Key events
7.2km to go Pogacar is now setting the pace at the front of the peloton. Martinez has dropped off the back.
8km to go Schmid looks done. Simmons stretches his lead to 21 seconds over the Pidcock group, currently led by Yates.
8.5km to go Simmons attacks, draws up to Schmid and goes ahead, to the pleasure of his watching dad. Pidcock’s group are 12 seconds behind. The peloton are gaining – 1.37 adrift.
9.5km to go Schmid pushes on. Pidcock licks his lips and leads the chasing group of Simmons and Voisard and Yates. And the gap drops to 10 seconds.
Felix Groschartner who was involved in the crash with Vingegaard is hurting. He swaps bikes and soldiers on.
10km to go Red Bull take over at the front of the peloton after a radio message. They’ve got 2.27 to catch and they’re starting to motor.
10km to go The final, brutal climb begins. Schmid has 28 seconds on the chasing group.
Many thanks to the Tour de France for this detail: With its impressive figures – 11.3 km of ascent with an average gradient of 9% -, the climb to Plateau de Solaison makes its debut in great fashion on the roads of the Tour de France.
It’s the 47th climb to be classified HC since the introduction of this category in 1979. That year, only Col du Galibier and L’Alpe d’Huez were HC.
The last climb to join the list of HC ascents was Col de Vars, in 2024, but it was far from being a novelty, having been previously classified as a cat. 1 or even cat. 2 ascent. The most recent HC climb introduced in the Tour is the Col de la Loze, with the different sides used since 2020.
Swiss cyclist Mauro Schmid of Team Jayco AlUla in action. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPAShare
Updated at 11.19 EDT
14km to go While Vingegaard’s Tour was coming to a painful close, the race shapeshifted. The lead at the front has grown. Schmid has 19 seconds over Group Pidcock and 2.53 to the peloton.
Vingegaard went down coming into a tight corner, his front wheel clippping a curb. As he climbs into the ambulance, his right arm is in a sling. The commentators immediately bring up that 2am drug test.
ShareVingegaard is out of the race
Ah no. He’s being packed into an ambulance and that’s the end of his Tour. Del Toro was involved in the crash too, but got back up quickly.
Updated at 11.06 EDT
A crash
Vingegaard is down.
23km to go Schmid is maintaining his lead of 18 seconds over Group Pidcock. One minute 17 behind are Baudin, Paret-Peintre, Vauquelin and Van Wilder, while the Peloton push on adrift by 2’10”.
27km to go A field of liver and white cows lounge in a field as the leading group hurtle past – they’ve got about another 18k before they hit the imposing slopes of the Plateau de Solaison. But they’re losing time on the peloton who have hit beast mode – now 2.19 behind.
32km to go Schmid makes a break for glory, and rapidly has ten seconds on Pidcock. Further back, Campenaerts has dropped back and now leads the peloton for Visma.
Good afternoon William Preston!
“Normally, this is the best time of the year for me. Work wise, there’s a lot of people away on holiday so it’s quiet and I’d hit up ITV on the tellybox and really enjoy the days.
“This year, it’s only the superb coverage on this website, as the broadcasts are paywalled away, that makes the thrilling heroics of the breakaway come to life, or the peleton – a word I can never spell – getting a stomp on to close them down.
“It’s still the best thing in the world, but exists in words at the moment, and that’s also fine.”
It was a stinker of a decision wasn’t it. Hope we can help fill a few of a gaps.
36km to go Simmons takes over the pace-making briefly, tries to grab a bottle of water but can’t holds on and darts a dirty look at the responsible team-member. Schmid and Costiou have rejoined the lead group. The lead group hurl themselves over the penultimate climb with KOM points for Pidcock (2) and Simmons (1).
40km to go The category three Cote du Mont awaits. The lead group of five – Yates, Pidcock, Simmons, Rubio and Voisard – digs into the 7.6 per cent slope. Costiou is 8 seconds behind them, Schmid 19, and the peloton adrift by 2 mins 53.
“Just for Matt Pennifold’s query on the ‘fun’ jersey,” writes Guy Hornsby. “ I’m with him there, though I guess it depends on your definition of fun. My vote would go to Paret-Peintre, who always seems to be in the action. Also, a massive wistful shout to the ‘Combination’ jersey, which had a beautiful but short-lived life until 1989. That always takes me back to the glorious era of Lemond, Fignon et al. A different time.”
Updated at 10.37 EDT
45km to go Rowdily enthusiastic crowds are five deep at the summit. Simmons takes the maximum KOM points, followed by Pidcock (8), Voisard (6), Yates (4), Rubio (2) and Costiou (1). But Simmons has been caught, with Pidcock on the charge on the descent.
Quinn Simmons of Lidl-Trek greets a spectator. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPAShare
Updated at 10.39 EDT
48km to go Simmons’s gap is now 15 seconds over Pidcock’s group. He’s got 500m to the summit. And he’s putting time into the peloton as well – now 3’08” behind.
49km to go Van Wilder and Schmid are faltering at the back of the leading group. And now Simmons attacks with gusto! He’s soon got three, four, five metres on Pidcock.
Hello Alistair Connor:“You’ve got to admire his persistence, but the conventional wisdom says Pidcock should concentrate on improving his overall place, because he is too highly ranked to be allowed à breakaway stage win. I think it’s just his temperament, which is no doubt better suited to one-day races.”
