Tour de France 2015: Stage 15

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the 102nd Tour de France. Stage 15 sees the riders travel 183km from Mende to Valence.

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We're less than half an hour away from the start of stage 15 of the Tour de France from Mende to Valence and the last few riders are making their way to sign on. It's a slightly cooler start to the day but the temperatures are set to go over 30 once again today.

@friebos Sun, 19th Jul 2015 10:39:25

If you missed the news yesterday, the reason Sky have chosen to take the step to surround themselves with the police this morning is after their leader Chris Froome was doused in urine by a spectator, while his teammates Richie Porte and Luke Rowe were apparently also spat on. Read the full story here.

Amid all the furor that surrounded Chris Froome, there was some much nicer news for the fans to read about after Stephen Cummings delievered MTN-Qhubeka their first Tour de France victory. It was also Cummings' first Tour win also and you can read his reaction here.

Today could be an opportunity for the sprinters but if they want to have hope of even making the sprint they'll have to get over the second category Col de l'Escrinet. Here is today's profile.

@Cyclingnewsfeed Sun, 19th Jul 2015 11:00:19

The riders are rolling through the short neutral section and we can expect racing any moment now.

Nairo Quintana moved into second place after his attack on yesterday's climb. He's still over 3 minutes behind the yellow jersey but he's not being deterred. Read Quintana's reactions here.

The riders are on their way now and they're climbing almost instantly. No attacks just yet.

Despite only being a second category finish, yesterday's stage saw some sizable gaps between the GC riders. Here is how the top 10 looks after that day.

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 56:02:19
2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:10
3 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:03:32
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:02
5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:04:23
6 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:04:54
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:06:23
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:08:17
9 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:08:23
10 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing 0:08:53

Daniel Teklehaimanot made the first attack of the day, bringing 10 riders with. The attack was eventually taken back but we have two riders out front in Liuewe Westra (Astana) and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Garmin).

10km remaining from 183km

The two riders out front have been caught by 21-man counter attack that includes Peter Sagam (Tinkoff-Saxo), Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) and Serge Pauwels (MTN-Qhubeka).

The pace is high on this opening climb and a number of riders have been distanced, including Peter Kennaugh, Mark Cavendish and one of yesterday's escapees Simon Yates.

Serge Pauwels takes the two points at the top of the climb with Lieuwe Westra taking the other point available. Despite passing the KOM point, there is still some climbing to do. The leaders currently have 22 seconds on the peloton.

A number of riders have bridge over to the front group, including Rigoberto Uran and Joaquim Rodríguez. The latter is wearing the polka-dot jersey but looking to take it outright. He's only got nine points to make up on Froome. Here are the mountains standings as of this morning.

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 61 pts
2 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 52
3 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 41
4 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky 40
5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 38
6 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 32
7 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 32
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 32
9 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 28
10 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team 28

So we have 27 riders out front currently with a 45-seconds gap on the peloton. Strap in, because here's the full list of escapees as it stands.

Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Garmin), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale), Serge Pauwels (MTN-Qhubeka), Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), Cyril Gautier (Eruopcar), Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha), Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep), Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal), Simon Geschke (Giant-Alpecin), Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing), Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin), José Herrada (Movistar), Paul Voss (Bora-Argon 18), Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep), Kristjan Durasek (Lampre-Merida), Winner Anacona (Movistar), Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida), Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Perrig Quimeneur (Europcar), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Garmin).

164km remaining from 183km

Despite having Rodríguez in the break, Katusha are pulling on the front of the peloton. They don't want to give the break too much room as their sprinter Alexander Kristoff is in with a shout of victory in Valence.

Of course, Rodríguez isn't the only jersey wearer in the break. Peter Sagan is also in there, most likely looking to take the points at the intermediate sprint. He did the same yesterday and extended his lead over André Greipel in the green jersey competition. This is how it stands at the moment.

