That’s all from me, thanks for reading. See you tomorrow for stage 16 as the Tour heads to Switzerland. And you can read our stage 15 report here:
The only change in the top ten is Tejay Van Garderen, who lost a minute and a half to slide to eighth:
General classification
1. Chris Froome (Team Sky) 68:14:36”
2. Bauke Mollema (Trek) +1:47”
3. Adam Yates (Orica) +2:45”
4. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +2:59”
5. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +3:17”
6. Romain Bardet (AG2R) +4:04”
7. Richie Porte (BMC Racing) +4:27”
8. Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) +4:47”
9. Daniel Martin (Etixx-Quick-Step) +5:03”
10. Fabio Aru (Astana) +5:16”
Jarlinson. possibly my favourite first name in the peloton. sounds like he went to Eton.
— William Fotheringham (@willfoth) July 17, 2016
Stage 15 winner Jarlinson Pantano speaks! “It’s an incredible day for me, a dream come true. I didn’t think about a stage victory at all really, I just kept on going. Luckily I had the opportunity to be up at the front today. I’d like to thank my team-mates for all the great work they’ve done this week.”
Updated
IAM cycling directeur sportif, Rik Verbrugghe: “For sure, we knew that this stage is perfect for him [Jarlinson Pantano]. Our plan was to put as many as possible in the breakaway. Jarlinson could take it a little easy in the beginning, and in the final part he was phenomenal. We said to him keep on fighting and he did exactly that.”
Updated
Adam Yates also finishes among them, as does Bauke Mollema, so there is no change at the top of the general classification.
The yellow-jersey group finish together. Nairo Quintana barely attacked Froome today, and a particularly gruelling stage has been relatively trouble-free for the man in yellow.
Updated
Alaphilippe will be left wondering what might have been after the mechanical problems he suffered on the way down from the Colombier.
Stage 15: top five
1. Jarlinson Pantano
2. Rafal Majka
3. Alexis Vuillermoz
4. Sébastien Reichenbach
5. Julian Alaphilippe
Updated
The 27-year-old Pantano showed brilliant patience there, a Cavendish-esque nous in the final metres to leap past Majka on the line. Vuillermoz comes in third, with Reichenbach on his wheel and Julian Alaphilippe behind them.
Jarlinson Pantano wins stage 15!
Majka attacks and Pantano latches on to his wheel before powering around the outside! The Colombian uses his momentum to sprint clear and win the first Tour de France stage of his career.
Updated
It’s cat and mouse, Majka and Pantano each waiting for the other to kick first...
1km remaining: Majka moves himself into the front. He flicks the elbow to tell Pantano to take the nose and with a glance back he sees Reichenbach and Vuillermoz only 15sec back...
2km remaining: Majka must be the favourite between this duo, with three Tour de France stage victories already in his career against his less experienced competitor, Pantano. For now they are working together as they continue to take turns on the front to make sure they are not caught.
3km remaining: Alexis Vuillermoz and Sebastien Reichenbach continue to chase Majka and Pantano but it looks like they don’t have enough to road left to close the gap after losing so much time on the descent from Colombier.
5km remaining: Majka and Pantano have found the flat road which leads to the finish at Culoz, and the stage victory is there for whichever of the pair has enough left.
The yellow-jersey group, now under the full control of Team Sky, have continued to squeeze time out of the leaders, and are now only 4min 14sec back. Chris Froome’s lead at the top of the general classification is unlikely to change tonight.
8km remaining: Amid the packed crowds Rafal Majka might not have heard it, but he would have seen the unwelcome shadow of Jarlinson Pantano arriving on the road beside him. Pantano has descended brilliantly and is on Majka’s shoulder. The stage is suddenly a two-rider race.
Majka nearly crashes on the descent! He approached a tight left-hander with too much pace and ended up on a grass ridge, but he was able to quickly regain control and heave himself back on to the road. Moments later he is flying downhill, crouched low over his bars. That incident doesn’t seem to have shaken his confidence.
Majka descends. He has a 1min 05sec lead from Vuillermoz, Reichenbach and Pantano and this stage is his to win, surely.
Confirmation that Majka will wear polka dots tomorrow. Here are the latest King of the Mountains standings after that climb (Majka added 10 points as the first rider to the top):
Rafal Majka 127 points
Thomas De Gendt 90
Daniel Navarro 69
Serge Pauwels 60
Tom Dumoulin 58
Updated
15km remaining: The attacks in the yellow-jersey group have increased the tempo and closed the gap between Froome and the stage leader, Rafal Majka, to 5min 15sec. Majka is still toiling, alone, at the end of this brutal stage as he reaches the summit.
Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R) and Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ) have swept up Pantano as they chase Majka. Here’s one way to stop the idiots:
More spectators should do this.
— CyclingHub.tv (@CyclingHubTV) July 17, 2016
(not the running part :D)#TDF #TDF2016pic.twitter.com/pdeFIcf3eg
The peloton are 5min 40sec from Rafal Majka, who has driven clear of Pantano. The Polish rider still has 2km to go to the summit; if he can avoid burning out before the top then he will be in a brilliant position to close out the stage victory.
There are some stunning aerial shots of the tight winding roads coiled up the mountainside which make this final climb of stage 15 so draining. Aru and Valverde have been caught by the peloton and Team Sky hit the front to regain some control. Does anyone else have an attack left in them?
Fabio Aru fires off the front of the peloton. He is 10th overall and wants to make some inroads on the GC. Alejandro Valverde attacks too, and Chris Froome is really being tested. He is surrounding by the dark jerseys of Team Sky and they seem to have enough to remain in touch as the switchbacks keep coming.
20km remaining: Up they climb. Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) and Jarlinson Pantano (IAM) are 55sec clear of Vuillermoz, Pauwels, Reichenbach and Zakarin as they pass the 20km-to-go banner halfway up the category one Lacets du Colombier. This brutal stage has taken its toll on so many who have tried to be bold, including Vincenzo Nibali who has slipped back to rejoin the peloton, 6min 30sec behind the leaders.
Back in the peloton, Chris Froome is being severely tested by Astana who continue to ratchet up the pace. However Team Sky and the man in yellow have reacted quickly to each attack and are not letting Astana get away. Also in this severely streamlined group is Nairo Quintana, Adam Yates and Bauke Mollema.
The nearest chasers are the quartet of Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R), Serge Pauwels (Di Data), Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ), and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha). Reichenbach can take a leap into the overall top ten if he can maintain or even improve this gap of around 7min to the yellow-jersey group back up the road.
Rafal Majka and Jarlinson Pantano begin the final climb of the day, the winding Lacets du Colombier, a minutes clear of their nearest chasers.
25km remaining: The latest is that Alaphilippe suffered a minor crash due to a mechanical failure. At a risk of getting bogged down in pedantics, the big picture is that this stage is constantly shifting. Now Majka and Pantano make a break for it, and the duo are around 1min 30sec clear already.
Initial reports of a mechanical problem seem to be incorrect: Alaphilippe did indeed crash, apparently committing too much to the descent and paying the price. He seems uninjured, but his chances of winning this stage are slim now after six riders powered past while he recovered.
Alaphilippe has a problem! It may be something mechanical or it may have been a crash, but either way it could not have come at a worse time; the French rider was just starting to slide clear of his chasers.
30km remaining: Reichenbach, Pauwels and Vuillermoz are the only riders who look likely to keep up with the leading quartet. The winner of stage 15 will surely come from one of these seven riders.
The four breakaway riders are making a good fist of this descent. Alaphilippe leads Pantano, Zakarin and Majka with majestic sweeps left and right as his tow train follow hard to keep in touch. There are a series of different, split groups in between the leading quartet and the peloton, 7min 22sec back up the road where Chris Froome’s Sky team-mates have done well to keep in touch with Astana, who have upped the pace. One man reportedly struggling to keep pace with the yellow-jersey group at the moment is Adam Yates, though we are yet to see pictures confirming that.
Updated
“Now, um, this might sound like a dumb question but after a 30sec look on google I’m still unsure,” wonders Andrew McLeod. “Is the Grand Colombier this afternoon the same climb as the Col du Colombier? Might have covered it on the coverage but I’m without TV here (genius decision to book our Bali honeymoon during the Tour...).” It sure is, Andrew. The leaders are descending one side where they will wrap round and climb another section of the same mountain pass, the Lacets du Colombier. After that comes the descent to the finish at Culoz.
With that summit, Majka has secured tomorrow’s polka dot jersey from Thomas De Gendt. The latest King of the Mountains standings:
Rafal Majka 117 points
Thomas De Gendt 90
Daniel Navarro 69
Tom Dumoulin 58
Rui Costa 50
Pantano has locked on to Alaphilippe’s wheel. The two are attacking this descent and are beginning to close the gap to Majka and Zakarin up in front – it’s down to within 20sec and soon they are surely going to be a quartet.
