July 21/19 21:20 pm - TDF Stages 14 and 15

Posted by Editoress on 07/21/19
 

Stage 14

Thibaut Pinot claimed his third stage win in the Tour de France after Porrentruy 2012 and L'Alpe d'Huez 2015 as he stormed to victory at the top of Tourmalet. Julian Alaphilippe, second on the line with a deficit of six seconds, retained the yellow jersey and extended his lead over Steven Kruijswijk and Geraint Thomas.

17 riders in the lead, including Nibali and Sagan
164 riders took the start of stage 14 in Tarbes. One non-starter: Maximilian Schachmann (BORA-hansgrohe). Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) was the first man to attack after the flag off. Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe) went across to him, forming a duo of former team-mates at Liquigas. With 96km to go, it became a group of 17 riders with the addition of Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida), Matthieu Ladagnous (Groupama-FDJ), Carlos Verona (Movistar), Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates), Lennard Kämna (Sunweb), Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Lilian Calmejane, Romain Sicard and Rein Taaramëe (Total Direct Energie), Ilnur Zakarin and Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin), Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Elie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic). Groupama-FDJ and Deceuninck-Quick Step set the pace at the head of the peloton after counter-attackers Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis) and Simon Geschke (CCC) were reeled in. The time gap was stabilized under three minutes before climbing to the first category col du Soulor.

Tim Wellens first at col du Soulor
Nibali responded to the attack by Wellens 2.5km before the col du Soulor. Gesbert made it across. Nibali showed some interest for the polka dot jersey as he tried to go solo before the summit but Wellens outsprinted him way before the line while the category one climb had made some damage in the yellow jersey group with Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Patrick Konrad (BORA-hansgrohe) among the riders unexpectedly dropped as Ineos and Movistar succeeded to Groupama-FDJ at the helm. Nibali, Wellens and Gesbert kept going in the valley leading to the Tourmalet. Wellens also passed first at the intermediate sprint with 37.5km to go while Movistar put the hammer down at the head of the peloton. The leading trio was caught by five chasers. One of them, Sicard, counter-attacked with 35km remaining.

Gesbert, Barguil and Gaudu in action at the Tourmalet
Sicard started climbing to the Tourmalet alone but Gesbert passed him 16km before the summit and continued solo. A Breton rider succeeded to another one as Gesbert got caught with 10.5km to go and Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) escaped 9.5km before the top. He stayed away for 4km. A third Breton rider attacked 4km before the end: David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ). Jumbo-Visma, the only team with three riders in the 12-man group, brought him back. 12 climbers remained at the front 3km before the end: Pinot, Landa, Fuglsang, Bernal, Thomas, De Plus, Bennett, Kruijswijk, Alaphilippe, Urán, Buchmann and Barguil. Being the defending champion, Thomas was the most notable rider to lose contact before the top. Pinot accelerated 250 metres before the finishing line. Buchmann and Bernal were last to resist but the Frenchman upped the speed again and powered to victory with a 6s gap to Alaphilippe who took one more step in the lead of the overall ranking as he extended his advantage over all of his other rivals.

Stage 15

Simon Yates claimed a second stage win in four days as he rode solo to Foix Prat d'Albis to remain the only breakaway member to fend off Thibaut Pinot and Mikel Landa who escaped from the group of the favourites. Julian Alaphilippe lost contact with defending champion Geraint Thomas but retained the yellow jersey that Pinot can also look for in the Alps after his second exploit in two days in the Pyrenees.

36 riders in the lead
164 took the start of stage 15 in Limoux. Daniel Oss (BORA-hansgrohe), Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale), Lukas Wisnowski (CCC) and Nicolas Roche (Sunweb) managed to clear at km 14 after several unsuccessful skirmishes. They got reeled in at km 23. At km 38, a  breakaway of approximately twenty riders including Romain Bardet, Vincenzo Nibali, Simon Yates and Peter Sagan was formed but the high speed of the peloton quickly put an end to their initiative. A front group of 28 riders took shape at km 55 up to the col de Montségur: Patrick Konrad (BORA-hansgrohe), Romain Bardet and Tony Gallopin (AG2R-La Mondiale), Vincenzo Nibali, Damiano Caruso and Jan Tratnik (Bahrain-Merida), Rudy Molard and Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Nairo Quintana, Andrey Amador and Marc Soler (Movistar), Pello Bilbao, Omar Fraile and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Michael Woods (EF Education First), Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Simon Geschke (CCC), Julien Bernard, Giulio Ciccone and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates), Lennard Kämna and Nicolas Roche (Sunweb), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), Romain Kreuziger (Dimension Data) and Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Amaël Moinard (Arkéa-Samsic).

Woods passed first at col de Montségur ahead of Nibali and Bardet. Counter-attackers Matthias Frank (AG2R-La Mondiale), Michael Matthews (Sunweb), Romain Sicard (Total Direct Energie), Pierre-Luc Périchon and Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Maxime Bouet (Arkéa-Samsic) and Amund Groendahl Jansen (Jumbo-Visma) bridged the gap at km 70.

Bardet first at Port de Lers, Geschke first at Mur de Péguère
Matthews won the intermediate sprint at Tarascon-sur-Ariège (km 93.5). The 36-man leading group split a few times before tackling the ascent to Port de Lers. Bardet crested it in first position 5:15 before the yellow jersey group that swallowed Nibali and Mollema who didn't hold the pace of the front group. Geschke rode away from the leading group 5.5km before the summit of Mur de Péguère. He stayed at the front until the top and was rejoined at the beginning of the downhill by Yates while a quartet of chasers was formed of Bardet, Quintana, Lutsenko and Reichenbach.

Yates holds off Pinot on final climb
Yates and Geschke extended their advantage over the Bardet-Quintana group to 1:40 with 10km to go, just before Mikel Landa (Movistar) came across by himself after having been helped by Soler and Amador. 8.8km before the end, Yates rode away solo. Landa passed Geschke to become the first chaser. Pinot attacked from the yellow jersey group 7km from the Prat d'Albis. The winner of the Tourmalet caught Landa 2km before the end while Alaphilippe couldn't match the speed of Geraint Thomas (Ineos) who had himself surrendered to Pinot before his team-mate Egan Bernal. Yates maintained an advantage of 33s over Pinot and Landa while Alaphilippe fought hard to limit the losses. Now fourth overall with a deficit of 1:50, Pinot is back in contention for the final victory.

Jerseys after Stage 15

Yellow - Overall GC:  Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
Green - Points:  Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe)
Polka Dot - KoM: Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal)
White - Best Young rider: Egan Bernal (Team INEOS)
Best Team: Movistar Team
Combative: Mikel Landa (Movistar Team)

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