A scorching sprint: the Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin) won Sunday in Carcassonne the 15th stage of the Tour de France in front of a first peloton including the wearer of the yellow jersey, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo).
During this turbulent day for his team, the yellow jersey fell during the stage and saw two teammates leave the race.
Entering the third and final week of racing, Vingegaard lost two top riders, who could have helped him in the mountains. Slovenian Primoz Roglic, who is suffering from his shoulder and back injuries, retired before the start in Rodez and Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk crashed 64 kilometers from the finish.
Vingegaard fell for his part 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.
Under 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 outflanked 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.