2023 Tour de France by BikeRaceInfo (original) (raw)

110th edition: July 1-23, 2023

Stage 15: Sunday, July 16, 2023

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Sunday, July 16: Stage 15, Les Gets Les Portes du Soleil - Saint Geravis Mont Blanc, 179 km

Stage 15 map & profile, w/profile of final 12 km | Stage 15 photos

Wout Poels wins stage 15.

Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2021: The Little Cannibal Dominates is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, on the route, 8 km from the finish at 1:20 PM, local time: 26C (79F), sunny, with the wind from the west at 13 km/hr (8 mph). There is a 10% chance of rain.

Rated ascents:

• Km 82.8: Col de la Forclaz de Montmin, 7.2 km @ 7.3%. Cat. 1
• Km 124.5: Col de la Croix Fry, 11.3 km @ 7%. Cat. 1
• Km 133.3: Col des Aravis, 4.4 km @ 5.8%. Cat. 3
• Km 170.6: Côte des Amerands, 2.7 km @ 10.9%. Cat. 2
• Km 179: Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc le Bettex, 7 km @ 7.7%. Cat 1

The race: 157 riders began stage 15 at 1:26. Daniel Martinez, who crashed yesterday and suffered a concussion did not start.

After two motorbikes blocked Tadej Pogacar at the top of the Joux Plane in stage 14, the two moto pilots and their passengers were banned from stage 15 and were fined 500 Swiss Francs. Another moto, which was carrying a photographer was also banned for one stage and fined because the driver did not follow race directions.

Attacks went off from the gun, but after 16 kilometers of racing that saw a temporary split, the peloton was intact. That didn't last long and by kilometer 23 there were nine riders fifteen seconds ahead of the pack.

A few kilometers later they were caught. 29 kilometers into the stage Nils Politt got away. Alaphilippe, Paret-Peintre and Lutsenko bridged up to him and by the 33rd kilometer the escape had a 30-second lead. Wout van Aert and Marc Soler then made it across.

More crossed the gap and by kilometer 37 there was a front group of 27.

Julian Alaphilippe and Alexey Lutsenko escaped the front group and after 50 kilometers of racing the pair were were 35 seconds ahead of the van Aert break and the peloton a bit less than a minute behind the pair.

Escaped riders Alexey Lutsenko and Julian Alaphilippe.

At kilometer 52 there was a big crash in the peloton caused by a spectator taking a selfie who got too far into the road. “Someone taking a selfie on the side of the road,” said Eurosport commentator Dan Lloyd. “It was one of the Jumbo riders who was clipped by them enough that he lost control … just somebody stepping too far out, trying to take a picture, clipping the riders who are hugging one side of the road to the other, and this is the consequence of that.”

“An arm came out and clipped a shoulder, and down we all came like skittles,” said Carlton Kirby on Eurosport.

The individual made contact with Sepp Kuss, according to the BBC. The Team Jumbo-Visma rider fell, causing others to follow on a narrow section of a road.

All the riders were able to remount.

Come the day's first rated climb, the first-category Col de la Forclaz de Montmin, Lutsenko and Alaphilippe were 35 seconds ahead of the break and 8 minutes 30 seconds ahead of the peloton. Alaphilippe struggled to stay with Lutsenko on the climb, but they went over together, Lutsenko first.

Lutsenko leads Alaphilippe over the Forclaz de Montmin

With 85 kilometers to go Lutsenko and Alaphilippe were caught by the break.

The situation with 77 kilometers to go: A break of 35 riders was 7 minutes 23 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group, which had 101 riders. 10 minutes 39 seconds behind the break were 20 dropped riders.

Two kilometers later Marco Haller (Bora-hansgrohe) went clear from the break. With 65 kilometers to go and the slopes of the Col de la Croix Frix about to bite, Haller was 53 seconds ahead of the break.

