Tim Wellens completes set of Grand Tour victories with solo win on stage 15
Wellens, 34, completed his set of Grand Tour stage victories, attacking from a reduced four-man breakaway with 44 kilometres remaining of the 169km stage from Muret.
The Belgian national champion quickly opened a sizeable gap before the long downhill run into the medieval city, where his margin of victory over compatriot Victor Campenaerts was 1:28.
In the confusion of another frantic day of racing, Julian Alaphilippe celebrated as though he had won the stage when he edged a three-way sprint for third, having apparently been without a working radio after hurting his shoulder in an earlier crash.
Instead, it was a fifth stage victory of this Tour for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, with Pogacar having taken the other four on his way to building an advantage of four minutes 13 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard going into Monday's rest day.
There was no change at the top of the general classification, with the main favourites finishing some six minutes after Wellens took the win, although Ineos Grenadiers' Carlos Rodriguez made the most of getting in the breakaway by leapfrogging Ben Healy into ninth overall. Florian Lupowitz remains third, just shy of eight minutes off yellow and one minute 25 seconds ahead of 22-year-old Scot Oscar Onley.
Wellens, who triumphed in the Belgian champion's jersey a day before his home country's national day, and a day after compatriot Remco Evenepoel was forced to exit the race in tears, savoured every moment on the ride into town.
'It was a very special victory,' Wellens said. 'Everybody knows the Tour de France, everybody wants to ride the Tour de France but not many get to win at the Tour de France so it's very beautiful.
'I knew it was going to be very beautiful to complete my trilogy of the Giro, Tour and Vuelta and I knew I had to enjoy the moment. I kept riding to the finish line because I wanted a big gap and to maybe put my bike in the air on the finish, but I was so happy I forgot to do it.'
In keeping with so much of this Tour to date, it was another chaotic stage as a hilly route across southern France offered little let-up after three days in the Pyrenees.
A furious fight to get into the breakaway was interrupted by an early crash that split the peloton, with Vingegaard and Lipowitz among those held up.
Pogacar tried to slow the pace to allow them to close a one-minute gap, but others were still attacking to get down the road - including Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike teammates - and it took a full 20 kilometres for the main favourites to come back together.
Around 35 riders did go clear of the main bunch, and Wellens used all his experience to sit in the wheels and not offer up turns until launching his decisive attack, where the road continued to rise after the summit of the final categorised climb.
It was Wellens' first Grand Tour stage win since he won two stages of the 2020 Vuelta a Espana to add to his two Giro d'Italia stage victories.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
8 minutes ago
- The Sun
RB Leipzig ask about transfer for Chelsea star during Xavi Simons talks but Blues don't want to lose player
RB LEIPZIG are keen on signing Chelsea starlet Tyrique George, according to reports. The Blues are in advanced talks to sign £60million-rated RB Leipzig star Xavi Simons. 3 3 Simons, 22, missed the Bundesliga side's most recent friendly and it is believed that he has played his last game for them. During talks regarding the Dutchman, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims that RB Leipzig have enquired about George's availability. George, 19, enjoyed a breakout season for the Blues last term, making 26 appearances in all competitions. Due to Chelsea 's huge squad, however, the winger is said to see his future away from Stamford Bridge, at least for the 2025-26 season. The Blues would like to keep George, but a permanent transfer has not been ruled out. In addition to RB Leipzig, Borussia Monchengladbach are also said to be keen. Earlier this year, SunSport was given an insight into George's incredible rise. Bismark Odoi, father of ex-Chelsea star Callum Hudson-Odoi, told SunSport: "He is a few years younger than my son but he was very noticeable from his early years. "We all used to take them, but I'm happy that he's making his parents proud because I tell you it's a lot of hard work, people only see the results, but the work is massive. "Tyrique was very close to another guy who was similar in stature to him, called Apau I think, a very good young player during their under-12 days. 