Stage 15 sees the peloton return to the mountains with the 4th of the race's 7 summit finishes. It is also the race’s 4th stage over 230k (and thankfully for the riders the last). This one goes one better than the last mountain stage with 3 rather than 2 climbs at the end. And none of them is to be taken lightly. First is the Cat 1 Saint Barthélemy, then the Cat 1 Col Saint-Panteléon and then the finishing climb to Cervinia, also a Cat 1. Prior to all that they have a Cat 3 climb and a sprint point.
The favorites are the climbers:
For the first time this race the secondary GC riders are interested in the break. The first 5 off the front are Roglic (14th on GC), Mavrikakis (21st), Nesset (20th), Almeida (18th), and Girdlestone (23rd). Goos (17th) on the move behind them.
20k in no more top GC riders have joined, although Smith (16th) and Amezawa (19th) are both here but they owe their placing to stage hunting. In total, the group has swelled to 19. Some helpers for the GC guys plus some familiar names. King Power will have to balance Smith’s KOM ambitions with Roglic’s as KOM 2nd and 3rd place Van Poucke and Amezawa are here for Aker. Lammertink seems a little out of his depth, maybe hoping for the “first rider to be dropped’ TV time. The additional 13 riders are: Amezawa Van Poucke Rucigaj Kiriakidis Leknessund Sosnitskiy Lammertink Petelin Smith Munoz Mamykin Rybalkin Lopez
Their lead is about 2’30.
155k to go, the break is on the Cat 3 climb (7.1k at 3.6%). Smith and Van Poucke have both been working so advantage to Amezawa in the KOM competition. The peloton not comfortable with this break and the lead is still only 2’25. Working are ISA-Hexacta (Contreras), De Stijl (Nur Hasan), Evonik (Havik) and Bralirwa (S. Mugisha)
Smith beats both Aker riders but loses first place to Petelin at the top. Goos denies Aker any points.
With riders sitting 8th and 9th in GC ISA-Hexacta and Bralirwa seem most worried about they break. They are keeping the lead down, it is just 2’22 with 115k to ride. About 30k to the beginning of the first big climb.
Roglic on the front as the breakaway starts the climb to Saint Barthélemy (17.1k at 6.2%). The lead over the pack is 2’49 with De Stijl and Evonik also helping again. Viviani flatted a while back and is already 8’35 down, he could be in trouble.
Lammertink’s dreams are crushed as Van Poucke is dropped first. He did a lot of work on the flat and has already spent a lot of time off the front earlier in the race.
10k to climb for the breakaway. Rucigaj dropped. The lead is 2’56 as Koshevoy and Ferreyra are keeping the pace up in the peloton which is down to 113 riders. Bongiorno worked hard to get in the top 10 on Stage 11, he isn’t going to give it up easily.
6k to climb for the peloton, Madrazo looking ready for the fight in 2nd wheel has sent Eyob to the front. The breakaway is down to 13 riders and is just 1’56 ahead.
2.5k for the break and Amezawa, Petelin and both Gazelle riders have been dropped. Lead is back to 2’47 as Eyob has slowed down.
1k from the top Smith attacks. Munoz is dropped.
Smith takes first, none of the others all that interested. Today might be the end of the KOM competition. Roglic not looking great so maybe he is being sacrificed for Smith. Peloton back to 3’28.
Eyob and Ndayisenga lead the peloton over 3’52 behind.
The break starts the Col Saint-Panteléon (16.4k at 7.2%) with a gap of 3’10 on the peloton, where De Stijl is helping out. The 8 survivors are: Roglic, Mavrikakis, Nesset, Almeida, Girdlestone, Goos, Smith and Mamykin. Roglic on the front.
12k to climb, 40k in the stage, the peloton can see the break, the lead down to a minute as Eyob has been flying on the front. Will we see a long-range dig from Madrazo?
With the peloton closing in Girdlestone, Almeida and Goos put in an attack.
Almost at the same time Oomen attacks the peloton.
Otruba closes down Oomen. 40 riders still in the pink jersey group. Up front the 3 attackers have 20 seconds.
Oomen tries again and catches some remnants from the break, this time it is left to Meintjes to chase. Still 3 Evonik domestiques in the group but they seem happy to let the lower tier guys punch each other out. 9k still to climb
8.2k to climb. Almeida attacks his companions. He has 9 seconds on them, 20 seconds on the other 5, 46 seconds on Oomen and 1’21 on the main chasing pack where Meintjes is being helped by McNulty.
5k to climb for Almeida. His lead is 31 seconds over the remaining 7 breakaway riders who have been joined by Oomen. The peloton 2’25 behind now with only a tired McNulty working. Meintjes has just attacked.
Not much response from the peloton and Meintjes quickly opens a 35 second gap.
Oomen drags the breakaway riders back to Almeida. Girdlestone and Smith are dropped. Meintjes can be seen in the distance but is still 1’41 behind. The peloton now led by Bongiorno is at 2’41
Nice riding from Roglic, he drops back and brings Smith back to the front. King Power definitely focusing on the KOM here. Meintjes at 1’11 the 34-rider peloton at 2’19. Sivakov on the front of that group now. 2.6k to climb, 31k in the stage.