Rui Costa left the break and began chasing Haller and with 62 kilometers to go, he caught him. That wasn't enough, Rui Costa dropped Haller and took off on his own. Costa didn't have enough suds to stay away and 1.3 kilometers from the top of the Croix Fry the break caught him.

Giulio Ciccone was the first to the Croix Fry's summit, followed by Wout van aert and Rigoberto Uran.

With 50 kilometers to go the lead group consisted of: Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost), Mikel Landa, Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), Giulio Ciccone, Mathias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Guillaume Martin, Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Alex Aranburu (Movistar), Chris Hamilton (DSM-Firmenich), Hugo Houle, Krists Neilands (Israel-PremierTech), Lawson Craddock (Jayco-AlUla), Warren Barguil, Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-Samsic), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Torstein Traeen (Uno-X), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies). The yellow jersey group was 6 minutes 10 seconds back.

Two kilometers later Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) left the lead group and was first over the third-category Col des Aravis. Wout van Aert was second.

On the descent of the Aravis, Chris Hamilton and Rigoberto Uran went down after missing a curve.

With 42 kilometers to go there were three riders in front: Wout van Aert, Marc Soler and Krists Neilands. The big break group followed at 15 seconds and the peloton was 6 minutes 30 seconds back. Soon Wout Poels made it up to the lead trio.

The break at 35 kilometers to go: Marc Soler, Wout Poels & Wout van Aert. Photo: ASO/Pauline Ballet

Neilands crashed on the descent. With 30 kilometers to race there was a group of 11 that included Guillaume Martin, Thibaut Pinot and Mikel Landa 40 seconds behind the lead trio of van Aert, Poels and Soler.

The break of van Aert, Poels & Soler.

On the descent Marc Soler was dropped from the lead trio. Wout Poels & Wout van Aert began climbing the Côte des Amerands, the stage's penultimate climb.

With about 11 kilometers to go Wout Poels dropped Wout van Aert.

9 kilometers to go: Poels is 34 seconds ahead of Soler and van Aert.

Poels was first over the Côte des Amerands with Soler & van Aert 30 seconds back. A chasing group of 11 riders was 2 minutes back.

4 kilometers to go: Wout Poels first, Wout van Aert at 53 seconds, Marc Soler at 1 minute 26 seconds and a chase group of twelve riders at 2 minutes 38 seconds. The peloton, led at a blistering pace up the mountain by UAE Team Emirates, with Vingegaard & Pogacar was 7 minutes 4 seconds behind Poels.

That thinned the yellow jersey group down to Pogacar, Majka, Adam Yates, Vingegaard, Kuss, Benoot, Gaudu and Rodriguez with 3 kilometers to go.

Then it was just Yates, Vingegaard and Pogacar.

Wout Poels kept pulling away and with one kilometer to go he was 1 minute 40 seconds ahead of Wout van aert.

Wout Poels, alone, in front, and with one kilometer to go.

He did it! At 35 years old Wout Poels won the stage, his first Grand Tour victory. Wout van Aert came in 2 minutes 8 seconds later, followed by Mathieu Burgaudeau, Lawson Craddock and Mikel Landa.

Back with the yellow jersey, Adam Yates dropped Pogacar and Vingegaard. Rodriguez bridged up to Yates.

Vingegaard and Pogacar climb together to the finish. Sirotti photo

With a kilometer to go Pogacar attacked Vingegaard, but Vingegaard stayed with him. The two finished together (Pogacar first) 6 minutes 4 seconds after Poels crossed the line.

Here's the race organizer's stage 15 report:

Wout Poels claimed his first stage win at the Tour de France at the age of 35 after spending many years at the service of great leaders. The best personal result of the 2016 Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner in the Grande Boucle was third at Andorra in 2021 until he soloed to victory at St-Gervais Mont-Blanc. Wout van Aert and Mathieu Burgaudeau rounded out the podium while Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar arrived together once again.

