Stage 15

The road

At the start

The last chance before the rest day

The tacks on the Mur de Péguère cost Robert Kišerlovski his Tour, and cost Cadel Evans three punctures and a minute and a quarter at the roadside that Bradley Wiggins waited out. Nothing has changed: Wiggins, Froome at 2:05, Nibali at 2:23, Evans at 3:19. Today bumps through the Pyrenean foothills to Pau and the second rest day — the last realistic chance for the teams who have won nothing.

How it was won

1. 198 km to go

   Two hours before anything sticks

   Attack after attack is closed down until, ninety-eight kilometres from Pau, five riders finally get clear — Fédrigo, Vande Velde, Dumoulin, Voeckler and Devenyns. Nicki Sørensen spends twenty kilometres alone in the gap before he makes it six.

2. 211 km to go

   Sørensen tries twice

   With ten and a half kilometres left the cooperation stops. Sørensen attacks, is closed down, and attacks again two kilometres later; Dumoulin leads the chase both times.

3. 37 km to go

   Fédrigo splits it for good

   Six and a half kilometres out the man who won here in 2009 from a break does it again — Pierrick Fédrigo knows every corner of the run-in to Pau. Christian Vande Velde is the only one alert enough to go with him, and the four left behind spend too long waiting for somebody else to chase.

4. 4At the line

   Fédrigo, in Pau, again

   A two-up sprint on roads he has ridden his whole life. Vande Velde comes as close to a Tour stage as he will ever come; Voeckler outkicks Sørensen for third twelve seconds later.

The result