Magnus Cort Nielsen wins stage 15 – Tour de France
Tour de France 2018
Stage 15
Twenty-four hours after Omar Fraile took the win in Mende, Astana celebrated their second scalp in succession as Nielsen powered clear of Ion Izagirre (Bahrain Merida) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) in a cat-and-mice finale to the 181.5km stage from Millau.
It was a tactical masterclass from the Kazakh-funded team, who also had Nielsen’s fellow Dane Michael Valgren in a select eight-man move that approached the finish with a change at glory, having reeled in lone escapee Rafal Majka of Poland with 15km remaining.
When Dutch veteran Mollema kicked clear alongside the Basque climber Izagirre inside the final 7km, Nielsen – the fastest finisher of the group – latched on, while team-mate Valgren hung back to cover any counter attacks, most notably those coming from local rider Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie).
Despite being forced to lead out the three riders on the home straight, Nielsen, a double stage winner in the 2016 Vuelta a Espana, used his superior kick to snare a maiden Tour stage win in his debut appearance in the world’s biggest bike race.
“It’s amazing. It’s what I’ve been dreaming of even before I started riding a bike,” Nielsen, 25, said after the stage.
“It’s my first year here at the Tour and I’m so happy to take a victory. I have to thank my team a lot for giving me this chance and really believing in me – especially also with Michael [Valgren] in the final. It really was perfect and my sports directors had a really big belief in me. They were the ones who came with this tactic many days ago, they already said that this is the stage for me. Everything worked out perfectly and I’m so happy.”
In the subdued battle for yellow, it was a largely uneventful day – despite some rolling roads and the inclusion of the Pic de Nore, the tallest peak of the Montagne Noire. An ultimately futile attack by Ireland’s Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) on that Cat.1 climb proved the only flashpoint on a day of attrition that saw no changes to the general classification.
Race leader Thomas, who was all smiles as the peloton rolled through the finish more than 13 minutes down, will enter the final week of the Tour holding a 1’39” lead over Sky team-mate Chris Froome, with Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) a further 11 seconds in arrears.
The irrepressible world champion Peter Sagan was once again part of the day’s main break as he added yet more points to his green jersey tally while riding in support of Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate Majka, who soloed clear on the Pic de Nore with just under 50km still left to ride.
In his inexorable quest for a record-equalling sixth green jersey, Slovakian sensation Sagan secured his 100th day in green and saw his tally rise to 452 points – just 18 points off his own record tally from 2015.
Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) also consolidated his polka dot jersey by adding some extra king of the mountain points to his tally over the first of three categorised climbs before failing to ensconce himself within the 29-man move which eventually got the better of the peloton.
From the outset the road headed uphill underneath the iconic Millau Viaduct as Britain’s Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) put in the first of multiple attacks that characterised a hectic opening hour of racing.
Alaphilippe then came to the fore to reel in polka dot jersey rival Warren Barguil (Fortuneo-Samsic) and pick up maximum points going over the Cat.3 Cote de Luzencon before the race came back together.
Looking to salvage something from the Tour after seeing his GC bid crumble in the Alps, Yates combined with the equally active Barguil after 20km with Austrian Gregor Muhlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) soon bridging over.
But Alaphilippe’s Quick-Step Floors team-mates helped thwart the trio before the large 29-man group eventually extricated itself after almost 50km of frenetic racing.
The best placed rider in the break was Belgium’s Greg van Avermaet, the former yellow jersey from BMC, who, trailing Thomas by almost half an hour on GC, was seen as posing no threat to the status quo.
As such, Team Sky came to the front of the pack to call a ceasefire to the hostilities ahead of the the Cat.2 Col de Sie to call a ceasefire – allowing the gap of the leaders to grow steadily over the course of the remainder of the stage.
As soon as the break embarked on the climb, and with 125km still on the board, Calmejane zipped clear – no doubt a little overexcited at the prospect of riding over his home roads. A stage winner in his debut Tour last year, Calmejane rode over the summit with little over a minute to play with – a paltry gap which convinced him to reconsider and wait for his fellow escapees.
Numerous attacks through the feed zone saw the likes of Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors), Tom Skujins (Trek-Sagafredo) and Sagan come to the fore. But it was Calmejane’s Direct Energie team-mate Fabien Grellier who finally opened up a significant gap.
Grellier was joined by fellow Frenchman Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) before the intermediate sprint, with Slovakia’s Sagan – of course – mopping up the points for third place once the chasing group came through more than a minute down.
The decisive selection was made on the Cat.1 Pic de Nore – known as the Ventoux of the Black Mountains – when the French duo were mopped up and Majka rode clear.
The Pole showed the kind of climbing form that saw him win two polka dot jerseys – although was extremely lucky to stay on two wheels after a spectator almost fell into him near the summit.
Majka’s gap was just 30 seconds going over the blustery brow – and he was reeled in after the long, sinuous descent by a select group that also includes Astana duo Cort and Valgren, Trek-Segafredo pair Mollema and Skujins, Domenico Pozzovio and Izagirre of Bahrain Merida, and the dogged Calmejane.
Boasting the two fastest finishers in Valgren and Nielsen, Astana held all the cards – and so it proved. An attack from Pozzovivo with 8km remaining came to nothing and was countered by Izagirre and Mollema. Nielsen easily latched on while Calmejane received no help from the team-mates of the leading trio, nor from a shattered Majka.
Despite two big efforts from the Frenchman, the trio powered clear before Nielsen played his cards right in the inevitable finale. A crash involving five riders – most notably Serge Pauwels of Dimension Data, who fractured an elbow – marred the battle for minor places as remnants of the break arrived in dribs and drabs.
Ireland’s Martin made the only move from the main pack, the Irishman attacking early on the Pic de Nore to crest the summit with a minute advantage. But he was unable to stay ahead and was swept up by the peloton shortly after catching Sagan near the foot of the descent.
A well-earned rest day is followed by the shortest road stage in 30 years, which has been described as “dynamite” by Tour director Christian Prudhomme. It takes the riders 65km from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Col du Portet.
The first ever summit finish on the monstrous Col du Portet – at 2,215m, the highest point of the race and Souvenir Henri Desgrange – is preceded by the Cat.1 slogs up the Peyresourde and the Col de Val Lourdon-Azet, in the opposite direction from the stage in the 2016 Tour when Chris Froome showed of his daredevil descending skills en route to a win in Bagneres-de-Luchon. With 3,200m of vertical gain in just 65km, the race could explode from the outset.