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo 322 pts
2 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 261
3 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin 228
4 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx - Quick-Step 192
5 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Team Europcar 120
6 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 112
7 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 109
8 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step 78
9 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 77
10 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 76

It's an interesting move by Sagan. He obviously wants to increase his lead over Greipel but he's also a contender for the stage win. The break is still only 45 seconds up but if they are successful then he is the clear favourite for the win. If they don't make it then perhaps he's ruined any chance at the win. It's a gamble from Sagan.

@veloropa Sun, 19th Jul 2015 11:45:25

Jean Christophe Peraud has been dropped by the main peloton on this traverse to the next climb. He's still struggling with his injuries following a crash earlier this week.

As the peloton close in on the escapees, the leading group has split into two. There are now 10 riders in the lead with 17 chasing them. the 10 who have made it out front are: Pinot, Rogers, Sagan, Bak, Geschke, A. Yates, Kwiatkowski, Trentin and Hesjedal.

Sorry that's nine riders.

139km remaining from 183km

The peloton have caught up with the chasers and they are now 41 seconds behind the nine escapees. There is a third group of stragglers, including Mark Cavendish, that are a further 30 seconds down.

Sebastian Langeveld has abandoned, he was struggling very early on in the stage.

132km remaining from 183km

This nine-man group is much more manageable for the peloton than the previous 27 strong group that first got away. The peloton are sitting up and the gap has grown to 1:05.

A reminder of who the nine men out front are: Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Michael Rogers and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal), Siomn Geschke (Giant-Alpecin), Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge), Michal Kwiatkowski and Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin)

Of that group, Sagan is the favourite for the win but you can't discount the speedy Matteo Trentin. The Italian beat Sagan into Nancy last year so can certainly hold his own against the Tinkoff-Saxo rider.

With yet another day in the break, Michal Kwiatkowski is on course to take the super combatif prize in Paris. He's already been awarded the combativity prize twice in this Tour de France and we can expect him to try something off the front of this leading group at some point today, giving Etixx a number of options today.

@inrng Sun, 19th Jul 2015 12:18:41

120km remaining from 183km

Yesterday's stage winner Stephen Cummings sitting on the back of the peloton, his preferred position when he's not gunning for the victory.

117km remaining from 183km

The gap for the escapees has gone out to two minutes as the Cavendish group at the back continues to lose ground. Etixx will be hoping that this move sticks.

The riders have two fourth cat climbs in quick succession, the Col du Bez and the Col de la Croix, before a long descent into the vallery.

It is an interesting mix of riders in this leading group, with a couple of sprinters, some pretty strong climbers and some strong rouleurs. Michael Rogers can help Sagan if it comes to a sprint from this group but he's a stage contender on his own and he could go on the attack late on. Simon Geschke and Lars Bak are also wildcards in this group and could upset things with an attack.

@Laura_Meseguer Sun, 19th Jul 2015 12:38:45

The leaders have dispatched with the second and third climbs of the day with Pinot taking points on the first and Rogers rolling through to claim the second.

Thibaut Pinot is the best placed rider in this escape group at 30:57 down on the overall classification. He was also in the break yesterday and came close to a stage win but was out done by Steve Cummings. The Frenchman was bitterly disappointed. Read what he and his fellow Frenchman Romain Bardet said after the stage.

Katusha have been doing most of the work in the early part of this stage but Sky take over on this lengthy descent. Luke Rowe is the rider on the front and he has Chris Froome on his wheel.

There are around 20 kilometres of descending for the riders before they hit a series of small lumps and the intermediate sprint. Another 20 points available for Sagan there.

@Cyclingnewsfeed Sun, 19th Jul 2015 12:51:06

97km remaining from 183km

This descent is now easy challenge. It's very twisting and the better descenders have pulled out a small gap. The roads are slightly damp as well, but it doesn't appear to be from the rain.

However, rain has been predicted in the next 15 minutes. It's pretty warm again today but there are some ominous clouds overhead.

It appears that Sagan, Rogers, Kwiatkowski and Treintin have got a bit of a distance on their fellow escapees through this wet bit of road. Will they try to hold this gap at the bottom or will they push on?