It’s all happening. At the front of the peloton Astana attack, Fabio Aru obviously feeling good and hoping to put some pain into Team Sky, who try to stay in contact. Majka leads Zakarin over the top of the Colombier to collect 25 King of the Mountains points. Behind them, Julian Alaphilippe has surged to the summit through French cheers. That move has split the chasing group who had been working together to chase down the leading duo, Majka and Zakarin – Alaphilippe must back himself to join up with them on the descent.
That originally neat collection of 30 riders at the start of this stage are now scattered and strewn down the Colombier in several different groups. Majka and Zakarin are around 30sec clear of their nearest chasers.
From the group of 13, Zakarin and Majka break clear. Rafal Majka has a vested interest in grabbing the maximum 25 King of the Mountains points available at the top of this climb as he seeks to take the polka dot jersey from Thomas De Gendt.
The leadings group of 13 riders are 3km from the Colombier summit, which sounds rather close but of course they are dragging their bikes and bodies up gradients of 10% or more in searing heat halfway through a brute of a stage.
The peloton, where Chris Froome is safely tucked along with the rest of the GC’s top ten riders, is timed at 8min 33sec back down the brutal ascent from the leading 13. That is significant because Reichenbach is only 11min 47sec behind Froome in the overall race. The Swiss rider could push himself close to the top of the GC by the end of this stage if he can maintain his position in the break.
50km remaining: We can add a handful of names to those seven, to make 13 riders charging for home:
Majka, Durasek, Reichenbach, Morabito, Zakarin, Navarro, Vuillermoz, Pozzovivo, Pauwels, Alaphilippe, Oliveira and Pantano.
Nibali and Dumoulin were amongst the breakaway shuffle, but they seem to be paying the price for the work they put in to splinter the original pack of 30, and both have fallen behind.
Thanks Niall. What an eventful half an hour: I picked a superb sandwich, tussled with a wild Zubat, was awkwardly photographed for a teenager’s school project (which needlessly prolonged said tussle), and I see a group of seven riders have made a break for it on route to the summit of the Grand Colombier. Those at the front:
Majka, Durasek, Reichenbach, Zakarin, Navarro, Vuillermoz, Pauwels.
Alaphilippe moves up the road to keep with the leading group, which also includes AG2R’s Alexis Vuillermoz and Lampre’s Kristijan Durasek. Nibali is suffering from his earlier efforts, and dropping away at speed. This splintered group of leaders are 8min 30sec ahead of the peloton, now at the foot of the climb. Time to hand back to Lawrence, who will take you to the finish line.
The chasing pack, led by Dani Navarro and Ilnur Zakarin, have reeled the leaders in – and Navarro launches an attack! Dumoulin looks around, waiting for someone to help him out in closing him down. Rafal Majka, who seems to have plenty in the tank, and FDJ’s Sebastien Reichenbach keep Navarro in check.
The leaders are making their way up the Grand Colombier, with the chasing pack upping the pace and shedding a few riders, including Alberto Losada and the spent Van Baarle. Rolland and Majka are hanging on in pursuit of the leading four, where Pozzovivo, a pure climber, is already struggling with the pace of the other three.
The trio have caught Dumoulin close to the foot of the Grand Colombier. Dumoulin wanted to stretch the field and draw out challengers, but it’s a capable quartet he’s part of, with a gap of 15-20 seconds on the chasing pack. Your leaders are Dumoulin, Nibali, Pozzovivo and Pantano.
Updated
The Côte d’Hotonnes proved to be eventful for the leading men – what impact will it have on the peloton? It’s the final uphill stretch before those two passes over the Colombier. Team Sky still dictating the pace in the early stages.
Nibali has been joined by two men who love making a move on a climb – Domenico Pozzovivo of AG2R and Jarlinson Pantano from IAM. Dumoulin is on the downhill stretch, with the gap at around 20 seconds.
Pierre Rolland, at the back of the breakaway after missing his cue at the feed zone, is badly placed to handle Dumoulin’s move, and Julian Alaphilippe is also in the wrong place on this tricky uncategorised climb. One man who has launched a counter-attack is Vicenzo Nibali, who breezes past Van Baarle, but is 25 seconds off Dumoulin.
