It was the 14th of July, Bastille Day had arrived, and all of France was celebrating the National Day. Tour de France organizer A.S.O. had planned magnificent fireworks for stage 15 of Tour de France 2024. Several French riders were lined up at the very front of the peloton, ready to launch breakaway attempts to honor their proud nation.

Frenchmen were celebrating with champagne, baguette, foie gras and delicious truffles along the roads on the 197.7-kilometer route from Loudenvielle to Plateau de Beille. Perhaps French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife would even attend the Tour stage and join in the festivities to connect with the French people.

Fêtes were also expected for the climbing experts on the five categorized and legendary climbs of the day, which included the Col de Peyresourde (Category One; 7 km; 7.8%), Col de Mente (Category One; 9.4 km; 8.6%), Col de Portet-d’Aspet (Category One; 4.4 km; 9.7%), Col d’Agnes (Category One; 10.1 km; 8.2%), and culminating on the Plateau de Beille (Hors Categorie; 15.7 km; 7.8%).

Sadly, Danish rider Magnus Cort from Team Uno-X Mobility had not dyed his moustache in the French tricolore colors to honor the French nation on Bastille Day, as he had indicated he would if he gained enough followers on his Instagram account. Would he launch attacks in today’s stage to avoid scrutiny from French spectators along the route?

Wheel-borne fireworks were launched from the very beginning of the stage. Like a nearby plane start ramp, which had been featured in the 007 James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, the Col de Peyresourde was used as a launch ramp for several breakaway attempts by riders in the Tour de France peloton. 

Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), and Romain Bardet (Team DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) were among the riders active at the front.

Gaudu turned out to be the first man across the top of the Col de Peyresourde. He was followed by Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team), and Romain Bardet. Olympic Champion Richard Carapaz launched an attack shortly before the top of the climb. The EF Education-EasyPost rider was eager to join a breakaway and once again obtain long-awaited success in a Grand Tour. Carapaz continued his aggressive riding on the descent.

Lazkano was dropped by Gaudu and Bardet on the descent from Col de Peyresourde. The main peloton, however, was just eight seconds behind the French front duo. They were caught with 177 kilometers remaining.

A 21-rider breakaway group had been established on the partially downward, partially flat route section that featured before the Col de Mente climb was reached. The group featured significant riders such as Michael Matthews, Michal Kwiatkowski, Julien Bernard, Nans Peters, Nico Denz, Jai Hindley, Lenny Martinez, Jakob Fuglsang, Guillaume Martin, Enric Mas, Alex Aranburu, Gregor Mühlberger, Louis Meintjes, Magnus Cort, and Biniam Girmay, who was there to secure the points in the intermediate sprint.

The Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe team had sent strong riders into the breakaway and the team was likely looking to avenge the loss of its team captain Primoz Roglic, who had been forced to abandon this year’s Tour after a serious crash earlier in the week.

Biniam Girmay won the intermediate sprint, but had changed his line in the sprint, which shut down the sprinting effort of Michael Matthews. Matthews visually complained by signaling with his hand. Girmay was indeed relegated to third place because of dangerous sprinting.

Carapaz attacked from the main peloton when they reached the Col de Mente. He was hoping to bridge the gap to the front group. Teammate Healy tried to join in as did Bardet. Carapaz made the leap in solo fashion and joined a reduced front group with six kilometers remaining of the Col de Mente climb. 154 kilometers remained of today’s stage 15. Riders from Team Visma – Lease a Bike were setting a fast pace in the main peloton.

It was Bastille Day and French star rider David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) was unfortunately dropped from the main peloton on the Col de Mente. Alas, the rest of the peloton would not be “waiting for Gaudu.” Jan Tratnik and Bart Lemmen were spearheading the peloton.

Yesterday’s strong man Ben Healy also fought his way to the front group. The Irish rider could offer valuable support for team captain Carapaz.

Seventeen riders in the front group approached the top of Col de Mente with a lead of approximately 01:30 minutes over the chasing peloton. Javier Romo (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz fought for the valuable points for the Best Climber Classification. Romo won the sprint across the top.

The riders now engaged in the dangerous descent from the mountain. Col de Portet-d’Aspet was next on the climbing menu of today’s stage 15 of Tour de France 2024.

A Carapaz-led front group entered the Col de Portet-d’Aspet with a lead of more than 01:30 minutes. Riders from Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe moved to the front to set a fast pace that would keep the general classification favorites group at bay.

Visma – Lease a Bike riders were working hard at the front of the GC favorites group to drain any energy left in the batteries of race leader Tadej Pogacar and the rest of UAE Team Emirates following their strong effort in yesterday’s stage.

The breakaway group was still led by the Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe riders as it approached the top of Col de Portet-d’Aspet. They had an advantage of 01:15 minutes over the main peloton, which was still led by the Visma team for Jonas Vingegaard. 132 kilometers remained. Tobias Johannessen won the sprint across the mountaintop to take the maximum points for the Best Climber Classification. He was followed by Romo and Bob Jungels.

A sixty-kilometer mid-stage stretch in hilly, but non-mountainous terrain now followed before the riders would reach Col d’Agnes.

The front group increased its advantage on the midway stretch. Its lead had grown to 02:45 minutes with 95 kilometers remaining. The Visma – Lease a Bike team was apparently not delivering an all-out effort at the front of the main peloton. Perhaps Jonas Vingegaard was having a bad day?

