Cycling: After the fourth stage there is today the second German double victory this year at the last real sprint finish. André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) wins his third stage of the year and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) finishes second like on day four – again behind a compatriot. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) finishes fourth and retains the green jersey.
The start of the stage today, two weeks after the start of the tour, was extremely confusing. The bumpy initial kilometers with a mountain classification (Cote de Badaroux, third category) actually split the field into several larger and smaller groups right from the start. It took quite a while before things calmed down again and the drivers and teams found their appropriate positions in the field. At the front for a long time was a large group of around 30 riders, including Peter Sagan, Simon Geschke (Giant-Alpecin), Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep).
After a few kilometers, however, the expected attack came from the leading group. Ten riders were able to pull away even further, including Peter Sagan and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) again – the two of them had been doing a lot of work yesterday in the escape group for a long time. The new leading group was able to quickly gain a lead of more than two minutes on the pursuers in partly difficult, slightly damp conditions. In the field, the Katusha and Giant-Alpecin teams in particular set the pace, which was very high today with an average of well over 45 km/h. Sagan secured the 20 points in the intermediate sprint and was able to further extend his lead in the points classification.
About 30km from the finish line, the Col de l'Escrinet (2nd category) was the only really challenging climb of the day. It also meant that the lead of the leading group dwindled to just under a minute, also because Tinkoff-Saxo and Sky had increased the pace in the field again in the meantime. When it was clear with 20km to go that it was only a matter of minutes before the breakaways would be caught by the field, Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) attacked and Ryder Hesjedal pinched his rear wheel. The two new breakaways managed to escape - a few minutes later their seven companions were swallowed up by the field, as expected. There was some excitement when Peter Sagan wanted to stop due to a defect and was repeatedly obstructed by a motorcycle. During the repair, his mechanic sent a less than happy greeting in the form of a drinking bottle to the cameraman and his driver.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8xh51oQf7c
But Hesjedal and Trentin also had to bow to the ever-increasing pressure from behind. With 10km to go the field was back together and it was time for the sprint moves. Lotto-Soudal with André Greipel was represented, as well as Tinkoff-Saxo and Peter Sagan, but Katusha clearly set the pace with Alexander Kristoff, who was still waiting for his first day win of the year. John Degenkolb was on his own early on, but was able to maintain a very good position at the top - when Katusha finally opened the sprint, André Greipel immediately took the lead, but Degenkolb stayed on his rear wheel - but in the end 'Dege' had the lead no chance against the sprinter qualities of André Greipel. Kristoff saved third place by a hair's breadth from Peter Sagan.
https://youtu.be/93dAvd22hKk
The classification drivers experienced a quiet day without any major excitement. They all crossed the finish line in a group without a fall or defect.
Final result stage 15 Tour de France 2015
[easy table th=“0″]1.,André Greipel,Lotto-Soudal,03:56:35
2.,John Degenkolb,Giant Alpecin,
3.,Alexander Kristoff,Katusha,
4.,Peter Sagan,Tinkoff Saxo,
5th, Edvald Boasson Hagen, MTN-Qhubeka,
6th, Ramunas Navardauskas, Cannondale-Garmin,
7.,Christophe Laporte,Cofidis,
8.,Michael Matthews,Orica GreenEdge,
9th, Davide Cimolai, Lampre Merida,
10.,Florian Vachon,Brittany-Séché Environment,
[/easy table]
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