Jonas Vingegaard keeps yellow jersey at Tour de France, Wout Poels takes Stage 15

With just one week of racing left in the Tour de France, the duel for the ages between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar could still go either way.

Vingegaard kept intact his 10-second overall lead over the two-time champion on Sunday as Dutch veteran Wout Poels soloed to victory after a tough trek in the Alps with a mountaintop finish.

The 35-year-old Poels, who was part of an early breakaway in Sunday's 179-kilometre 15th stage, took advantage of a short but very steep ascent located just before the final seven km climb leading to the finish line to move away.

Wout van Aert, a key teammate of Vingegaard, finished second, more than two minutes behind, with Mathieu Burgaudeau completing the stage podium.

Locked in a pulsating fight for the yellow jersey since the start of the race, Vingegaard and Pogacar once again stayed together and kept an eye on each other throughout the day in the group of main contenders.

The two riders have been a cut above the rest of the field over the last two weeks — third-place Carlos Rodriguez lags five minutes 21 seconds behind — and again proved to be the strongest of all main contenders ahead of Monday's second rest day.

Pogacar tried to sprint away from his rival 900 metres from the line but Vingegaard, the defending champion, immediately jumped on his wheel and did not lose any time. Their duel will resume in Tuesday's time trial.

"I felt that Jonas was super good and I knew that I couldn't really drop him," Pogacar said. "The climb was too easy. I know the time trial pretty good. I hope it suits me pretty well."

After the time trial, the pair will have two more mountain stages to settle their exciting rivalry before the race concludes in Paris next Sunday.

For Poels, it had been a