'Not everyone makes it, but yeah, he was there. I think he was one of the youngsters who played very well knowing their parents were watching too.' Chelsea have confirmed the £37million signing of Jorrel Hato from Ajax. Remarkably, the acquisition took spending on defenders to an astonishing £360million under BlueCo. 3
Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
'We'll be ready for Europe,' insists Brendan Rodgers after Celtic need late winner to see off St Mirren
Brendan Rodgers promised that Celtic will be ready to qualify for the Champions League despite labouring to an opening day win over St Mirren. The Parkhead men required Luke McCowan's deflected strike with three minutes left to avoid slipping up as they began the defence of their crown. Rodgers finds out tomorrow which side Celtic will face in the Champions League play-off, with Sturm Graz, Basel, Dynamo Kyiv, Slovan Bratislava, Kairat Almaty, Qarabag and Shkendija all possible opponents. Last Friday, on the back of a quiet summer to date, he challenged the club's board to match his ambition. But he remains confident the team will be to his liking come the first leg of the £40million shootout at the end of the month. 'We'll be ready for the games,' he said. 'The players are working very hard. They are always tense games but we're in a good place and we'll take that game on when it comes. 'I'm feeling really good. The players are shaping up very well. There's real spirit and solidarity in the team. Whoever we get, it's going to be tough, but it will also be tough for them. And we'll accept whatever challenge comes.' Rodgers took a straight bat to questions over whether his team's solitary goal against St Mirren underlined the need to add more quality in forward areas. 'We got into a lot of good areas,' he said. 'We'll always take the game to the final third of the pitch, but we created a lot today. 'You have to give credit to the goalkeeper (St Mirren's Shamal George). He made some great saves. We were creative, dominated the game. 'To win the first game is always good and I'm absolutely pleased with the performance. 'St Mirren are such a hard team to break down. You have to be aware of the threat on the counter-attack, the physicality at set-pieces.' Asked if his side could have had three or four goals on another day, the Celtic manager said: 'I think everyone who was at the game or watched it on TV would say that. Sometimes you need a wee bit of good fortune as well. We didn't quite have that, but some of them hit the post and the bar.' Kieran Tierney's competitive return was cut short amid fears he had suffered another injury, but Rodgers revealed the defender was only suffering from cramp. 'He got a great reception and you see the qualities he has,' he said. 'He had a wee bit of cramp at the end. 'He hasn't played a lot of football. We need to build him and his fitness.' Manchester City defender Jahmai Simpson-Pusey was at the game, with a one-year loan deal now all but agreed. 'We're still waiting for clearance on that one,' said Rodgers. 'But he's up here ready for the move.' Saints boss Stephen Robinson felt his side gave an extremely good account of themselves. 'It was disappointing because we lost to a deflection,' he said. 'Our level of performance showed when Celtic were trying to waste time in the last five minutes of the game. Defensively, we were superb.'
BBC News
38 minutes ago
- BBC News
'He definitely has it', so why did Hamilton say he was useless?
