Stage 15
Caught within metres
- Sunday 20 July 2014
- 222 km
- 1,675 m climbed
- Won by Alexander Kristoff
The road
At the start
Down to Nîmes, and the wind
Two hundred and twenty-two kilometres south to Nîmes on open roads where a crosswind can cost more than a mountain — the lesson of Saint-Amand-Montrond is only a year old. Vincenzo Nibali leads Alejandro Valverde by 4:37, with Bardet, Pinot, Van Garderen and Péraud strung out behind. Nobody in the top ten can afford a dead wheel, and the sprinters have been waiting three days for this.
How it was won
- 3 km to go
Bauer drops Elmiger
Two men have been out front all day and inside the last kilometres Jack Bauer shakes off the Swiss champion, alone on the road to Nîmes with the win of Garmin's Tour in his hands.
- At the line
Caught within metres
The bunch is a wall behind him and it arrives exactly too soon: Bauer is swallowed inside the final metres, grimacing, tenth on the day. Alexander Kristoff wins his second stage of the Tour from Haussler and Sagan.
The result
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexander Kristoff | Team Katusha | 4:56:43 |
| 2 | Heinrich Haussler | IAM Cycling | +0:00 |
| 3 | Peter Sagan | Cannondale | +0:00 |
The route on real terrain, every moment pinned to the kilometre it happened on — and the GPX to ride it yourself.