Stage 15

The road

At the start

Forty degrees on the road to Carcassonne

A heatwave has settled over the south of France and the forecast says forty degrees; the Extreme Weather Protocol is in force and the stage goes ahead regardless. Jonas Vingegaard is still 2:22 clear of Tadej Pogačar, who threw everything at him on the Mende wall and gained nothing, with Geraint Thomas third at 2:43. Two third-category climbs in 202 kilometres, and the sprinters expect Carcassonne.

How it was won

1. 164 km to go

   Kruijswijk goes down hard

   After a long, tense, protest-interrupted afternoon, Jumbo-Visma lose a rider to a sudden crash on a straight, open road. Vingegaard needs a bike change in the panic but rejoins before the sprint.

2. 255 km to go

   Van Aert vigilant at the sprint

   Honoré leads Politt through the intermediate, but the green jersey is up front to take third and more points, as he has been at almost every sprint of this Tour.

3. 347 km to go

   Trek try to burn off the sprinters

   The two leaders are caught on the climb as Trek-Segafredo pour on the pressure, stringing the bunch out and dislodging Ewan, Groenewegen and Kristoff. Gougeard and Thomas dance over the top of the train to take the mountain points.

4. 4At the line

   Philipsen threads the needle in Carcassonne

   The dropped sprinters claw back over twenty kilometres of descent, and Thomas is swept up under the red kite. Pedersen opens up off a Trek lead-out; Philipsen has to brake twice, throws himself up the inside of the final bend and finds another gear to beat Van Aert for his first Tour stage.

The result