Tim Wellens claimed his first-ever Tour de France stage win with a solo victory on Stage 15.
The UAE rider timed his break to perfection, leaving the field in his tracks, crossing the line over a minute ahead of second-place Victor Campenaerts (Visma–Lease a Bike) and over seven minutes ahead of the peloton and teammate Tadej Pogacar.
The stage win marks the Belgian’s first at the event, and the completion of the trilogy of Grand Tour stage victories in his career.
Wellens and Campenaerts’ advantages over the rest of the field were so major that in an awkward moment at the end of the day, Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro) believed he had won the stage after out-sprinting Wout Van Aert on the line in the battle for third.
After three gruelling days on the Pyrenees, battling mountains, poor conditions and tough racing, Stage 15 marked the end of the second week of the Tour.
While the race was flatter than the previous stages, there was still no let-up as across the 169km run from Muret to Carcassonne, there were three categorised climbs to contend with.
But it was the day for the Belgian who won his first Grand Tour victory in five years and gave his team their fifth stage win of the Tour.
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Wellens said: “It’s a very special victory. I think everybody knows the Tour de France.
“Everybody wants to ride the Tour de France. Not many people win in the Tour de France.
“It’s very good for the team. I felt super good today, before the stage.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
There was action from the outset of Stage 15, as EF Education-EasyPost’s Neilson Powless went off after only 19km had been ridden.
Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers), Alexey Lutsenko (Israel Premier Tech) and Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS Astana) chased down the American and bridged the gap, but were eventually caught.
A crash almost saw Alaphilippe’s race end with 150km remaining, but after a trip to the medical car, he was back riding but with a dislocated shoulder.
But with 137km to go, Powless got his second chance to form the breakaway when a large group, including Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ), Kaden Groves, Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Matteo Vercher (Total Energies), Jarrad Drizners (Lotto) and Lutsenko, successfully distanced themselves and built a lead of around 30 seconds.
There were numerous attempts from riders further back, such as Biniam Girmay (Intermarché–Wanty), to break from the peloton and join this 15-rider group, but they were all wasted efforts. However, they did inject some pace into the peloton and meant the pack managed to reduce the deficit.
With 108km to go and a strong advantage over the peloton, the lead group snapped up the points at the intermediate sprint, with Van der Poel unchallenged in his pursuit to take all 20 points. Green jersey holder Jonathan Milan was dropped at the back of the peloton and therefore was unable to extend his lead and means Van der Poel is reducing the gap.
Through the 100km to go mark and Milan had fallen about a minute behind the peloton, and was seemingly struggling, and even further back was a 38-rider group featuring the current polka dot jersey leader, Lenny Martinez.
The second category climb of the day, Côte de Sorèze, proved decisive as the lead group got whittled down to just seven riders, including Campenaerts, Lutsenko, Simmons, Wellens, Powless, Storer and Mohoric, who managed to extend their lead to around 50 seconds over the 6.2km climb.
Carlos Rodriguez managed to increase the group to eight and make sure Ineo Grenadiers were represented at the front after breaking from the chase group, and over 2km, he bridged the gap.
On the descent of the Côte de Sorèze the lead group and the 25-rider chase group really gained their advantage over the peloton, which was sitting at nearly three minutes behind.
As the lead group battled their way up the 10.2% gradient Pas du Sant climb, fractions started to form, with in-fighting and attacks taking place within the group, hindering their chances of extending their overall lead.
But it was at 43km to go that Wellens pounced, catching the riders in the lead group off guard after reaching the summit of a minor climb. Despite the efforts of Quinn Simmons to attack with him, the Belgian was on the descent and was out of reach.
Within only a few kilometres, his lead was extended to over 30 seconds, but with the steep descent continuing until the final 7km of the race, his pace was not slowing down.
This long-range attack was a bold move which paid off, as with every kilometre that went by Wellens’ lead grew, with a lead of 90 seconds ahead of the chase group and seven minutes over the peloton, which contained Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates)
With Wellens’ advantage continually growing, the chase group began to panic and stopped working as a unit; instead, they turned their attention to the battle for second.
Wellens crossed the line minutes ahead of the rest of the field, soaking up his first Tour de France victory, following a well-timed break at 40km to go.
The fight for second was decided after Campenaerts broke free in the final moments of the race, leaving the chase pack behind him.
It was then down to a sprint finish to decide who would be taking the bottom step on the podium, it was hard fought battle but Alaphilippe nudged ahead of Wout van Aert.
It was an awkward end to the race for Alaphilippe, however, who seemingly thought he had actually won the race as he celebrated after crossing the line.
Despite having such a large advantage of the peloton, the general classification was relatively unaffected at the end of the day.
