- Tour de France: Wout Poels blasts to blockbuster stage 15 solo victory
Stage result
General classification
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 15 of the 2023 Tour de France!
A look at today's official stage 15 profile.
And the map of the stage.
Just under an hour to go until the riders roll out to start the day.
Yesterday we saw a titanic battle between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar as Carlos Rodríguez punched away on the final descent to Morzine to take the stage win and move up to third overall.
A look at the stage 15 result.
And the new GC top 10 after Vingegaard gained a second on Pogačar.
Around 30 minutes to go until the stage start in Les Gets.
There were 158 finishers and seven abandons on yesterday's crash-hit stage 14. So far, no news of anyone else leaving the race overnight.
Yesterday brought an early mass pileup in the peloton which saw the race neutralised, while Romain Bardet and James Shaw crashed out shortly after the restart.
All riders have signed on now and we're moments away from the start of the stage.
Three first-category climbs plus a second-category and third-category today. There should be a big fight for the break early on.
Off we go! Riders roll out into the neutral zone of 11.5km.
Ineos Grenadiers have just reported that Dani Martínez is out of the race after crashing yesterday. They say that their team doctor detected signs of a concussion.
Three of the jersey holders at the start (though Vingegaard is now the rightful holder of the polka dot jersey).
6km of the neutral zone remaining.
1km to go until the flag drops. This is a very long neutral zone...
179km to go
No attacks just yet.
Mathieu van der Poel is the first to make a move!
He goes on the short uphill rise to start the day. Matteo Jorgenson and Krists Neilands also going.
And a stream of riders line out behind them.
Now it's Giulio Ciccone and Kevin Geniets pushing on.
Geniets has a small gap.
175km to go
Silvan Dillier stops for a wheel change.
No seperation for a breakaway yet as the riders head down the other side of that early rise.
Van Aert still leading.
169km to go
Some splits after that descent but the front of the race is still a large peloton.
A sizeable group off the rear but all the big favourites are in the main peloton.
Still no move gone at the front as the attacking continues.
Still the attacks flow at the front. The peloton is back as one now after the split.
A small group off the front.
Bettiol, Powless, Küng, Gorka Izagirre, Van der Poel among the attackers.
160km to go
The group not being let away here.
15 seconds now.
Lidl-Trek working on the front to bring the move back.
153km to go
An update from Bora-Hansgrohe on the condition of Jai Hindley ahead of today's stage...
Bryan Coquard wildly gesticulates at his teammates after one of them waves for him to get off the front of the peloton. He's not happy.
Nevertheless, the attack group is caught. Peloton all back together again.
Kasper Asgreen leads the next wave of attacks.
150km to go
Nils Politt off the front alone.
He's already 20 seconds up the road.
Julian Alaphilippe, Alexey Lutsenko and Aurelien Paret-Peintre have set off in pursuit of Politt.
147km to go
The Alaphilippe group is 10 seconds down on Politt now.
145km to go
15 seconds behind them, Jack Haig attacks with several on his wheel. Now Van Aert moves up to the front.
Van Aert bridging alone now...
He's across as Paret-Peintre drops. Still 15 seconds back to the peloton.
The riders are still on the uncategorised climb here.
Landa, Ion Izagirre, Ciccone among those moving from the peloton.
Mattias Skjelmose the next man to make it across.
Behind them more riders are moving across. Kwiatkowski and Landa are there.
Puncture in the peloton for ninth-placed Felix Gall.
This uncategorised climb is 10km long. They're still climbing here and a large group is off the front of the peloton behind the lead group.
Van Aert, Alaphilippe, Lutsenko, Soler, Landa, Politt, Burgaudeau, Skjelmose, Kwiatkowski in the lead.
141km to go
Barguil, Træen, Neilands, Woods, Poels, Ion Izagirre, Van der Poel, Houle, López, Aranburu, Fraile, Costa, Cort, Kragh Andersen also in there.
2 seconds to the peloton. Pidcock and Bilbao make a move but Dylan Van Baarle shuts things down.
25 riders out front but Alaphilippe and Lutsenko attack.
Over the top and the attacking duo have a gap to the rest.
A group including Benoot, Kelderman, Majka, Pidcock, Pedersen, Philipsen a few seconds off the front of the peloton on the way down.
136km to go
The gap is coming down, though.