93km remaining from 183km

The gap between the leading four and the five chasers is 10 seconds as we continue down this descent. The peloton keep the advantage level though at a touch over two minutes.

As to road levels out a bit, the nine escapees come back together. They now have 2:24 on the peloton going into the valley.

The dropped Cavendish group is now 5:40 back on the peloton and 8:04 behind the leaders. Arnaud Démare is also back in that group but sprinters such as Greipel, Kristoff and Degenkolb are all in the main peloton. So there is a lot of interest in making sure this break doesn't stay away all day.

88km remaining from 183km

For now, though, Team Sky seem happy to let the advantage edge out to 2:44. Richie Porte looking very comfortable as he laughs and jokes with one of his teammates.

As the weather man predicted, it did rain briefly but it appears to be dry once more. The little dousing will be quite welcome from the riders in this heat.

At 22, Adam Yates is the youngest rider in the breakaway. His brother Simon was in the break yesterday. This is Adam's debut Tour de France but he's already been making waves with a strong performance in the opening day of the Alps. He's proved a strong GC rider in his first two years as a pro with 9th overall at Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this year and overall victory at the Tour of Turkey in 2014.

@TeamMTNQhubeka Sun, 19th Jul 2015 13:16:42

76km remaining from 183km

Now they are down in the valley, Sky have moved off the front - happy that they have kept their leaders safe - and Katusha resume their position at the helm. The gap quickly falls to 2:14 under their pace setting.

Michael Rogers suffered a puncture but he is safely back in the leading group with just under 1km to the intermediate sprint.

Peter Sagan pulls out a small gap on the escape group just to ensure he takes the points but there is no contest and he takes the 20 points easily and extends his lead at the top of the points classification.

The peloton are approaching the intermediate sprint and we now see Giant and Lotto moving to the front to grab the remaining points available. Degenkolb leads Greipel over the line at 1:55 behind the break. There was no real contest there though.

69km remaining from 183km

With the intermediate sprint done and dusted it will be interested to see how this plays out. Will Sagan wait for the peloton or keep trying to push it with the break in the hope that they can go the whole way, which seems unlikely with the gap going to under two minutes ahead of this second category climb.

65km remaining from 183km

Under this new impetus from the peloton, the gap has been brought this gap to 1:35. We're likely to see the better climbers strike out when we hit this second category climb the Col de l'Escrinet.

There was lots of news coming out of yesterday, some good, some very bad. One of the more bizarre was the Disqualification of Eduardo Sepulveda for riding in the FDJ car for 300 metres when he suffered a puncture. Read the full story here.

61km remaining from 183km

Katusha continue to push on as they hit the climb. The gap is just 1:42 between the leaders and the main group. It could all be over by the top of the climb.

The escapees have got 5km to the top of the climb and Peter Sagan doesn't look like he's in a good place right now. He's got his jersey zipped down almost to the bottom and he's pulling a few faces. These five kilometres are going to feel like an age for the Tinkoff rider.

Thomas Voeckler and Perrig Quemeneur have moved near the front to help Katusha. Are they planning something? Quemeneur was part of that 27-man group that went early on.

@letourdata Sun, 19th Jul 2015 13:48:11

The temperatures have gone above 30 degrees once again and rumour has it we could be in for even hotter weather when we hit the alps. Don't tell the riders that.

The Cavendish group is now 9:14 behind the leading group. Also in that group is Jean Christophe Peraud and Simon Yates, who is obviously feeling the efforts of yesterday's attack.

56km remaining from 183km

Closing in on the top of this climb, the GC teams (and Thomas Voeckler) are on the front of the peloton now. Richie Porte is there for team Sky and Tinkoff have sent Roman Kreuziger up too.

Valverde for Movistar and Schar for BMC are also near the front. This is a long descent and they want to be close to the front to stay safe. Voeckler leads the bunch through the KOM at just 1:19 behind out nine leaders.

It was Pinot who took the points from the leading group, adding five points to his tally. He took one earlier on today also. He's no threat to the mountains classification though.

