Dutchman Wout Poels (Bahrain) won the 15th stage of the Tour de France by winning alone at the top of Saint-Gervais on Sunday, where Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar failed to decide.
Ten seconds still separate the two big favorites in the general classification who crossed the line side by side, about six minutes behind the winner, who started in the breakaway of the day.
Pogacar did attempt an attack just after the red flame, but Vingegaard did not yield a centimeter and the two men arrived together during this second stage in the Alps.
Poels dropped off another Wout, Van Aert (Jumbo), at the foot of the last ascent, about ten kilometers from the finish, to win, at 35, his first success in a Grand Tour.
This is the second victory in this Tour for his Bahrain team, bereaved by the death of its Swiss rider Gino Mäder during a fall in the Tour de Suisse in mid-June.
“I started to believe it in the last mile. The emotion caught up with me with what happened to Gino. I am very happy,” reacted Poels, winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2016.
He tackled the last climb with Wout van Aert, less aerial than in 2022, and the Spaniard Marc Soler.
The three men then counted 1 min 30 sec ahead of a group of luxurious pursuers with riders like Thibaut Pinot, Guillaume Martin, Mikel Landa, Warren Barguil or Giulio Ciccone.
After dropping Van Aert, the Dutchman charged towards the finish, mouth wide open, to win with 2:08 on Van Aert and 3 minutes on the French Mathieu Burgaudeau, author of a superb climb.
On Monday, the Tour de France peloton will enjoy its second day of rest before a 22.4 km uphill time trial which could prove decisive on Tuesday.