Jarlinson Pantano claims stage 15 at the Tour de France
As the last remnants of a 30-man breakaway, Jarlinson Pantano, of IAM Cycling, outsprinted Tinkoff’s Rafal Majka for the first Grand Tour stage victory of his career in stage 15 at the Tour de France. Team Sky’s Froome crossed safely in a much-reduced peloton just over three minutes afterwards to retain his overall lead.
Pantano was attentive in the hectic opening phase and he made it into a 30-rider group that escaped in the beginning. He had teammates Stef Clement and Jerome Coppel at his side and they helped to increase the advantage. In the end, he rode extremely well, losing a bit of ground on the climbs but using his great descending skills to get back before beating Rafal Majka in a 2-rider sprint.
The GC battle ended as a bit of a disappointment. Fabio Aru, Alejandro Valverde and Romain Bardet all tried to attack but Sky kept everything firmly under control. A very strong Wout Poels brought everyone back and the only major change was the fact that Tejay van Garderen was dropped in the finale, slipping from 6th to 8th in the standings.
Froome finished safely in 14th and to retained his advantage of 1.47 over Bauke Mollema (Trek). He should have an easier day tomorrow when the riders face a long, rolling stage to the Swiss capital of Bern. In the finale, there is a category 4 climb with 15.5km to go but the real challenge is the 600m climb of 6.5% that leads to the flamme rouge. From there, it is completely flat, making it a great day for classics riders and strong sprinters.
Tour de France 2016 – stage 15 results (Bourg-en-Bresse – Culoz):
| 1 | Jarlinson Pantano (IAM) |
4:24:49 |
| 2 | Rafał Majka (Tnkoff) |
,, |
| 3 | Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R) |
+06” |
| 4 | Sébastien Reichenbach (FDJ) |
,, |
| 5 | Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx – Quick-Step) |
+25” |
| 6 | Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) |
,, |
| 7 | Pierre Rolland (Cannondale – Drapac) |
,, |
| 8 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) |
+01’30” |
| 9 | Daniel Navarro Garcia (Cofidis) |
,, |
| 10 | Tom Jelte Slagter (Cannondale – Drapac) |
+02’08” |
General classification after stage 15:
| 1 | Christopher Froome (Sky) |
68:14:36 |
| 2 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) |
+01’47” |
| 3 | Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) |
+02’45” |
| 4 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) |
+02’59” |
| 5 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) |
+03’17” |
| 6 | Romain Bardet (AG2R) |
+04’04” |
| 7 | Richie Porte (BMC) |
+04’27” |
| 8 | Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) |
+04’47” |
| 9 | Daniel Martin (Etixx – Quick-Step) |
+05’03” |
| 10 | Fabio Aru (Astana) |
+05’16” |