There are two Sky riders on the front of the peloton on this descent. Alberto Contador has latched onto the back Tinkoff-Saxo have latched onto the back of them with Froome the fifth rider in the group.

If you haven't done it already, take a listen to the latest episode of the Cyclingnews podcast.

47km remaining from 183km

With the gap at almost a minute, Trentin has decided to have a go on his own as his teammate Kwiatkowski almost comes down as he connects with some road furniture.

Simon Geschke is trying to chase Trentin down but he doesn't have much of a gap or much of a chance right now.

The gruppetto is still climbing and losing time. They're now over 11 minutes back and it's all about conserving energy and making the time cut.

42km remaining from 183km

Trentin is going hard but he's only got 12 seconds on the chasers. It's going to be very hard to hold this gap with so much flat to come.

Geschke is back with the other escapees and now Hesjedal tries his luck.

Trentin pulls his advantage over Hesjedal out to 20 seconds as he nears the bottom of this descent. A long way to go though.

The other seven chasers are 40 seconds back and about to get caught by the peloton so it's just two riders out front With Trentin about 17 seconds ahead of Hesjedal.

37km remaining from 183km

Hesjedal has almost made it over to Trentin but the pair have just 43 seconds over the group.

Peter Sagan has a puncture and he's making his way back through the cars. After spending the day in the break, his chances of a stage win may be done.

A replay shows a curious incident between a cameraman and one of the Tinkoff mechanics. As Sagan receives his new wheel, the mechanic flings a bottle towards the camera.

32km remaining from 183km

The gap between the the two escapees and the peloton is just 26 seconds now.

We get another replay and it seems that the camera bike tried to pull in behind Sagan when he stopped for a new wheel and got in the way of the mechanics. He gets a kick from Sagan and a bottle from the mechanic later on.

29km remaining from 183km

It's all over for Trentin and Hesjedal. It was always going to be a tough ask to hold off all the sprinters' teams with almost 30km of flat roads.

@inrng Sun, 19th Jul 2015 14:25:10

Lotto, Katusha and Europcar all on the front working for their sprinters Greipel, Kristoff and Coquard respectively. Of course there is also Degenkolb and Sagan in the peloton.

In a normal sprint, Greipel would be the favourite but that second category climb changes things. It will all depend on how the German feels after it.

The finale of this stage is not easy. There are three roundabouts and a hairpin bend in the final 5km. One of those roundabouts comes in the final kilometre. There is also a slight rise in the road through all of that, but the final kilometre is almost pan flat.

20km remaining from 183km

Europcar are the most present at the front. It looks like they've put their whole team on the front to help Coquard. He's a current track world champion in the Madison and this is his second Tour de France.

Noticeably absent from the front of this group is Giant-Alpecin. John Degenkolb has been very close on a number of occasions during this Tour, is he trying to keep his head down now or is he not on form?

16km remaining from 183km

The Jean Christophe Peraud/ Mark Cavendish group are still plugging along at over 12 mintues down. Cavendish does a brief turn on the front before Renshaw takes it up.

MTN-Qhubeka are also looming near the front. They've got Edvald Boasson Hagen. He's unlikely to be a match for some of the other sprinters but who knows?

It seems like the calm before the storm now. The pace isn't too high for now but that's going to change very quickly.

Lampre also move to the front for Davide Cimolai. They've lost Rui Costa so Cimolai might be their best chance to take a win at this year's Tour. Sam Bennett for Bora is also a potential contender. He told Cyclingnews that he was struggling to recover from an illness at the start of the Tour but he is improving.

10km remaining from 183km

10km to go and there are a lot of teams trying to move to the front. The GC teams are banging elbows with the sprint teams. BMC lead the way.

After spending his second straight day int he break, Sagan has won the most combative rider award. Can he add a stage win to that too?

8km remaining from 183km

BMC putting plenty of riders up front. Greg Van Avermaet is being let of the team duty though. Does he fancy himself for a second stage win?

Michael Matthews also appears to be in this group and he's on the end of the BMC train. He's been really struggling after his stage three crash, let's see how he goes in this finish.

