Tour de France Stage 15 - Samatan / Pau
At 158 km or 98 miles, Tour de France Stage 15 from Samanta to Pau sidesteps the Pyrennes to take the riders to Pau for the 64th time. While lumpy, the stage is not particularly difficult, and it should be one for the sprinters, unless, of course, sprinters team let a breakaway go early. That is unlikely, as sprinters will only one one or two more chances to shine. With that, a bunch sprint into Pau is likely, and the Tour de France 2012 contenders will take an armchair ride into the second rest day of the Tour.
- Km 107.0 - Côte de Lahitte-Toupière2.1 kilometre-long climb at 5.3% - category 4
- Km 123.5 - Côte de Simacourbe1.9 kilometre-long climb at 6.3% - category 3
- Km 129.0 - Côte de Monassut-Audiracq1.5 kilometre-long climb at 5.4% - category 4
Tour de France Stage 15 Results
Apparently, the rest of the sprinters have ceded victory to Peter Sagan. The break that got away for the day stayed away. When it came down to only two men, Pierrick Fedrigo and Christian Vande Velde, Federigo had what most closely resembled sprinters legs whille Vande Velde did not. The Frenchmen took the victory, his second in the last three Tours de France.
No changes to the general classification. Boring. Now, we're headed to the rest day, before the real Pyrennes campaign gets under way on Wednesday.
Stage 15 - Top 10 Finishers
| 1 | Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat | 3:40:15 |
| 2 | Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Sharp | |
| 3 | Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:00:12 |
| 4 | Nicki Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | |
| 5 | Dries Devenyns (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep | 0:00:21 |
| 6 | Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne | 0:01:08 |
| 7 | André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team | 0:11:50 |
| 8 | Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Sharp | |
| 9 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
| 10 | Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team |
General Classification after Stage 15
| 1 | Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling | 20:33:21 |
| 2 | Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling | 0:02:05 |
| 3 | Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:02:23 |
| 4 | Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team | 0:03:19 |
| 5 | Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team | 0:04:48 |
| 6 | Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan | 0:06:15 |
| 7 | Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team | 0:06:57 |
| 8 | Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team | 0:07:30 |
| 9 | Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:08:31 |
| 10 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat | 0:08:51 |
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