51km to go Pidcock still at the front as they squeeze past the throngs of spectators at a horrifying 12 per cent gradient. The peloton are still 2.42 behind, led with gumption by Visma lease a bike.
Britain’s Tom Pidcock, right, and Quinn Simmons of the U.S., second from right, ride in the break away group. Photograph: Mosa’ab Elshamy/APShare
Updated at 10.31 EDT
52km to go Pidcock hits the front and pulls apart the lead group. Both Visma riders are now dropped, but Yates is still holding on at the back.
52km to go “With the steep climbs we’ve got coming, it is every man for himself,” say TNT. People are dropping off the front group including Healy. They’re going hard at the front of the lead group, but the peloton are gaining.
55km to go Things are about to get tough. The riders start the 4.6km climb at an average of 11 per cent gradient – the Col de la Croisette. Van Moer is riding hard at the front of the breakaway, Pidcock is on his shoulder. Nearly two minutes between them and the peloton.
The peloton cycle to the Col de la Croisette. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 10.52 EDT
61km to go Vinokurov is caught.
”Musing over whether there should a jersey for the rider having the most fun” writes Matt Pennifold, “but I suspect that Poge would win this as well.”
I love this idea, but what colour would it be? It is hard to out-fun the polka-dots. I’ll throw Pidcock and Carapaz into the ring too.
65km to go Vinokurov makes another break for freedom. In the front pack one of the riders has radioed to say no-one in the group wants to work with Pidcock.
Updated at 09.52 EDT
68km to go I can tell you, thanks to the commentators, that this region of France is very famous for its plums. A juicy one for Tom Pidcock who in the virtual GC standings has moved up to fourth – though he is very unlikely to be there at the end of this race. The front group still have a 2 mins 28 gap.
Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team’s British rider Tom Pidcock (2nd R) cycles in a breakaway. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 09.51 EDT
70km to go A morning interview with Evenpoel, who we learn had one big spoon of Nutella for breakfast. It’s currently powering him along in the peloton, who trail the leading pack by 2 mins 50.
On they go, past a chalked Appuie Bon Dieu across the road. The sun is out, the energy high
78 km to go The break has a 2 mins 2o buffer as I type. They have, I think, just entered the beautiful departement of Haute-Savoire.
“Afternoon Tanya,” lovely to hear from you James, (travelling back from Norwich.)
”Interesting to see the usual suspects (Pidcock, Healy et al.) in the breakaway again today. Whilst their bravery is to be commended, I can’t help but feel that these repeated efforts are somewhat futile when facing the sheer artillery of Team UAE. They’re like a two-wheeled ‘Light Brigade’, charging into Pogacar and UAE’s valley of Death.”
Half a league onward – I love the fearlessness of it, despite the inevitability of UAE. It must take some mentality to do that.
81km to go Romain Bardet thinks that the breakaway “is a tactical move from most of the GC teams. [The final climb] is one of the most brutal climbs on the TDF. To have a teammate in the front group will be a massive advantage.”
Visma and UAE are at the front of the peloton.
87km to go The wide beautiful waters of the Rhone accompany the breakaway, which now has one minute 40 on the peloton. A 4km 3 per cent gradient climb on the way. And things are relatively gentle until the Col de la Croisette rises in about 40km.
91km to go The break suddenly has a minute and rising on the peloton
Tobias Johannessen, who was riding his brother’s bike after an earlier puncture, gets his own bike back
98km to go Vinokurov has been caught by a group including Healy, Paret-Peintre, Pidcock, Bernal, Rubio and some satellite riders for the big teams. They are now 15 seconds ahead of the peloton.
101km to go Nico Vinokurov, the Kazakhstan national champion, has made a lone break, and he’s putting his foot down. He’s 10 seconds ahead of the pack.
Nicolas Vinokurov before his breakaway. Photograph: Tim de Waele/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 09.30 EDT
105km to go Well played EF education! They’ve wheeled in the breakaway for their man Carapaz. Meanwhile, Jan Tratnik gets a new bike.
Solid Pogacar love from Nick Wayne. “First the endless GOAT superlatives then the booing. C’mon people, make your mind up. IMHO he’s an amazing and admirable cyclist. Loved or not, he races clean and that’s the bottom line.”
109km to go There aren’t too many spectators at this stage, odd handfuls of people who look as if they’ve pottered out from their front door five minutes before the train screams past. The group at the front still have 20 seconds on the chasing pack, with EF education working hard to join in.
119 km to go “We need Carapaz in the breakaway today for KOM points,’” says the EF team radio. And the pink shirts lead the peloton.
124 km to go Two becomes ten. Oliveira, Matthews, Schmid, A. Johannessen, Skaarseth, Van Dijke, Garcia Pierna and Izagirre have joined Arensman and Azparren up at the front. They’ve got nine seconds on the peloton.
Philip Terry has been wrapping his head around Sunday afternoon speculation. “What if…Pogi wins today and puts more time between himself and Jonas then turns superdomestique to ensure second place for Del Toro? Well, it’s a hot lazy afternoon in France and time for an after lunch ponder!”
The riders in action during the 15th stage. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPAShare
Updated at 08.42 EDT