Who’s Winning the Tour?
After more than two weeks of racing, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) wears the yellow jersey as the overall leader of the 2021 Tour de France after Stage 15. The 22-year-old successfully defended his lead on Stage 15, a tough stage through the Pyrenees and into Andorra.
Pogačar’s team was forced to set the pace from the beginning of Stage 15, sitting on the front all day after a group of 32 riders went up the road. Filled with stage hunters, polka dot jersey contenders, and teammates of several of the riders chasing Pogačar, the move forced UAE Team Emirates to sit on the front of the bunch, riding tempo on a day that saw high temperatures and even higher altitude. As a result, Pogačar found himself isolated in the finale, outnumbered by teams like INEOS, Jumbo-Visma, and EF Education-Nippo.
The stage came down to the final climb of the day, the Category 1 Col de Beixalis (6.4km at 8.5%), won by American Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) after spending all day in the breakaway. The 26-year-old Kuss followed the initial accelerations on the steep lower slopes of the climb before finally launching an attack of his own; riding solo over the top of the climb, he led Spain’s Alejandro Valverde by only 20 seconds. But the former mountain biker from Durango, Colorado maintained his lead down the climb’s technical descent, riding solo into Andorra la Vieille to take the biggest win of his career. Valverde finished second and the Netherland’s Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) took third.
While Kuss was riding away to win the stage, riders took turns attacking from the yellow jersey group further down the col with Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers), Australia’s Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën Team), Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) each making attacks to try and crack Pogačar. But the Slovenian covered every acceleration, easily defending the yellow jersey.
Who’s Really Winning the Tour?
Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates team continues to look weaker and weaker as the Tour progresses. The team chose not to place a rider in the day’s big breakaway today, a tactical mistake as the Slovenian found himself completely isolated at the top of the Port d'Envalira, the day’s penultimate climb. INEOS, on the other hand, put Dylan van Baarle and Jonathan Castroviejo in the breakaway and both dropped back at the summit to wait for Geraint Thomas and Richard Carapaz in the GC group, giving Carapaz three teammates to help him through the final hour of racing.
But in the end, it didn’t matter much, as Pogačar had no problems defending the yellow jersey on his own. Attacked by each of the riders chasing him, the Slovenian remained calm, covering each acceleration and even taking a few digs of his own as if to remind everyone, “This is my Tour de France.” And he might be right.
Pogačar enters the Tour’s second Rest Day leading Uran by 5:18 and Vingegaard by 5:32, with Carapaz in fourth at 5:33. At some point soon, these three riders will start attacking one another in a bid to stand beside Pogačar on the final podium in Paris. This will benefit the Slovenian, as he can sit back and watch his closest competitors try and eliminate one another, following their moves in defense of his yellow jersey.
What About the Tour’s Other Classifications?
Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) survived another tough day in the mountains and wears the green jersey as the leader of the Tour’s Points Classification. Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) is second, 72 points behind Cavendish. Assuming Cavendish makes it through the rest of the Pyrenees, he should win the second green jersey of his career.
Poels did enough on Stage 15 to take back the polka dot jersey as the leader of the Tour’s King of the Mountains classification. He leads Canada’s Mike Woods (Isreal Start-Up Nations) by 8 points and Colombia’s Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) by 10. With three more days in the mountains, this competition is far from over.
And as he’s only 22 years old, Pogačar leads the Tour’s Best Young Rider competition. But Vingegaard, who’s currently second in the classification, wears the white jersey since even Pogačar can’t wear two jerseys at once.