Stage 15 of the Tour de France starts in Les Gets in Portes du Soleil and ends 179 kilometres later in Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc and the Polka Dot and Yellow Jersey contenders will have to be at their best as we have our third mountain stage in a row.
STAGE 14 WRAP UP
We had another dramatic day in the Tour de France and unfortunately it wasn’t all about the racing as there were a number of crashes and a good few abandoned, including South African, Louis Meintjes who went down in an early crash which at that stage saw the race neutralised.
The race to get into the break was as tough and exciting as we expected, but what did surprise me was that Jumbo-Visma, the team of Yellow Jersey, Vingegaard didn’t put any riders or even attempt to put any riders into the break. Instead they rode at a strong pace at the front of the peloton all day giving the break no chance. Their aim of course was to wear Pogacar down so Vingegaard could attack him on the final climb and put time into him.
In the end though it was Pogacar who attacked and we had a fascinating battle between the pair up the Col de Joux Plane, but they eventually cancelled each other out and Rodriguez came from over a minute behind them to go past them on the descent and hold on for a 5 second victory. Vingegaard had grabbed the bonus seconds at the top of the climb although he had a bit of good fortune there as motor bikes impeded Pogacar’s initial attempt to sprint clear.
Pogacar managed to get 2nd with Vingegaard 3rd and UAE’s Simon Yates was just behind them in 4th.
JERSEY UPDATE
When all was said and done Vingegaard had pulled 1 second clear of Pogacar by virtue of bonus seconds and there has been very little change to the betting with Pogacar priced at 5/6 and Vingegaard at 1/1.
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Vingegaard has now taken over the King of the Mountains Jersey from Powless with Pogacar a further 6 points back. This has seen a bit of a shake-up in the betting with Vingegaard and Pogacar now joint favourites at 9/4 with Ciccone priced at 5/2.
Ineos Grenadiers are now 7 points in the Team Classification and are the short price of 4/9 to win it.
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STAGE 15 BETTING – Click here to bet
Tadej Pogacar 3/1
Jonas Vingegaard 7/1
Michael Woods 10/1
Giulio Ciccone 12/1
Tom Pidcock 16/1
Felix Gall 18/1
22/1 and better the balance
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THE ROUTE
The stage starts off with a very short rise which may see a few breakaway riders try and get away. Then there is a fairly lengthy valley of around 24 kilometres with an unclassified climb and this is where the break may well go. Then have two Cat 1’s, a Cat 3 and a Cat 2 before we finish on the Cat 1, Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc which is 7 kilometres at 7.7%. These stats are somewhat misleading as before the final climb there is a Cat 2 climb of 2.7 kilometres at 10.9% which is sure to see some attacks and the climbs could virtually be considered to be joined.
VERDICT
It is going to be interesting to see what tactic Jumbo-Visma adopt, will they try again to isolate Pogacar that Vingegaard can pull clear of him or will they be worried about bringing the bonus seconds into play if they are unable to shrug them off. On the other hand will Pogacar’s UAE team try and control the stage to set him up for the win and bonus seconds.
After Saturday’s brutal stage, I think this could be a stage for the breakaways as both Jumbo-Visma and UAE must be feeling very tired.
Giulio Ciccone showed good legs and was probably the strongest in the break on Stage 14, but was never given any leeway. I expect to see him in the break again and think he could take the win.
Suggested Bet: Ciccone win at 12/1
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
