Costly at Tour de France for Jonas Vingegaard as Jasper Philipsen wins stage 15

Jasper Philipsen won stage 15 of the Tour de France in Carcassonne at the end of a costly day for Jonas Vingegaard in the yellow jersey.

Philipsen edged out Wout Van Aert and Mads Pedersen in a sprint finish but more significant ahead of the final week of the Tour was the damage done to Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma squad both before and during the 202.5km stage from Rodez.

First came news that Primoz Roglic, a pre-race favourite who became a deluxe domestique following a crash, would not start, before another key team-mate Steven Kruijswijk was forced to abandon after hitting the deck.

Moments after the Dutchman was carried into the back of an ambulance, Vingegaard was himself on the tarmac after colliding with team-mate Tiesj Benoot, who was slow to get up. Van Aert tried to salvage the day with a stage win in the green jersey but was half a wheel short.

Though quickly back on his bike after his spill and able to finish with the lead group, Vingegaard will go into Monday’s rest day short on team-mates and needing to assess his own injuries after appearing to land heavily on his left shoulder.

The Tour’s second longest stage, once again contested in sweltering temperatures nudging 40 degrees in the Occitanie region, looked like being the most relaxed of a frenetic Tour so far, but things changed moving into the last 65km.

For the second time in this Tour, protestors sought to block the road. A two-man break weaved their way through as police hauled the protestors aside, and the decision was made not to neutralise the stage. Moments later Kruijswijk went down and sat clutching his wrist and having dislocated his shoulder.

Vingegaard’s crash followed a few kilometres later, and Jumbo-Visma had to work quickly to limit the