Sunday’s fifteenth stage of the 112th Tour de France, preceding the final rest day, was one where the GC race calmed down a little, but there was nothing easy-going about Tim Wellens. One of four possible riders in the 2025 Tour who could fulfill the Grand Tour trilogy, the Belgian champion added a Grand Boucle victory to two at the Giro d’Italia and two at the Vuelta a Espana, soloing 43 km to glory. Tadej Pogačar stayed safe in yellow. Michael Woods was the top Canadian in 82nd.
The Course
Sunday’s medium mountain stage as the race headed east from the Pyrenees featured two Cat. 3’s and a short, steep Cat. 2 propping up the middle of the route. Most of the final 40 km were downhill. Four breakaways had succeeded so far.
The opening kilometers of Stage 15 were a bit chaotic as crashes delayed GC principals, the breakaway of the day was established, the pace was over 50 km/h, and winds called for echelons. Lenny Martinez and the Yates twins were distanced by the frenetic action.
Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert were in the breakaway together again. Their 15-strong gang hit the first categorized climb, Cat. 3 Côte de Saint-Ferréol, with the gap was under a minute. The peloton was very jumpy and full of intent with the breakaway getting closer. Quinn “American Try-er” Simmons, Michael Storer and Jasper Stuyven spurted out from the field to bridge.
Cat. 3 Côte de Sorèze was next on the menu. The breakaway split on the 5.7 percent slopes, and even more riders, including 10th place Carlos Rodriguez and 11th place Jordan Jegat, joined from the peloton.
Pas du Sant
Cat. 2 Pas du Sant is 3 km of 9.2 percent. By its foot, an 11-rider group containing Wellens, Storer and Simmons was half a minute ahead of the large van der Poel-van Aert chase and 3:30 ahead of the yellow jersey group. Storer and Simmons immediately attacked.
The road continued to be tilted up past the official top of the Pas du Sant. Storer and Simmons had Victor Campenaerts and Tim Wellens for company. There were former breakmate chasers scattered all over the climb.
For the long descent, Rodriguez and three others joined in. Belgian…
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