Tom Dumoulin has bridged the gap to van Baarle, his countryman and former Rabobank team-mate. That’s a smart move by Dumoulin, looking for a third stage win on this year’s Tour. After pretending to work with him for a couple of minutes, Dumoulin tears up the hill, and the other breakaway men will be worried.
Updated
Pauwels failed to get away, and at the feed zone in Hotonnes, Cannondale’s Dylan van Baarle makes a break for it while other riders are collecting snacks. There’s an uncategorised climb ahead – Côte d’Hotonnes – which might help Van Baarle make this stick for a little while. Cannondale have two other men in the breakaway behind – Pierre Rolland and TJ Slagter.
Updated
The peloton crest the Col de la Rochette and begin the descent – a chance for those sprinters who have lost ground, including Kittel, Cavendish, pretty much all of them really – to catch up, ready to be dropped afresh at the foot of the hors catégorie Grand Colombier, which is coming up in 10km or so.
Thanks Lawrence. While he grabs a gel pack and visits the Team MBM soigneur, I’ll do my best to keep you updated. Here are the King of the Mountains standings after that climb:
Rafal Majka 92 points
Thomas de Gendt 90
Daniel Navarro 69
Tom Dumoulin 58
Rui Costa 50
Serge Pauwels attacks at the top of the Col de la Rochette and reaches the summit unchallenged. Can he make a break stick on the descent before the Grand Colombier? We’ll see. I am going to hand over to Niall McVeigh for a while. See you in a bit.
“Is it just me,” ponders Jon Bish, “or has there been surprisingly little recognitions of the fact that there is a Briton leading the white jersey contest and in contention for a podium finish? I know it’s been a great tour for the Brits and we are getting used to success, but even so.” I don’t think it’s you Jon, I think it is just the fact that Yates has done it in a fairly understated manner, without winning a stage or making brash attacks off the front but by riding cleverly in amongst the big names. Here is some recognition William Fotheringham sent his way a few days ago:
Updated
Tommy Voeckler kicks on at the front but the breakaway react quickly to keep in touch. After the Col de la Rochette comes the approach to the Grand Colombier, where this stage will be won and lost. Voeckler has history in these parts:
Pauwels was first through the intermediate sprint, which is of no consequence to anything in particular. He and Majka enjoyed a little sortie but have been reeled back in and the leading 30 riders are intact again. They are nearly 7min clear of the peloton now where Team Sky are working hard on the front to manage the gap. Pierre Rolland is in the breakaway – he is 15 minutes down overall – while the highest breakawayer is Sébastien Reichenbach, 11min 47sec down in the general classification. Sky will be wary of letting the gap grow that wide.
Majka has chased down Pauwels after that summit and this duo are out in front of the other 28 breakaway riders. Next comes a feed zone before an intermediate sprint, which is followed soon after by the category three Col de la Rochette. The peloton is 6min 45sec behind Majka and Pauwels.
Rafal Majka takes the virtual polka dots. Here are the King of the Mountains standings after the Col de Pisseloup:
Rafal Majka 91 points
Thomas De Gendt 90
Daniel Navarro 69
Tom Dumoulin 58
Rui Costa 50
Serge Pauwels makes a solo dash to the top and the rest of the break follow him over. The Dimension Data rider just missed on the win on Mont Ventoux on Thursday and could be one of those eyeing the finish at Culoz today.
The leading 30 riders near the Col de Pisseloup summit. It is nearly 30C, the sun is beating down, and there are still five peaks to conquer including the brutal Grand Colombier. This could be a very eventful day.
Apparently it is world emoji day. That should never be a thing.
🏁 - 💯km - 🚗🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵 <6'20"> 🚗🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚵🚗 #TDF2016 #WorldEmojiDay
— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) July 17, 2016
There are four teams not represented in the break: Sky, BMC, Lotto-Soudal and Fortuneo-Vital Concept. “Is Dani Navarro ever not in a break?” emails Keith Aitchison.
100km remaining: The breakaway are through a quick descent before beginning the third of six categorised climbs, the wonderfully named Col de Pisseloup. Those 30 riders (in which Reichenbach is highest placed in the GC, 11 minutes behind Chris Froome) lead the Sky-fronted peloton by 6min 20sec.
Majka still picked up three points behind Voeckler, leaving him level with Thomas De Gendt at the top of the King of the Mountains standings. Majka has a massive chance to be in polka dots tomorrow because De Gendt hasn’t managed to get into the breakaway. The latest standings:
Thomas De Gendt 90 points
Rafal Majka 90
Daniel Navarro 69
Tom Dumoulin 58
Rui Costa 50
Tommy Voeckler attacks! He zips away from Rafal Majka to scoop the maximum five KoM points.