6km remaining from 183km

Jan Barta goes for a flyer but BMC are chasing him down.

5km remaining from 183km

Barta is caught and now Kwiatkowski goes but he can't get away.

Giant Alpecin finally moving towards the front. They kept very quiet in that run in. BMC still controlling things.

These roads are pretty narrow and the teams are having to really battle to get to the front.

4km remaining from 183km

Lars Bak leading Lotto to the front after making it into the break earlier today.

Mercifully the road widens as we close in on the 3km to go banner. Lots of teams interested in this.

Stybar attacks

Stybar has a gap and Lotto are chasing him down. Can they catch him.

The sprinters teams seem to be looking at each other. It's a similar situation to Le Havre where he last won. Can he beat the peloton for the second time?

Stybar has 2km to go but he's only got a small gap. This is going to be close.

Tinkoff now pulling the peloton with Katusha. 1.7km to go.

They hit the uphill ramp and Matthews goes to the front but fades quickly.

Stybar caught with 1km to go.

Bora attack again. Looks like Jose Mendez.

He's caught and now it's Katusha on the front. Kristoff is second wheel with Greipel just behind him.

Degenkolb, Sagan and Coquard all in there.

Greipel leads the sprint

Looks like Greipel got it but it was close

Degenkolb took second, with Kristoff third and Sagan in fourth

Coquard almost had a crash in the middle of the sprint when his chain came off but fortunately he was able to stay upright.

That is Greipel's third of the race, equal to his best performance in 2012.

Greipel takes 50 points for that sprint but Sagan retains his lead in the green jersey classification.

@mrconde Sun, 19th Jul 2015 15:06:07

Here is the top 10 from today's stage.

1 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
2 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
3 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN - Qhubeka
6 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
7 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
8 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
9 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida
10 Florian Vachon (Fra) Bretagne-Séché Environnement

There were no changes in the overall classification with all the main contenders making it through safely.

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:10
3 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:03:32
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:02
5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:04:23
6 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:04:54
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:06:23
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:08:17
9 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:08:23
10 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek Factory Racing 0:08:53

Stage winner André Gripel had this to say after the stage: "The key factor today was suffering from kilometre zero right until the end. The whole team from kilometre zero kept me out of the wind and tried to keep me in the group. I worked really hard to stay with the bunch but in the end we made it perfect to keep me in a good position for the sprint and I just went full gas in the last 250 metres and kept it until the line and I’m really proud of my team and also of myself."

A shot of Michal Kwiatkowski leading the breakaway earlier today.

@letour Sun, 19th Jul 2015 15:26:33

Michael Matthews appeared to be very ticked off with Cofidis rider Christophe Laporte. This is what he said after the stage.

“There’s people doing crazy things in finals for no reason. It’s just making it unsafe for the rest of the riders. Using head and elbows and everything. It’s just not safe racing, really.

“Yeah, definitely (had a chance to win) but when riders ride crazy like this it puts too much risk in the bunch sprints. When you’re trying to sprint at 70k an hour and someone head-butts yous that makes things quite dangerous.”
 

We've already got a full report on today's action and we're building a gallery and full results. Check it all out here.

Chris Froome stayed safe today, here is what he said at the end of the day.

“It was a good day out there and a great atmosphere out on the roads. There were no unfortunate incidents today. We’re here to do a job and obviously that takes preference . What happened yesterday was unfortunate and hopefully that’s not going to happen again now.

“If you think, before the Champs Élysées we’ve got five real racing stages left so we’re really into the tail end of the race now. You can see the tired bodies out there on the road. I think we’re in an extremely fortunate position, we’ve still got nine riders , everyone is fit and healthy. We’re just hoping to get through to the next rest day and then go for the last part of the race."

@GeraintThomas86 Sun, 19th Jul 2015 15:57:25

As ever, we'll have a podcast after today's stage but you can listen to yesterday's right here.

That is all from us today, stick with Cyclingnews for all the reaction from today's stage and tune in tomorrow for live coverage of stage 16. Remember, you can find our report, results and gallery from today's stage right here.