Fedrigo Wins Stage 15 of Tour de France

News & Results

07/19/2012| 0 comments
by Gerald Churchill
Team FDJ-BigMat's Pierrick Fedrigo wins stage 15 of the 2012 Tour de France ahead of Team Garmin-Sharp's Christian Vande Velde. Photo Fotoreporter Sirotti.
Team FDJ-BigMat's Pierrick Fedrigo wins stage 15 of the 2012 Tour de France ahead of Team Garmin-Sharp's Christian Vande Velde. Photo Fotoreporter Sirotti.

Fedrigo Wins Stage 15 of Tour de France

Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ-BigMat) has won his team's second stage win of the 2012 Tour de France.

Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ-BigMat) has won his team's second stage win of the 2012 Tour. The Frenchman took a two-up sprint to win Stage 15, a rolling, 158.5-km run from Samatan to Pau, in 3:40:12. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) finished second, and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) finished third at 0:12. Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) remains the maillot jaune.

The break du jour was a long time forming. An early move that included Bert Grabsch (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), David Millar (Garmin-Sharp), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Rui Costa (Movistar), and Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar) doubled in size and never got more than 0:20 on the peloton before being reeled in. At 98 km, however, Voeckler, Vande Velde, Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Fedrigo, and Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) escaped. Nicki Sørensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) chased for about 20 km and joined the move at about 120 km.

Lotto-Belisol chased briefly, but the peloton then decided to let the escapees go. The bunch would finish nearly 12 minutes behind the break.

With 10.5 km left, Sørensen attacked his companions. He was brought back and tried again, again without success. With 6.5 km remaining, Fedrigo attacked, and Vande Velde joined him. Voeckler and Sorensen chased the pair, but they were too late.

Fedrigo led out the sprint. Vande Velde tried to come around the Frenchman, but Fedrigo held him off for the win.

In the overall, Wiggins leads teammate Christopher Froome by 2:05 and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) by 2:23. Tomorrow will be the Tour's second rest day. On Wednesday, Stage 16 will take place. The mountainous, 197-km ride from Pau to Bagneres-de-Luchon will feature two hors categorie climbs and two Category 1 ascents before a descent to the finish. It will be a chance for Cadel Evans (BMC) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) to gain time on Wiggins. Will they do so? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!

Follow Roadcycling.com on Twitter and Facebook to receive daily road cycling news updates automatically.

Your comments
Your comments
sign up or login to post a comment