The chase group splits and nearly all the domestiques are gone. Only McNulty, Fung, and Valter left. All the GC top 20 are here or further forward except Amezawa (19th) who was just dropped.
1k to the top Oomen showing the first signs of distress. Smith not quite able to hold on. Meintjes at 52 seconds, the peloton back to 3’08 as nobody wants to work. Amezawa and a few others have rejoined. Lecuisinier started the day 3’55 ahead of Oomen, so he will need to respond.
Oomen crosses the top first, four riders still with him: Roglic, Nesset, Almeida and Mamykin. Meintjes at 43 seconds, peloton at 3’38. 11k downhill and then the final climb.
As soon as they hit the base of the final climb Oomen, Nesset and Almeida attack. This climb is 16.7k at 5.5% but the first 8k are pretty tame with most of the elevation gain coming in the 2nd half. Foliforov who recently rejoined the Pink Jersey group is leading the chase but the gap is still 3’42.
15k to go, the surviving breakaway riders catch the front 3. Just as they do Meintjes, who had bridged across to them, is dropped. Front group of 7 is: Oomen, Almeida, Nesset, Roglic, Goos, Smith and Mamykin. Peloton now led by McNulty at 3’29.
Sivakov attacks the chase group as McNulty fades and quickly reaches Girdlestone. Lehtinen, who had rejoined is chasing but has nothing left. Up front Goos has been dropped again.
Next to attack is Madrazo
10k banner for Oomen, his lead is 4’12 so he is in virtual Pink. PHL must move soon.
Full race situation looks like this, GC top 20 all in the Lecuisinier or ahead of him.
9.5k to go for the Pink jersey group. Attacks come from Hirt, Powless Kirsch, Geoghegan Hart, and Karnulin.
Finally Lecuisinier decides he has to respond. Up front only Nesset, Mamykin and Almeida still hanging on to Oomen.
7.5k to go for Madrazo, who has caught Sivakov. They trail the leaders by 1’15. They are 2’06 ahead of Lecunisier, who has dropped all of the other attackers, except Powless. The remaining GC riders trail PHL by 54 seconds.
5.0k to ride for Oomen. Mamykin has been dropped but Madrazo has almost made it across. He is just 33 second back although he is showing some signs of weakness. PHL can been seen emerging from the hill around the hairpin in actual and virtual Pink as the gap is 2’18 to Ooment. After a few tries he has dropped all the others who attacked with him. In between, out of sight, at 1’09 is a group with Sivakov, Meintjes, Roglic and Smith. Furthest back of the contenders is a group at 3’32 with Bernal, Galta, Barguil and Bongiorno. All the top 20 in the GC are between the Oomen group and the Galta Group, except Amezawa who was just dropped by the Galta group.
3.3k to go for the leaders. Madrazo’s charge has stalled and he is 31 seconds behind. Lecuisinier’s has not, he is just 56 seconds behind now and has passed Sivakov. The Galta group have caught Karnulin, who attacked with PHL and almost caught the rest of those attackers. They are at 2’55.
2.0k to go Oomen, he has a gap over Nesset and Almeida. Lecuisinier has caught Madrazo and eased off to rest at little, they are 46 seconds behind. The Galta group is at 2’20. They have caught and dropped Powless(1tth) Geoghegan Hart (13th), Karnulin (12th) and Goos (17th). Hirt and Kirsch still with that group (Bernal, Barguil, Bongiorno and Galta).
Oomen can’t drop the other two and with the 1k banner in sight Lecuisinier drops Madrazo and is on the move again. Looks like he always had this thing under control.
The Galta group picks up Smith and Roglic. They have closed to within 1’57, this stage might end up a GC stalemate. The full situation looks like this:
500 meters, Oomen opens the sprint Lecuisinier at 7 seconds. Could he still crush their dreams? Galta group is back to 2’01 so Oomen should still make significant GC gains.
300 meters, Oomen still hanging on.
Oomen gets the stage victory his ride deserved. Even Lecuisinier wasn’t quite able to bridge that gap, falling 17 seconds short. He cracks right at the end and settles for 4th but again extends his GC lead. Almeida 2nd, Nesset 3rd.
1.5k for the Galta group, Barguil (4th on GC) is the first to show weakness.
Madrazo takes 5th.
Mamykin just holds off the charge of his teammate Sivakov for 6th.
Meintjes finishes 9th, ahead of Roglic who was attacking from the Galta group. Roglic takes 10th, he helps Smith add to his KOM lead and leads a great team stage for King Power as they take over the teams lead with a 9-minute cushion on Gazelle.
Galta almost catches Roglic on the line as he leads home the rest of the group 1’52 down on the winner.
Viviani paces his ride well and easily meets the time limit.
On the GC Oomen gains enough on everyone ahead of him to take over 2nd. Sivakov holds 3rd, falling behind Oomen but passing Galta, who is now 4th. But those 3 are within a minute of each other, those podium spots are proving hard to hold on to. Barguil loses 37 seconds at the end dropping him to 6th behind Bernal who stays in 5th. Their long-range attacks don’t help Madrazo or Meintjes much, the former gains 1 spot, moving into 8th ahead of Bongiorno, the latter stays in 10th.
No changes in the other jerseys, Sivakov extends his White Jersey lead to 1’38.