The fifteen riders in the breakaway group were approaching the Col d’Agnes, which was the penultimate classified climb of today’s Tour de France stage. Eighty kilometers remained and they now had an advantage of more than 03:30 minutes. Did the breakaway riders have a chance of prevailing on Bastille Day, or would the general classification favorites reel them in before the finish line at the top of Plateau de Beille?

Seven riders left their other breakaway compatriots behind on the lead-in kilometers to Col d’Agnes. Laurens de Plus (Ineos-Grenadiers), Jai Hindley (RedBull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Bob Jungels (RedBull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Matteo Sobrero (RedBull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Enric Mas (Movistar), and Movistar’s Javier Romo were the riders forming the reshuffled front group.

De Plus, Hindley, and Mas left all other riders in the attack group behind on the Col d’Agnes. Carapaz and Healy were chasing forty seconds behind with five kilometers of the climb and 64 kilometers of the stage remaining. Carapaz later left Healy behind and set out on a quest to catch the front trio.

Carapaz caught the three frontmen with 2.8 kilometers of Col d’Agnes remaining. Riders from Team Visma – Lease a Bike were still leading the general classification favorites group in a quest to weaken Tour leader and yellow jersey wearer Pogacar.

De Plus was first across the top of Col d’Agnes closely followed by Carapaz and Mas. Following a short descent, the front quartet entered a short climbing stretch.

A dangerous descent now awaited the riders. There was a call for fast and risky riding, as the front men needed as big a time advantage as possible before the final climb to the finish line on Plateau de Beille. Norwegian Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility Cycling Team) caught the front quartet on the descent. 

With 34 kilometers remaining, the front quintet had a time advantage of 02:40 minutes over the main peloton, which featured general classification favorites such as Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Carlos Rodriguez, Remco Evenepoel, and Mikel Landa.

Plateau de Beille would be on the horizon after a brief flat section of riding where the riders would have to refuel while delivering maximum power to the pedals at the same time. The cyclists were riding under sunny skies, and temperatures were at least 34 degrees Celsius. Several riders were spotted wearing their FlowBio hydration sensors to further optimize their hydration and performance in the best possible manner in the warm weather conditions.

While Team Visma-Lease a Bike riders were setting the fastest pace possible at the front of the main peloton, the front quintet reached the legendary Plateau de Beille climb with a time advantage of 02:31 minutes. The Hors Categorie Plateau de Beille climb would take the Tour de France riders to the finish line of today’s stage 15.

Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha) had been the most recent rider to win a Tour de France stage on Plateau de Beille when he won stage 12 in the 2015 Tour ahead of Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale).

Carapaz received a water bottle and energy gel from his team’s pink Cadillac as the riders started their climbing effort.

While the front quintet pressed on in a tough attempt of keeping the chasers at bay, the main peloton was headed by Visma – Lease a Bike riders, who were setting an incredible speed. American Visma rider Matteo Jorgenson was spearheading the peloton.

Carapaz was the first rider to attack on Plateau de Beille. Mas countered and the other riders closed the gap after a short stretch. Hindley tried his luck a bit later.

The front quintet had an advantage of 01:08 minutes with 12 kilometers left of today’s battle royale in the mountains.

Mas attacked from the front group and was tailed by Johannessen. Carapaz tried to bridge the gap. The Olympic Road Cycling Champion succeeded and left Mas and Johannessen behind.

Vingegaard attacked from the reduced general classification favorites group. Pogacar stuck to his rear wheel. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) was fighting to keep the gap as small as possible.

Vingegaard and Pogacar caught Mas and Carapaz with 9.3 kilometers remaining. Mas got dropped immediately, while Carapaz stuck to Pogacar’s rear wheel for a while. At this point Evenepoel was twenty seconds behind the leading riders.

Vingegaard was still trying to drop Pogacar with 7.5 kilometers remaining. He looked exhausted, while Pogacar was shining in his yellow bodysuit on a sunny Bastille Day. Pogacar would likely launch an attack later in the stage to expand his race lead before the second rest day and the mountain stages that would follow in the Alps.

Pogacar attacked solo with 5.4 kilometers left of the stage. The Slovenian rider looked strong. Denmark’s defending Tour de France Champion Vingegaard was unable to respond.

Pogacar had a time advantage of 17 seconds with four kilometers remaining. One kilometer later he had expanded his lead to more than half a minute. He was looking brilliant on his Colnago bike when he passed the two-kilometer mark with a lead of 39 seconds.

The Slovenian leader of this year’s Tour de France entered the final kilometer of today’s stage 15 with a time advantage of 51 seconds. Vingegaard was suffering.

Pogacar crossed the finish line in solo fashion as winner on Plateau de Beille on the French Bastille Day. Vingegaard reached the finish line 01:08 minutes later, while Evenepoel suffered a 02:51 minute time loss. Landa finished 03:54 minutes behind Pogacar, while Pogacar’s teammate Joao Almeida was the fifth rider across the finish line, 04:43 minutes after the stage winner.

Pogacar leads the general classification of Tour de France 2024 in 61:56:24. Vingegaard is 03:09 minutes behind in second place, while Evenepoel is challenged by a time deficit of no less than 05:19 minutes. Almeida is fourth, Landa fifth, and Rodriguez sixth.

Monday is the second rest day of this year’s Tour de France.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for continuous coverage from Tour de France 2024.

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