Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) achieves his first success on the roads of the Tour de France. The Belgian rider sprints ahead of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) during the 15th stage of the Tour de France, Sunday July 17, in Carcassonne. The wearer of the yellow jersey, Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo), fell during the stage but finished in the peloton.
Entering the third and final week of racing, Vingegaard lost two leading riders, who could have helped him in the mountains. Slovenian Primoz Roglic, who suffers from his shoulder and back injuries, gave up before the start in Rodez and Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk fell 64 kilometers from the finish. Vingegaard fell 56 kilometers from Carcassonne, with another rider from his team (Benoot). The jersey darkened at the level of the left shoulder, he returned to the peloton two kilometers further.
The race was opened for a long time by the German Nils Politt and the Dane Mikkel Honoré, who started at the front from the 6th kilometer in the company of the green jersey Wout van Aert. The Belgian initially provided powerful relays but got up after about forty kilometers, at the request of his Jumbo team. In overwhelming heat, Politt and Honoré were joined before the last 50 kilometers by the peloton led at high speed by the Trek team on the last climb of the course in order to outrun several sprinters (Jakobsen, Ewan). Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen returned for his part after an intense hunt from his teammates.
In the lead, the French Alexis Gougeard and Benjamin Thomas came out 48 kilometers from the finish. Despite a limited lead of around thirty seconds, they held on until the approach of Carcassonne. Thomas, who often shone on the track, resisted alone in his chaser style. He was only overrun 500 yards from the line.
Philipsen, 24, won the one-wheel sprint ahead of van Aert and Denmark’s Mads Pedersen. The Belgian had never won in the Tour in which he is participating for the third time. Winner of three stages of the Vuelta, he won his 19th success since his professional debut in 2019, his 5th of the current year.
