Wellens wins Tour de France 15th
stage, teammate Pogačar maintains grip on yellow jersey
[July 21, 2025]
CARCASSONNE, France (AP) — Tim Wellens raced clear on the
descent toward Carcassonne to win the 15th stage of the Tour de
France on Sunday while three-time champion Tadej Pogačar tightened
his hold on the yellow jersey.
“I had the opportunity, I took it, and I had legs to finish it, but
of course I trade my victory directly for a yellow with Tadej in
Paris,” said Wellens, a teammate of Pogačar at UAE Team Emirates-XRG,
after his first Tour stage victory.
With it, the Belgian rider became the 113th rider to take stage wins
in all three Grand Tours. Wellens finished 1 minute, 28 seconds
ahead of Victor Campenaerts and 1:36 ahead of Julian Alaphilippe,
Wout van Aert, and Axel Laurance.
“I knew that I had to enjoy the moment,” Wellens said. “I kept
riding 'till the finish line because I wanted a big gap to fully
enjoy it and maybe put my bike in the air after the finish. But I
was so happy to win that I forgot to do it.”
Pogačar and his closest general classification rivals, Jonas
Vingegard and Florian Lipowitz, finished in a large group 6:07
behind Wellens. It meant the Slovenian rider maintained his overall
lead of 4:13 over Vingegard and 7:53 over German rider Lipowitz.
Sunday’s 169-kilometer stage from Muret to the medieval city of
Carcassonne got off to a chaotic start with a crash in the peloton
affecting Alaphilippe, Lipowitz and many others. It appeared to be
caused by a cobbled traffic island that caught one or more riders by
surprise.
Alaphilippe looked to have hurt his left shoulder, but all could
continue racing.
Pogačar, who’d raced ahead, was told over the radio to try and calm
the bunch so Vingegaard and Lipowitz could resume contact.
By the time the peloton got back together, it was about 40 seconds
behind a 15-rider breakaway including Wellens.
Wellens was in a four-man leading group with Campenaerts, Michael
Storer, and Quinn Simmons as they climbed the 2.9 kilometer, 10.2%
incline Pas du Sant.
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Belgium's Tim Wellens rides solo breakaway during the fifteenth
stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 169.3 kilometers
(105.2 miles) with start in Muret and finish in Carcassone, France,
Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Carlos Rodriguez, Warren Barguil, Aleks Vlasov and
Alexey Lutsenko were chasing, and Wellens waited for the trailing
group to catch up before he attacked with 43.5 kilometers to go,
knowing his rivals would find it hard to react with the downhill to
come.
“On the last climb of the day I felt really good,” Wellens said. “I
saw the others also felt really good, but I knew I had to go solo
and at the top of the climb I found my moment."
Third-placed Alaphilippe celebrated after beating Van Aert and
Laurance in a sprint to the line, thinking he'd won the stage, only
to be told that two riders had finished ahead of him.
Raphaël Meyer, team manager of Alaphilippe’s Tudor Pro Cycling Team,
explained that the rider’s radio was damaged in the early crash and
so they were unable to communicate with him during the stage.
The race finishes next weekend in Paris. Monday offers riders the
second rest day of the Tour.
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