Show only key events Please enable JavaScript to use this feature 160km to go: Two sprint teams, Trek-Segafredo and Alpecin, lead the chase, and that means Jumbo-Visma, without Primoz Roglic, need not strain. Instead, Van Aert manages to lead the race, but that’s what the team asked him to back off. They give him a bottle and tell him to slow down, so he stops for a comfort break and soon the field is with him. That leaves Honore and Politt out front, and without Van Aert’s engine to pull them along. Good opportunity. 165km to go: Van Aert and his two teammates look determined to stay away, opening the gap to over two minutes. Nils Politt is no slouch, having come second in Paris-Roubaix in 2019 and winning stage 12 of last year’s tour, from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nimes. The next day the 2021 Tour went to Carcassonne, where Mark Cavendish won the sprint. 175km to go: The chase towards the Van Aert team reduces the advantage a bit, but the Jumbo tactics, which have been exemplary throughout the Tour, look strange. Vingegaard has no support in a peloton-splitting 60-man squad. 185km to go: Why Van Aert is doing this is not clear, although he attempted a similar one in the sixth stage, and got stuck at the end. The gap is 1′ 45″ or so, and the gap is opening. Word from Alberto Contador at Eurosport Motorcycle is that it’s hot, very hot. Alexis Gougeard is the lone chaser, he’s from Team AG2R. But two Trek riders join in the effort. They fly along and splits develop within the peloton. Vingegaard is wise to the move and holds the front. Wout Van Aert leads the breakaway. Photo: Alex Broadway/Getty Images Updated at 13.07 BST 195 km: That’s not easy for anyone, is it? Wout van Aert decides to go forward, despite his role as Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma chandler, and this will make the others work. Quick-Step’s Mikkel Honore, another flying Dane, and Team Bora’s Nils Politt join him as they fly. The other sprinters have a long day to chase if he continues.
And off we go!
Great, riverside scenes as Christian Prudhomme lets them go, waves to calm them down as they bare their teeth before a breakaway attempt. Jonas Vingegaard is slipstreaming the car, but leaves three at the first break, Cofidis’ Ben Thomas idling ahead as they go wild, with no pattern of play in sight. It may take some time to set up.
Roglic withdraws from Le Tour
Primoz Roglic, who has served as superdomestique for Jonas Vingegaard at the Jumbo-Visma team, has dropped out, ostensibly to try to win a fourth successive Vuelta a Espanā. It starts on August 19th. “To allow my injuries to heal properly, we have decided that I will not start,” he said in a press release. “I am proud of my contribution to the current standings and believe that the team will realize our yellow and green ambitions. Thank you all for your great support.” “He suffered a lot all day,” Roglitz’s team manager Richard Plug said on stage on Saturday. It was on the fifth stage that Roglic, runner-up in 2020, went down, dislocated his shoulder and then put it back on himself. Roglic could equal Roberto Geras’ all-time wins if he takes fourth at the Vuelta. 🇫🇷 #TDF2022 Primoz on his #DNS on stage 15 @LeTour “I am proud of my contribution to the current standings and believe that the team will realize our yellow and green ambitions. Thank you all for your great support.” pic.twitter.com/aw0juGFWwO — Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) July 17, 2022 Updated at 11.55 BST This tweet shows the ripples of today’s scene, all culminating in the beautiful walled city of Carcassonne. Updated at 11.47 BST Two Covid withdrawals we know of so far, both Simon Clarke and Magnus Cort won stages earlier in Le Tour. Magnus Cort woke up this morning with a headache and fever and has since tested positive for COVID-19. He will not start stage 15 of the Tour de France. His medical evaluation is ongoing. Heal the champion 🤍♥️ pic.twitter.com/NAGA0ixg8N — EF Pro Cycling (@EFprocycling) July 17, 2022 Following a routine internal test carried out by the team, unfortunately Simon Clarke has returned a positive Covid test. Therefore, Simon will not start stage 15. All other riders tested negative and are ready to race today.____🇫🇷 #TDF2022 — Israel – Premier Tech / Israel Cycling Academy (@IsraelPremTech) July 17, 2022 Jeremy Whittle watched Michael Matthews drive to victory at an airport on Saturday. Matthews, who until his latest success was the rider with the most top-3, top-5 and top-10 finishes but had not won a Grand Tour stage since 2019, finally destroyed his reputation as the almost man of the peloton with a solo victory at Mende Airport, high in Lozère. With temperatures reaching the mid-30s, squad cars and road helpers could hardly keep up with demands for cold drinks and ice. After an initial flurry of attacks led by defending champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE), a breakaway of 23 riders, including Matthews, Bettiol and Pinot, built a lead of more than 10 minutes. William Fotheringham wrote in this week’s Observer about the dominance of the Jumbo-Visma team. Vingegaard’s victory was also a rare example of a decisive Tour stage where team tactics worked to perfection, admittedly helped by Pogacar’s UAE Emirates team reduced in numbers by the Covid-19 virus. However, it was already apparent on several occasions in the first week that the team might not be up to the task ahead. When Wout van Aert attacked to win the Calais stage, the UAE were unable to put numbers around Pogacar. It was the same on the cobbles for Arenberg the next day, when the young Slovenian’s strength masked their weakness. Similarly, when Van Aert made the fruitless long-range attack en route to Longwy the next morning, two of Pogacar’s men were unable to hold off the furious peloton in the middle of the stage.
Preamble
It’s been a long wait for the sprinters in Le Tour, who have spent the last two weeks climbing and descending in the Alps, and were carried over to puncheur stages like this Saturday, when Michael Matthews, ostensibly a sprinter, showed his mettle bringing down a breakaway climber. A breakaway today is a possibility, depending on the legs left in the teams, but the plan will be to field the shredded remains of the sprint teams to bring a finish. And then Wout van Aert, of the dominant team Jumbo-Visma, will probably win as Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar stay tight with each other in the team. This, however, suggests that Le Tour has been something of a predictor, and this year’s has been full of surprises. According to William Fotheringham before the match. On paper, today – finally – favors the sprint teams, but they will face an uphill battle to control things, with a long third category climb 50km from the finish. The sprinters haven’t had a clear sprint day since stage four, so they won’t want to miss this one: let’s hope enough teammates have survived the Alps to keep it together. Stage 15