The breakaway pack of 30 riders are closing in on the summit of the category two Col du Sappel. Dani Navarro and Rafal Majka will be interested in snagging some KoM points. It will be interesting to see how much competition they face from the rest.
Movistar’s Jesus Herrada is suffering with illness and is the latest to abandon the Tour; 183 riders remain. “What a Great British Tour!” cheers Tom Callaghan. “I suspect that some one must have already made the joke along the lines of: ‘What happens if Reichenbach falls’. Elementary, My Dear Lawrence, eh?”
Updated
As if sensing he’s gatecrashed the party, Reichenbach tries to make friends with a steady turn on the front of the breakaway. The leading 30 riders have settled into a steady rhythm and are squeezing a few more seconds out of the peloton on this long hot climb, despite Team Sky’s increased pace over the past 10kms. That gap from breakaway to peloton is up to nearly five minutes.
Eddy Bandel emails in a video. “Majka is after the polka dot jersey, so here we go with Polish polka”:
Another way of looking at it is that Reichenbach is a thorn in the breakaway’s side: if he wasn’t in the group they would probably be allowed to extend their advantage much further.
Sébastien Reichenbach is the thorn in the peloton’s side. The FDJ rider is the one rider in the breakaway who could threaten Chris Froome’s yellow jersey. He is 11min 41sec off the overall lead and Team Sky will be made well aware over radio that they need to manage the gap between themselves and the break. Just like that they up the pace and, as they begin the second categorised climb of the day, the Col du Sappel, the breakaway’s lead is stabilising at around four minutes.
The breakaway
There are 30 riders out in front and they are 4min 10sec clear of the peloton. Their names:
Jon Izagirre and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali and Tanel Kangert (Astana), Rafal Majka (Tinkoff), Domenico Pozzovivo and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-LaMondiale), George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), Haimar Zubeldia (Trek), Stef Clement, Jérôme Coppel and Jarlinson Pantano (IAM), Pierre Rolland, Tom-Jelte Slagter and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data), Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), Steve Morabito and Sébastien Reichenbach (FDJ), Bartosz Huzarski (Bora-Argon 18), Alberto Losada and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), Kristjian Durasek, Tsgabu Grmay and Jan Polanc (Lampre-Merida), Romain Sicard and Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie), Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick Step), Dani Navarro (Cofidis) and Ruben Plaza (Orica-BikeExchange).
The peloton has pretty much switched off operations for now. They are taking on fluids, chatting, and generally giving off the appearance of pals warming up for a fun ride. It has allowed the leading pack to quickly build on their advantage, which is up to 3min 03sec.
The race has broadly split into three groups at this early stage with 30km completed. Majka and Zakarin have been reeled in to make a leading pack of 28 up front which includes Vincenzo Nibali, Serge Pauwels, Stef Clement and Nelson Oliveira. The peloton is around 2min 15sec further back, and a third group of stragglers is stretched out behind with Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel among them. Can’t imagine those two will be enjoying a friendly natter after yesterday’s jousting at the finish.
Updated
The King of the Mountains standings after the first climb of the day:
Thomas De Gendt 90 points
Rafal Majka 87
Daniel Navarro 68
Tom Dumoulin 58
Rui Costa 50
“For a sporting god reduced to the status of a 40-a-day wheezer, you can’t beat Daley Thompson at the 1500m,” emails John Fothergill. “Imagine how good an athlete you have to be to not just take gold in the decathlon, but to do it whilst basically phoning in your performance for the deciding event.”
Rafal Majka goes through first at the top of the Berthiand to collect 10 handy King of the Mountains points before beginning a short descent. That brings him to within three of Thomas De Gendt, the man in polka dots today.
It was Vuillermoz in tow but he has fallen away and Katusha’s Ilnur Zakarin is the man who joins Majka up ahead. A group of around 15, fronted by Vincenzo Nibali, give chase. Team Sky quickly hit the peloton’s nose and don’t look in the mood to let many other riders break clear.
Gallopin is reeled in, and now Rafal Majka puts his foot down on the first climb. The Polish Tinkoff rider has Alexis Vuillermoz for company and they have put a little gap of around 20sec between themselves and the rest of the main group.
