cycling: Tour de France stage #15: Pantano wins ahead of Majka

Cycling: The 15th stage of the Tour de France was almost all up and down, but there were no notable attacks on Chris Froome's yellow jersey. The escapees took the stage win. In the end, Jarlinson Pantano (IAM) won the sprint ahead of Rafal Majka (Tinkoff), who was able to console himself with the mountain jersey.

A huge and top-class leading group breaks away

Today's Sunday was a comparatively short stage of 160 km, but certainly not an easy one. After all, it was almost always up and down. Two climbs each of the 1st and 3rd category should be conquered and one each of the 2nd and honorary category. No wonder that many drivers wanted to place themselves in the leading group. In the end, around 30 riders were able to break away, including Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Rafal Majka (Tinkoff), Jarlinson Pantano (IAM), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale), Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), Bartosz Huzarski (Bora-Argon 18 ), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) and Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx Quick Step). Today, of course, it was also about the mountain jersey. The current wearer, Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) also wanted to be up front, but he didn't make it into the group. Rafal Majka, who has already won the dotted jersey, took advantage of this opportunity, diligently collected points and at the end of the day also took the lead in this ranking. After the retirement of Alberto Contador, the Tinkoff team could also win the mountain classification after the points classification and still be very successful in the Tour de France this year.

Pantano beats Majka in a sprint

Up to the Grand Colombier, the leading group disintegrated just as expected, as did the peloton. Team Sky controlled the pace as usual, but none of the co-favorites tried to attack anyway, because the way to the finish still seemed too far and the climb up to the Lacets du Grand Colombier still had to be done. In the leading group, Rafal Majka and Jarlinson Pantano proved to be the strongest riders. They were followed on the last flat kilometers by Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ) and Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r). Also due to some tactics, the two almost came back, but in the end Pantano prevailed over Majka and won his first stage in a Tour de France. However, the Pole was also on the winners' podium, because he was presented with the mountain jersey.

No attacks on Froome

The main field consisted of around 15 riders on the last climb after Team Astana prepared an attack by Fabio Aru. This attack was followed by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) but both were caught again fairly quickly. Romain Bardet's (Ag2r) attempt to escape also failed, as Wout Poels (Sky) was able to close every gap at a consistently high pace for his captain Chris Froome. This pace was too fast for Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), so the American had to give up just like Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) before him. Adam Yates (Orica BikeExchange) was usually at the very end of the group, but he was able to lock onto the rear wheels of the competition until the end of the stage.

Tour de France stage #15: The day's result

Tour de France Stage #15: The overall standings