Alaphilippe and Lutsenko now have 25 seconds on the rest of the break. 40 seconds to the peloton.
131km to go
The rest of the break – 24 riders – continue between the leaders and the peloton, though they're closer to the latter.
Only 10 seconds between the chase and the peloton as more attacks come from behind.
128km to go
A rider at the front of the peloton hit the deck, leaving nowhere to go for numerous riders behind him.
Biniam Girmay, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Egan Bernal among those caught up. Plenty more.
Nathan Van Hooydonck sits on the road.
A Jumbo-Visma rider was caught by a fan on the right-hand side. Van Hooydonck was right behind him, also going down hard. Several others fell too.
Van Hooydonck back up and running.
A spectator stuck their arm out, striking the Jumbo-Visma rider and causing the pileup.
125km to go
Numerous riders chasing back after that crash.
The peloton has slowed things down, meanwhile.
Everybody involved in the crash is reportedly back up and running.
Something of a self-neutralisation in the peloton.
The gap is over two minutes now.
115km to go
A total of 33 men in the breakaway chase group behind the two leaders. Several riders were making moves at the head of the peloton before the crash happened and seem to have made it across – names like Nans Peters, Marco Haller, Andrey Amador, Olivier Le Gac weren't in the move before.
5:30 between the break and peloton now.
108km to go
The riders are coming up to the day's intermediate sprint inside the new kilometre or so.
Alaphilippe leads Lutsenko across the sprint line.
Alaphilippe and Lutsenko keep pushing on – they're not going to drop back to the chase group.
It's still 30 seconds as they race to the start of the climb. Alaphilippe helpfully squirts the back of the Kazakhstani rider's neck with some water.
Here we go – the Col de la Forclaz de Montmin (7.2km at 7.3%)!
An eight-minute gap back to the peloton currently.
Break and chase on the climb now as they race towards the 100km to go mark.
100km to go
The two leaders out on the road.
Now the peloton, led by Jumbo-Visma, start the climb at 8:30 down.
Lutsenko putting some distance into Alaphilippe on the steep gradients but he slows up a little to let the Frenchman gets back on.
They're 2km from the top and they still have 35 seconds on the chase.
Ciccone, Powless, Pinot are making at move at the front of the chase.
They're 25 seconds down on the two leaders now.
97km to go
Double-digit gradients towards the top.
Lutsenko leads Alaphilippe across the summit.
Meanwhile, Van Aert leads the chase.
Ciccone launches!
Powless chases him.
But he can't get past Ciccone and so the Italian grabs third place.
10 points for Lutsenko, 8 for Alaphilippe, 6 for Ciccone, 4 for Powless.
Powless back in the KOM lead with 58 points. Vingegaard on 54, Pogačar and Ciccone on 48.
Lutsenko misjudges a corner early on the descent and unclips. Alaphilippe pats him on the back and heads through to lead the way down.
93km to go
Alaphilippe distancing Lutsenko a little on the way down. Powless is pushing it on the descent, too.
The breakaway riders have hit the bottom of the descent and it's all coming back together as Alaphilippe and Lutsenko slow up.
85km to go
A spell in the lower hills and valley now – still around 15km to go until the riders start the next climb of the day.
It's down to eight minutes from break to peloton now.
A bike change for Bryan Coquard – the right side of his handlebar has snapped.
He managed to get down the descent with that broken handlebar.
77km to go
Marco Haller (Bora-Hansgrohe) pushes off the front of the breakaway.
The Austrian going it alone on the road to the Col de la Croix Fry. He has 20 seconds on the rest of the break.
72km to go
Meanwhile the peloton is at 6:30 now.
Amador setting the pace in the chase behind Haller.
Haller and the break just starting the descent to the base of the Croix Fry.
66km to go
The Col de la Croix Fry is 11.3km at 7% – it's a tough one.
Rui Costa makes a move from the chase.
7:20 from Haller to the peloton.
More moves going in the break as the group splits up.
Costa already within 30 seconds of Haller.
It's still jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers at the head of the peloton.
Laporte still on the front for Jumbo-Visma.
62km to go
30 seconds back to the chase.
Bernal off the rear of the peloton now. He was caught in the crash before. More riders dropping too.
6km to the top of the climb.
And now Costa leaves Haller behind.
45 seconds from Costa to the chase group.
59km to go
4.5km to the top.