Lewis Hamilton insisted he "still loves" Formula 1 after his most challenging weekend of his Ferrari career so far at the Hungarian Grand Saturday, Hamilton had said he was "just useless" after the seven-time champion qualified 12th on the grid, while his team-mate Charles Leclerc took Ferrari's first grand prix pole position of the Sunday, Hamilton finished in the same place, while Leclerc, after fighting with the race-winning McLarens for the first two-thirds of the race, faded to fourth place, his car apparently afflicted by a problem in the final said he felt "the same" as he had after qualifying. He said: "There's a lot going on in the background that is not… great, so…" But added: "I'm sure there are positives to take from the weekend and I'm sure there's learnings."As is often the case when Hamilton struggles, not only does his mood plumb the depths, but the F1 rumour mill spins into Hamilton over the hill, some wondered after qualifying? Would he even quit Ferrari at the end of the year, or perhaps even before the end of the season?That one, at least, Hamilton rejected, saying he would be back in the car at the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August after F1's summer break."I'm looking forward to coming back," he said. "I'll be back, yeah."Anyone who knows Hamilton, and his determination, and refusal to give up, knows the answers to the other questions about his future, performance, in the wake of some upgrades on the Ferrari car at least gives him some room for optimism."Definitely some improvements that have been made on the upgrades," Hamilton said. "Naturally, it's a shame we're not as competitive as the guys at the front, but you've seen Charles has had a really strong run of the last two races."The car is definitely progressing, so we have to keep trying to extract more from it." What does his boss think? Team principal Frederic Vasseur injected some perspective into Hamilton's situation."For sure when you are seven times world champion, your team-mate is in pole position and you are out in Q2, it's a tough situation," Vasseur the race result, Vasseur pointed out that Ferrari had gambled on a one-stop strategy starting on the hard tyre on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult, and it "didn't work.""I can understand the frustration from Lewis," he said, "but this is normal, and he will come back."Vasseur, who was instrumental in persuading Hamilton to leave Mercedes to join Ferrari for this season, pointed out that the results in Hungary made his driver's weekend look worse than it Hamilton had been 0.247 seconds slower than Leclerc when he was knocked out of qualifying after the second session. But Leclerc himself had found it hard to progress, and Hamilton had been just 0.155secs adrift of his team-mate in the first past two races have seen a stall in the positive momentum Hamilton had been building after a difficult start to his Ferrari Miami in early May, there has been little to choose between the two drivers in qualifying, and Hamilton out-qualified Leclerc in three of the four races before Belgium, a week before errors of different kinds in the qualifying sessions for the sprint and grand prix at Spa made Hamilton look uncompetitive when he was anything was a match for Leclerc on pace in Belgium, but an off followed by a spin caused by a combination of factors relating to a new braking material saw him out in the first session in sprint qualifying, and the same thing happened when he misjudged the exit of the 180mph+ swerves at Eau Rouge and went slightly outside track limits in qualifying for the grand with the problems in Belgium and Hungary, and the need to adapt to a new car of very different characteristics at the start of the season, Hamilton's average qualifying deficit to Leclerc is 0.146 seconds this not what Hamilton would expect of himself, but it should be viewed in the context of that Ferrari - and many others in F1 - regard Leclerc as the fastest driver over a single lap in the critics point to his struggles against George Russell in his final season at Mercedes last 40-year-old has found the ground-effect cars introduced into F1 in 2022 do not fit his late-braking style as well as the previous generation of cars. And it does remain a mystery that he has not been able to adapt as well as would have been expected, or apparently as well as other Vasseur rejected any idea that he might be worried about Hamilton's situation."He's demanding," Vasseur said, "but I think it's also why he's seven times world champion, that he's demanding with the team, with the car, with the engineers, with the mechanics, with myself also. But first of all he's very demanding with himself." What does his former boss think? Toto Wolff, Hamilton's former team boss at Mercedes, was asked about Hamilton's downbeat self-assessment."That is Lewis wearing his heart on the sleeve," he said. "It's what he thought very much when he was asked after the session. It was very raw."He was doubting himself, and we had it in the past when he felt that he underperformed his own expectations and your team-mate is on pole, and he's been that emotionally transparent since he was a young boy or young adult."As for Hamilton's general performances, Wolff said: "He's the GOAT, and he will always be the GOAT, and nobody's going to take that away. That's something he needs to always remember, that he's the greatest of all times."Lewis has unfinished business in Formula 1. In the same way that Mercedes underperformed over this latest set of regulations since 2022, we kind of never got happy with ground-effect cars. And in the same way, it bit him."Maybe it's linked to driving style. So he shouldn't go anywhere. Next year is brand new cars, completely different to drive, new power-units that need an intelligent way of managing the energy."Can Hamilton still win that elusive eighth title, Wolff was asked?"If he has a car underneath him that he has confidence in, that does what he wants, then yes," he replied."If he has a car that it's not giving him the feedback that he wants, and that was the Mercedes of the past few years, and that seems to be the Ferrari, and even worse, then not."But you ask me whether he has it, he definitely has it."