Email topic: Mark Cavendish added another layer to his brilliant career yesterday with his 30th stage victory on the Tour. When Cav one day hangs up his spokes he will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the all-time great sprinters, yet today he will toil at the opposite end of the pack with absolutely no chance of glory. What is the best example of a brilliant professional sports person being made to look relatively mediocre at the sport in which they are brilliant? For example Glenn McGrath could bowl like a god, but when he went out to bat he made every time look like his first time.
Updated
After 18km the peloton is still as one, albeit strung out along the road by the various initial attacks. Lotto-Soudal’s Tony Gallopin is the latest to make a break for it as they swing east and begin the first climb of this hellish day, the category one Col du Berthiand. It’s a 6km drag with an average 8.1% gradient, and is likely to expose some early stragglers.
Lotto-Soudal is the 10th team to lose a rider on #TDF2016 with Jens Debusschere not starting Stage 15. #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/ll00hjD89K
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 17, 2016
Despite a few isolated charges, no one has been able to get clear at the start here and the peloton are back largely as one with Tommy Voeckler bouncing around on the front – that is until a Movistar man darts around his shoulder and starts up another attack.
Updated
Peter Sagan has been pretty feisty so far, attacking in the first few kms. He will have his eye on getting into the breakaway to pick up the intermediate sprint points halfway through the stage before probably fading later in the day. He was one of those closing in on the line at the end of stage 14, but no one could stick with the brilliant Mark Cavendish:
There could be plenty of movement at the top of the general classification here but it will also be a critical day for the King of the Mountains race. There are six opportunities to scoop polka-dot points including a 25-point prize for the first rider to the top of the Colombier. Here are the top of the KoM standings coming into stage 15:
Thomas De Gendt 90 points
Rafal Majka 77
Daniel Navarro 68
Tom Dumoulin 58
Rui Costa 50
The neutralised start is over and the peloton is racing. Chris Froome is right in the middle as they string out in lines of ten or more across the road, but the friendly ceasefire is quickly broken by Thomas De Gendt who surges up the road with a string of riders in tow.
Does Dave Brailsford pull a hammy at the end of this clip?
Sir Dave Brailsford doing his best #TDF2016 Mont Ventoux impression... 🙈 https://t.co/hfhLgc08v6
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) July 16, 2016
Lotto-Soudal’s Jens Debusschere withdrew from the Tour overnight after suffering in yesterday’s crash which left Matti Breschel with “a fissure in his scapula and a disrupted collar bone”. That still leaves a remarkably full pack this deep into the Tour of 184 riders, who make their way through the start as one.
Stage 15 begins!
The four jersey wearers line-up at the start: Chris Froome (yellow), Peter Sagan (green), Thomas De Gendt (polka dots), and Adam Yates (white). And we’re off.
The safety issues that caused Chris Froome’s transformation from cyclist to marathon man continue to be one of the big talking points of the is Tour. Here is William Fotheringham’s take on how the Tour must adapt to its growing pressures:
General classification
1. Chris Froome (Team Sky) 63:46:40”
2. Bauke Mollema (Trek) +1:47”
3. Adam Yates (Orica) +2:45”
4. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) +2:59”
5. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +3:17”
6. Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) +3:19”
7. Romain Bardet (AG2R) +4:04”
8. Richie Porte (BMC Racing) +4:27”
9. Daniel Martin (Etixx-Quick-Step) +5:03”
10. Fabio Aru (Astana) +5:16”
This might be a decisive day in the 2016 Tour de France. There are six categorised climbs, eight in all, including the hors catégorie Grand Colombier. It is a gruelling climb but, in terms of altitude, it is a low summit meaning there will be no relief from the stifling heat in the Jura mountains. It is setup for a breakaway featuring plenty of riders, and Team Sky will be focussed on making sure none of Chris Froome’s closest rivals get away from the man in yellow. The stage will get under way at around 12pm BST.
Stage 15: Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz (160km)
After a time trial that pulled Chris Froome further from the rest and a sprint stage which pushed Mark Cavendish closer to the very best, the Tour returns to the mountains. Team Sky are wary – there could be a big price to pay should they get caught out on the road to Culoz today. Here’s more on stage 15 from our interactive guide:
A brute of a stage through the Jura with eight climbs: the final one, the Grand Colombier, is tackled twice from different directions. The flat sections before and after the final ascent, and two massive descents late on, mean this is a stage where the favourites will look to stay together and avoid losing time; the offensive action is more likely to come from outsiders and riders who target such days for stage wins.
Updated