Dylan Van Baarle now leading the peloton as Laporte finishes his long stint on the front.
Powless isn't in the chase group – he's been dropped. Ciccone is ready to take advantage of that in the battle for polka dots.
Powless confirmed as a minute down on the chase...
20 seconds from the chase up to Costa. Van Aert on the front.
Back in the peloton, David Gaudu is at the back and battling to stay on. Not a good sign at all.
57km to go
Around 20 left in the chase behind Costa. Woods, Ion Izagirre, Alaphilippe, Powless, Fraile the major climbing names not in there.
And now the chasers are almost back with Costa, just over a kilometre from the top.
Skjelmose pacing it for Ciccone as López, his job long done, drops back to the peloton.
More riders reabsorbed into the peloton after dropping from the large break.
Costa now at the rear of the group. 700 metres to hang on to the top.
Ice and drinks handed up by soigneurs near the top. Skjelmose leads it for Ciccone.
55km to go
Van Aert and Urán next across.
Ciccone now level with Powless at the top of the KOM standings on 58 points.
A short descent before the next climb – the third-category Col de Aravis.
6:20 back to the peloton.
Powless is 3:40 down on the front of the race now. No KOM points for him.
Some great views out on the road today.
The break is already down the descent and onto to Aravis (4.4km at 5.8%).
Ciccone can seize the polka dot jersey lead here.
The Aravis, the second-category Côte des Amerands (2.7km at 10.9%!) and the final climb to the finish (7km at 7.7%) left to go.
A good pace in the break up the Aravis. Houle and Costa losing a bit of ground at the back.
49km to go
Costa now dropped. Marc Soler attacks.
Houle, Lutsenko, Træen drop.
Now Van Aert pushes on in the chase behind Soler.
17 riders left there.
47km to go
Soler battling away and upping his advantage. Now 20 seconds.
Van Aert and Neilands jump as they near the top.
Soler leads across the top, 10 seconds up on Van Aert and Neilands. The rest follow shortly afterwards.
Only 2 and 1 points on offer there, so nothing for Ciccone.
A few riders off the road at the start of the descent! Urán and Hamilton in the grass.
Urán back up and running. Hamilton was in the grass but sat up and moving.
43km to go
Van Aert and Neilands now with Soler.
Just over 10km of descending before the riders hit a plateau.
Then it's another 12km or so of false flat riding before another descent to the base of the final two climbs.
Wout Poels also with the lead trio now.
37km to go
Neilands has fallen on the descent...
The TV moto pulls up to show him lying on the ground up against a low stone wall.
He's moving and getting back up.
That would've been a hard landing, though. The chase group comes past around the corner.
A replay shows him trying to get a bottle from the Vittel motorbike as they went around a corner on the descent. It looked like the front of the bike – they have two front wheels so are wider than normal motorbikes – caught his rear wheel.
Neilands flipped and slid on his right side to the wall. Total disaster.
33km to go
No word on Neilands – or Chris Hamilton after his fall earlier. They looked to have avoided serious injury, however.
6:35 back to the peloton from the leaders.
The gap from the leaders to the chasers is going up here.
50 seconds...
14 men in the chase – Ciccone, Skjelmose, Pinot, Urán, Landa, Martin, Aranburu, Teuns, Houle, Craddock, Barguil, Guglielmi, Burgaudeau.
28km to go
Eurosport on-bike reporter Jens Voigt says Neilands is up and running again.
Around 12km to go until the start of the final two climbs.
Some very hard climbing coming but the three leaders pushing their advantage – it's up to 1:10.
They're holding the advantage on the flatter ground.
A massive 7:20 back to the peloton now.
Ciccone driving the chase now. Everyone taking a turn at the front, though.
Now the leaders and chasers are setting off down the descent into the valley ahead of the final two climbs.
Back in the peloton it's Dylan Van Baarle doing the work for Jumbo-Visma.
18km to go
Soler off the rear a little bit.
They're heading down into the town of Domancy.
15km to go
Van Aert and Poels have left Soler behind after that descent.
Martin misses a corner in the descent and is off the back of the chase.
11.5km to go
Here we go! Poels and Van Aert start the Côtes des Amerands.
A maximum of 17% on this climb.
Soler coming back on the early slopes of the climb.
11km to go
1:30 back to the chase.
And now Soler is up to Van Aert.
2km to the top and Poels is solo at 20 seconds up on Van Aert and Soler.
