The 2023 Tour de France wrapped up a tough three-day mountain stretch and Wout Poels has claimed his first stage victory. Poels won Stage 15 in dominating finish, pulling away from Wout van Aert to cross the finish line first. It looked like van Aert might challenge Poels, but he struggled late and Poels won by more than two minutes. Mathieu Burgaudeau finished third to round out the podium.
Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar did battle further back in the field as they continue dueling atop the general classification. They finished virtually tied and so Vingegaard retained his ten second lead for the yellow jersey. Carlos Rodriguez attempted to push ahead of Vingegaard and Pogačar, but couldn’t hold on and slipped back. He remains in third place but is 5 minutes, 21 seconds back.
The peloton gets the second of two rest days on Monday before heading into the home stretch of the Tour with six remaining stages. The first stage after the break will be a 22.4-kilometer individual time-trial from Passy to Combloux. It closes with a climb to Combloux, which should benefit the climbers in the peloton.
Below are the top finishers from Stage 15.