ALPAHILIPPE AND LUTSENKO ON THE ATTACK
The start proper of stage 15 has been given to 157 riders at 13.26. One non-starter: Dani Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers). Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was the first attacker of the day but the peloton reacted to all initial offensives. A split occurred in the bunch after 10km of racing with Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) and Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën) caught behind but it was all together again at km 16. Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Bettiol, Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Ben O’Connor (Ag2r-Citröen), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Matthew Dinham (DSM-Firmenich), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) made an interesting move but were also reined in at km 26. Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) rode away solo at km 29. He was joined by riders like Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) in several moves. Alaphilipe and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) escaped from a 27-man leading group after 42km of racing.

MARTIN IN A 39-MAN LEADING GROUP
A group of 37 was formed behind the leading duo when a crash occurred in the peloton at km 52, putting an end to the chase. It was composed of Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Omar Fraile (Ineos Grenadiers), Olivier Le Gac, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Andrey Amador, Magnus Cort, Powless, Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost), Mikel Landa, Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), Marco Haller, Patrik Konrad, Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), Giulio Ciccone, Mathias Skjelmose, Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek), Nans Peters (Ag2r-Citröen), Van der Poel, Soren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Guillaume Martin, Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Alex Aranburu (Movistar), Chris Hamilton (DSM-Firmenich), Michael Woods, Hugo Houle, Krists Neilands, Dylan Teuns (Israel-PremierTech), Lawson Craddock, Luka Mezgec, Chris Juul-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Warren Barguil, Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-Samsic), Tobias Halland Johannessen, Torstein Traeen (Uno-X) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies). The peloton crossed the line of the intermediate sprint at Bluffy (km 72) eight minutes after Alaphilippe and Lutsenko. With 85km remaining, it became a lead group of 39 riders. Haller took off 10km further.

POELS ALONE AT CÔTE DES AMERANDS
Rui Costa overhauled Haller to become the lone leader in the ascent to col de la Croix Fry 60km before the end but he was brought back by 19 chasers 1.3km before the summit. Ciccone crested in first place. Soler attacked in the following climb. The Spaniard was later joined by Van Aert, Poels and Neilands who crashed in a downhill. Poels rode away solo up the côte des Amerands with 10.7km remaining. The yellow jersey group was reduced to the lone Adam Yates along with Vingegaard and Pogacar in the last ten kilometres of racing. Yates rode away from the duellists who were rejoined for a while by Carlos Rodriguez before Pogacar launched his first attack under the red flame of the last kilometre Vingegaard managed to stick to his wheel without any difficulty and retained the yellow jersey before the second rest day.

Complete results:

Photos

179 kilometers raced at an average speed of 38.255 km/hr

GC after Stage 15:

• GC leader: Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)
• Mountains classification leader: Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek)
• Points classification leader: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
• Best young rider: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
• Teams classification leader: Jumbo-Visma)

2,606.9 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 41.663 km/hr

Stage 15 map & profile:

Map of 2023 Tour de France stage 15

Profile of 2023 Tour de France stage 15

Profile of the finishing climb

Stage 15 photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

Astana rider Gianni Moscon heads to the start.

Victor Campenaerts

Groupama-FDJ rider Stefan Küng before the stage.

Let there be no doubt. This stage is in the Alps.

The peloton descends.

GC leader Jonas Vingegaard

Vingegaard and Pogacar race for the finish.

Stage winner Wout Poels is close to the finish.

Wout Poels wins stage 15.

Wout van Aert was second

Third-place Mathieu Burgaudeau looks back.

Guillaume Martin was seventh.

8th place Mattias Skjelmose Jensen

Vingegaard and Pogacar finished 16th & 17th.

Adam Yates riding to 18th.

Carlos Rodriguez finished 19th

Jai Hindley was 25th @ 7min 58sec

Neilson Powless was 49th

Five time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault was there.

Stage winner Wout Poels

Points classification leader Jasper Philipsen

Giulio Ciccone is the new King of the Mountains.

Tadej Pogacar remains the owner of the white jersey for the Best Young Rider.

Jonas Vingegaard will be in Yellow on Tuesday when he starts stage 16.