Soler is distancing Van Aert now.
Ciccone leads the chase group and now Barguil heads to the front.
Barguil and Ciccone off the front of the chase.
10km to go
It's still 1:35 back to the chase.
Barguil now solo off the front of the chase group.
Jumbo-Visma in control of the peloton on the lead-in to the climb. Riders dropping off the rear already.
Barguil caught by the chase group, led by Landa, as they pass under the 10km to go mark.
Landa now at the front of the chase. Martin, Pinot, Craddock behind him as Barguil loses ground.
UAE Team Emirates on the front of the peloton as they start the climb.
9km to go
1:50 back to the main chase group. 7:15 to the peloton.
Van Aert and Soler at 30 seconds behind Poels.
Poels all-in now after that very short downhill stretch.
7km to go
30 seconds to the chase, two minutes to the rest.
Pidcock struggling in the peloton on the steep slopes. He's off the back.
UAE still making the pace in the peloton with several men.
5km to go
Pidcock off the rear over the top of the Amerands. He gets back on the short descent, though.
Up front, Carlos Rodríguez pushes on.
Rodríguez has a few seconds on the UAE-led peloton.
4km to go
And Rodríguez is caught as Rafał Majka takes the front.
Hindley and Simon Yates dropped!
Pidcock also dropped.
A small GC group now. Majka, Pogačar, Adam Yates, Vingegaard, Benoot, Kuss, Rodríguez. David Gaudu also in there.
Bilbao was also dropped along with Simon Yates, Pidcock, and Hindley.
3km to go
Poels 3km from glory now.
Only Kuss left for Vingegaard now.
Gaudu lets go as the GC men reach the 5km mark.
Majka swings off for Adam Yates to take over. Kuss is dropped along with Rodríguez.
Yates left to tee it up for another Pogačar-Vingegaard battle!
Up front, Poels is 1:25 up on Van Aert.
2km to go
The steepest gradients are in the final 3.5km today.
Now we wait for the attacks to go.
1.5km to go
Yates continues to set the pace.
1km to go
Yates, Pogačar, and Vingegaard pass the 3km banner.
Poels closes in on the final 500 metres.
Still no attacks yet.
Yates pushes on and there's a gap to Pogačar... Huh?
Pogačar has let the wheel go.
Finish
Vingegaard sticks to Pogačar. Yates is up the road and nowhere to be seen...
Rodríguez comes back!
Rodríguez to the front. Vingegaard behind. 2km for the trio.
Pogačar behind Vingegaard.
Up the road Soler is pacing Adam Yates.
Van Aert crosses the line two minutes down.
Still no moves among the group of the big three.
Soler and Yates around 20 seconds up the road.
Burgaudea crosses the line at 3:15 for third.
1km to go for Vingegaard, Rodríguez, Pogačar.
Still no moves as the breakaway stragglers come in.
Pogačar attacks!
Vingegaard right with him.
There's no gap.
Pogačar can't get away. Rodríguez was instantly dropped.
Pogačar flies across to Soler and Yates with Vingegaard.
500 metres to go.
Pogačar pushes on for the line. Yates and Soler drop away.
Pogačar has Vingegaard on his wheel and can't shake him.
All time bonuses already taken.
Pogačar sprints for the line.
Vingegaard is right on his wheel and gets alongside him around the final bend.
The pair cross the line side by side at six minutes down.
Rodríguez came in around 35 seconds down, around 10 seconds down on Yates.
Hindley eight minutes down. Simon Yates around 20 seconds later.
Wout Poels celebrates his stage win
Inseparable – Vingegaard and Pogačar.
Here's what Jumbo-Visma super-domestique Sepp Kuss said after the stage...
Wout Poels celebrates his stage win on the podium.
Jonas Vingegaard back in yellow, 10 seconds up on Tadej Pogačar.
Here's what Tadej Pogačar said about today's stage...
Here's what Poels said after his stage win...
Giulio Ciccone the only new face in the jersey today. He's on 58 points, level with Neilson Powless, but he now holds the polka dot jersey lead.
That's all from us on the live coverage of today's stage. A rest day coming up tomorrow, and then a tough time trial to Combloux on Tuesday as the GC fight resumes...
Be sure to check back through the evening for news and reaction from the ground in France. We're back on Tuesday with another day of live coverage from the stage 16 time trial.
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