Tour de France: Magnus Cort wins stage 15 in Carcassonne

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Magnus Cort (Astana) took the second consecutive stage win for Astana Sunday at the Tour de France, winning the sprint of a three-man group in the 15th stage to Carcassonne. Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) took second, with Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) third.

Part of the large break that got away some 40km into the day, Cort made the selection on the day's only first category climb - the Pic de Nore, which peaked 41.5km from the line. As Rafał Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) detonated the group with an attack midway up the mountain, Cort banded together with Mollema to keep in touch some 30 seconds back.

Several groups of the fractured break came together shortly after the descent, making a lead group of eight men, including Cort's teammate Michael Valgren. When the attacks for the stage win began, Cort made it to the lead group of three, just having to wait for the sprint to easily outclass the two men with him.

"It's amazing. It's what I've been dreaming of even before I started riding a bike," Cort said after the stage. "It's my first year here at the Tour and I'm so happy to take a victory. I have to thank my team a lot for giving me this chance and really believing in me - especially also with Michael [Valgren] in the final."

"It really was perfect and my sports directors had a really big belief in me. THey were the ones who came with this tactic many days ago, they already said that this is the stage for me. Everything worked out perfectly and I'm so happy."

The Team Sky-led peloton rolled in 13:11 down having enjoyed a largely drama-free day. The overall general classification remains unchanged heading into Monday's rest day, while Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) once again nabbed more points to add to their respective points and mountain classification leads.

How it happened

Stage 15 of the Tour, the final transition stage before the rest day and then the Pyrenees, ran 181.5km from Millau to Carcassonne ‒ possible ambush territory given the third, second and first category climbs en route.

First up, among the trio of sharp climbs that started the day, was the Côte de Luzençon (3.1km at 5.9 per cent) just 9km into the day. The category two Col de Sié (10.2km at 4.9 per cent) came after 64.5km, before a long and lumpy 'descent' into the valley before the main climb of the day - the 12.3km, 6.3 per cent Pic de Nore, which came after 140km. A largely downhill 41.5km to the finish followed, raising the possibility of a GC ambush on the climb.

A fast start to the day saw Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) once again try to go at the gun. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) also tried an early move but neither made it away. Meanwhile Arnaud Dé-mare (Groupama-FDJ) was among the first to drop from the peloton, losing contact on the early third category climb.

Before a break was established, Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) leapt out to take the maxi-mum two points on said climb. A large number of attacks were launched soon after, but the Team Sky-led peloton weren't keen to let anything go in the first 20km.

A large break was only allowed away over 40km into the day, with the gap soon zooming up to over three minutes. It was made up of Peter Sagan, Paweł Poljański and Rafał Majka (all Bora-Hansgrohe); Lilian Calmejane and Fabien Grellier (both Direct Énergie); Greg Van Avermaet (BMC); Bauke Mollema, Julian Bernard and Toms Skujiņš (all Trek-Segafredo); Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data); Dome-nico Pozzovivo, Sonny Colbrelli and Ion Izagirre (all Bahrain-Merida); Daniel Martínez (Education First-Drapac); Daryl Impey and Damien Howson (both Mitchelton-Scott); Arthur Vichot (Groupama-FDJ); Amaël Moinard and Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Samsic); Magnus Cort and Michael Valgren (both Astana); Jesús Herrada (Cofidis); Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb); Imanol Erviti, Marc Soler and Daniele Bennati (all Movistar); Silvan Dillier (AG2R La Mondiale); and Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors).

As the break hit the day's second climb - the Col de Sié - they rode into the department Tarn, home of Calmejane. The Frenchman attacked on the climb, ensuring he led the Tour into his home region, collecting the mountain points but finding himself all alone with over 110km to go and a 1:15 advantage.

Just 10 kilometres later, Calmejane dropped back to the break, realising such a long solo was probably not wise move after all. That wasn't the end of the attacks though, as his teammate Grellier was very active over the next 20km. He eventually got away with Bernard just before the day's intermediate sprint, situated at the base of the Pic de Nore began.

Midway up the climb, with 50km to race, the duo enjoyed a 1:30 advantage over the remainder of the break, and a gap of over 13 minutes back to the peloton. It soon evaporated though, with Majka attacking from the break while Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) went on the offensive back in the peloton.

The Pole led over the top, battling the crosswinds on the exposed section of road at the top of climb. Cort and Mollema gave pursuit 25 seconds back, while a group consisting of Calmejane, Skujiņš, Pozzovivo, Izagirre and Valgren lay a further 15 seconds in arrears. Dan Martin crested the peak 12 minutes later, a minute ahead of the peloton but facing a lonely 40km run to the finish.

A regrouping at the front with 15km to go saw the lead group swell to eight as Martin's effort came to an end after the at the same time, with more exposed and windy roads leading to the finish in Carcassonne. Heading inside the last 10km, the break began to attack one another.

After Pozzovivo kicked off the festivities, a group of three emerged, with Cort, Izagirre and Mollema making it to the front of the race. Despite an attempt from Izagirre to get away, the Astana sprinter was always the favourite to win.

Cort led from the front, checking around for any flyers from behind, and went on to launch his sprint as Izagirre went first with 250 metres to go. More or less the confirmed stage winner as soon as he made the front group, all that was left was to confirm it. 

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