost a minute behind Evenepoel, and also snared the best young rider’s white jersey from the shoulders of Paul Seixas by 25 seconds.The teenage French prodigy finished fourth, nearly a minute behind the winner, with German Florian Lipowitz on his wheel.
It was a bad day for Spaniard Juan Ayuso, who lost the white jersey to Seixas on Saturday and shed another minute to the Frenchman and almost two minutes to Del Toro as he dropped to sixth overall.
The main drama of the day came when two-time former winner Vingegaard crashed out. The 29-year-old Dane went down hard on a bend as his Visma-Lease a Bike team were setting a fierce pace to chase down the day’s breakaway. Vingegaard was visibly in pain following the crash, which also caused another four riders, including Del Toro, to fall.
The Dane was helped into a medical vehicle with his arm in a sling. Giro d’Italia champion Vingegaard had never before failed to finish a Grand Tour. In his five previous participations at the Tour, he won twice and finished second in the other three.
Monday is a rest day as the tour enters its final week. | AFP
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