PLATEAU DE SOLAISON, France (AP) 鈥� Remco Evenepoel held off Tadej Pogacar and his teammate Isaac Del Toro to win the 15th stage of the , while Pogacar kept his commanding overall lead and saw his main rival Jonas Vingegaard
Vingegaard fell about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) from the end of the 184-kilometer (114-mile) trek, which ended with a big climb. His Visma鈥揕ease a Bike team said in a statement posted on X that he sustained a , which will require surgery in the coming days, and multiple abrasions.
鈥淚鈥檓 really sad to see Jonas crash out. Without him the Tour will not be the same,鈥� Pogacar said. 鈥淲e go back a long way.鈥�
Belgian rider Evenepoel withstood two attacks from Del Toro in the last 800 meters and then beat Pogacar in a dash to the line for his first stage win of this year’s race and third overall on the Tour. finished a few seconds behind them in third.
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing, I鈥檓 literally trembling from emotions,鈥� Evenepoel said. 鈥淵ou have to understand, I鈥檓 racing with the best rider ever and he鈥檚 been doing a hell of a climb. For me it鈥檚 a big step forward that I can follow this pace.鈥�
Vinegaard’s retirement means that Evenepoel climbed to second overall, five minutes behind four-time Tour champion Pogacar, with the 22-year-old Mexican Del Toro 5:58 back from Pogacar in third place.
Barring mishap, a fifth Tour crown looks inevitable for Pogacar, who has won in this year’s race.
Only Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault have won the overall Tour five times.
Vingegaard crashes before final climb
Sunday’s trek featured one Category 1 (the second-hardest category) up Col de la Croisette and concluded with a HC climb (the hardest category) up Plateau de Solaison in the French Alps 鈥� an 11-kilometer slog with a punishing 9% gradient.
It was a special stage for the 19-year-old rising French star Paul Seixas, whose grandparents’ house was about 15 kilometers from the finish. Seixas credits his grandfather, Jos茅 Manuel Seixas, for introducing him to cycling when he was a youngster. Seixas finished fourth and is fourth in the standings, 6:23 behind Pogacar.
A lead group of nine riders, including Olympic mountain bike champion and American Quinn Simmons, headed up the sharp 4.7 kilometers of Col de la Croisette, with Simmons moving ahead.
Shortly after Vingegaard’s crash, which saw the Danish rider tumble close to a roadside kerb after losing control of his front wheel, riders reached the Solaison ascent.
Pogacar caught Simmons with just under 5 kilometers remaining, with Del Toro and Evenepoel the only ones able to stick with him.
鈥淚 just kept my momentum and tried to go as hard as possible to the finish line,鈥� said Evenepoel, who said his win will silence detractors who said he could not climb well. 鈥淥n hard mountains like this, it鈥檚 really hard to beat guys like Tadej.鈥�
Monday is the second rest day of the race, which concludes on the Champs-脡lys茅es in Paris on July 26.
Tuesday’s 16th stage is an individual time trial and offers Evenepoel, the reigning time trial Olympic and world champion, a good chance for another stage win.
鈥淲e have a good rest day and then a beautiful day on Tuesday where I will try to go again for a stage win,” Evenepoel said. “It鈥檚 amazing that I find my best legs for this Tour.鈥�
He won the Tour time trial last year with a .
Doping checks
Pogacar and Vingegaard were woken up in the early hours of Sunday morning by officials carrying out unannounced anti-doping tests.
Pogacar said his test was carried out at 5 a.m. and that Vingegaard鈥檚 was at 2 a.m.
The Slovenian star suggested fatigue may have led to his rival crashing.
鈥淢e, I had a control (test) at 5 in the morning (and) Jonas did a control at 2 in the morning,鈥� Pogacar said in a post-race interview on French television. 鈥淪o you never know, maybe this was also the consequences of one bad sleep.鈥�
Cycling鈥檚 governing body, the UCI, entrusts testing to the Swiss-based .
Trust needed rebuilding
Cycling鈥檚 reputation was heavily damaged when American Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour titles (1999-2005) after to having used performance-enhancing drugs during his career.
Two years later, a detailed cycling鈥檚 historic culture of drug use and investigated alleged mismanagement by the UCI.
The year-long probe was ordered by the governing body鈥檚 new leadership in a bid to rebuild trust in cycling as a clean sport. ___
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