Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel beat race leader Tadej Pogacar in a sprint finish to take Sunday’s 15th stage of the Tour de France, as former winner Jonas Vingegaard crashed out.
Evenepoel edged out the reigning champion at the end of the tough 11km-long climb to the finish. Mexican Isaac Del Toro was third, six seconds back.
Earlier, two-time winner Vingegaard suffered a miserable end to his Tour de France after crashing around 20km from the end of the stage.
He will undergo surgery on a fractured collarbone following his crash, his team said.
“Jonas sustained a fractured collarbone and multiple abrasions. Due to the severity of the collarbone fracture, surgical intervention has been recommended and will be performed in the coming days,” his Visma-Lease a Bike team said in a brief statement.
The 29-year-old Dane, who was sitting second overall, went down hard on a bend as his Visma-Lease a Bike team were setting a fierce pace to chase down the day’s breakaway.
Vingegaard was visibly in pain following the crash, which caused another four riders to also fall.
He was then helped into a medical vehicle with his arm in a sling.
Jonas Vingegaard before the start of stage 15. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
This was the first time that Vingegaard had been unable to finish a Grand Tour.
In his five previous participations at the Tour, he won twice and finished second in the other three.
Race leader and reigning champion Tadej Pogacar’s team-mate Isaac Del Toro, who was seventh overall, was one of the other fallers, although he was able to set off again soon afterwards to rejoin the peloton.
Vingegaard’s American team-mate Sepp Kuss was another to tumble and he took a lot longer to get going again.
When he did, he was a long way behind the group of leaders.
Vingegaard’s crash came just hours after he and Pogacar were amongst a number of riders to have been woken up at their hotels in the night by anti-doping controllers.
Vingegaard was woken up at 2:00 am, while Pogacar was disturbed three hours later.
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Published on Jul 19, 2026