Tim Wellens takes another victory for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG in the Tour de France 2025

As expected, an ideal day for the breakaway in the 15th stage of the Tour de France. A stage on hilly terrain that gave us a beautiful spectacle both until the definitive breakaway was formed and in the fight among the escapees. A battle in which the cleverest ended up being Tim Wellens, who thus enters the select club of those who have won stages in the Giro, Tour, and Vuelta.

Carlos Rodriguez sneaks into the breakaway and consolidates his position in the Top 10 of the general classification

The Tour de France 2025 bid farewell to the Pyrenees with a route of 169 kilometers through the "Land of the Cathars" to finish in the beautiful city of Carcassonne. A stage with a mostly flat start until the intermediate sprint, located at kilometer 60, and from there, a middle section of medium mountain where they had to climb two third-category climbs and one second-category climb, the latter short, just 3 kilometers but with an average gradient of 10.2%. In any case, located 50 km from the finish line.

Once again, a stage that presented a great opportunity for one of those breakaways with the cyclists in the best form of this Tour de France. However, the stage did not start too aggressively, with just a timid attempt by Neilson Powless. However, tension would rise in the peloton when, passing through a town, a crash occurred that left Jonas Vingegaard and Florian Lipowitz behind.

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This gave free rein to the contenders to join the breakaway, as they sensed that UAE Team Emirates-XRG was going to ease off to allow the stragglers to catch up, returning the favor from the other day when Pogacar fell. It was probably the ideal moment to try to consolidate the desired breakaway.

A very important breakaway was formed with riders like Van der Poel, Van Aert, Campenaerts, Powless, Lutsenko... who were unable to open up a significant gap due to the work of INEOS Grenadiers, who were trying to bring them back together for the jump, first by Axel Laurance and later by Carlos Rodriguez. Both managed to join the lead group.

Meanwhile, the breakaway reached the intermediate sprint where, without opposition, Mathieu van der Poel scored the 20 points that brought him closer little by little to the green jersey on a day where it is unlikely that Milan or Pogacar will score at the finish line.

As they reached the start of the first climb, attacks resumed in the peloton as the breakaway was still within reach, never managing to go over a minute ahead at any point. Quinn Simmons, Jasper Stuyven, and Michael Storer managed to reach the front, and then, without much rest, they sought and succeeded in splitting the large breakaway group. Finally, after various back and forth, a leading group was consolidated on the second climb with Wellens, Simmons, Campenaerts, Powless, Mohoric, and Storer as the most prominent, with Carlos Rodriguez joining them at the last moment.

They made their way, with the peloton finally easing off, until they reached the extremely tough second-category climb where Storer once again sparked hostilities. Initially, Quinn Simmons went with him, but with an excellent pace, Campenaerts managed to catch up with Tim Wellens on his wheel. They crested the climb 30 seconds ahead of Carlos Rodriguez and Vlasov, who were joined by Lutsenko, starting an intense pursuit of the leading quartet and eventually managing to catch them almost at the summit, a moment that Tim Wellens took advantage of to launch a strong attack towards the finish line on a much less favorable section than it appeared on the profile.

Tim Wellens, with the excuse of being a member of the leader's team, had spent the least energy throughout the day, allowing him to have superior strength in this stage and open a gap of one minute that would ultimately be decisive.

Behind, the attacks and counterattacks continued, while the biggest beneficiary was Carlos Rodriguez, who, with the peloton almost 6 minutes behind, climbed a position in the general classification, consolidating his position in the Top 10. In fact, in the final part, both Uno-X Mobility and EF Education-EasyPost had to take control of the peloton to try to reduce the advantage of the escapees, as the 9th-placed Ben Healy and the 8th-placed Tobias Halland Johannessen were threatened by the jump made by the rider from Granada.

Stage 15 Classification

1. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3h34'09''
2. Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'28''
3. Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) +1'36''
4. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'36''
5. Axel Laurance (INEOS Grenadiers) +1'36''
6. Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +1'36''
7. Paul Penhoet (Groupama-FDJ) +1'36''
8. Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) +1'36''
9. Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) +1'36''
10. Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) +1'36''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 54h20'44''
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +4'13''
3. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +7'53''
4. Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) +9'18''
5. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +10'21''
6. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +10'34''
7. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +12'00''
8. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +12'33''
9. Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +18'26''
10. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +18'41''