Another day where things could go almost any which way.
Last time the race finished in Carcassonne, Mark Cavendish won his 34th Tour stage…

With two of the main sprinters (Caleb Ewen and Fabio Jakobsen) more or less out of the picture (Caleb due to his crash the other day, Fabio seems to be suffering in the heat), it’s more likely that today’s finish will be a reduced sprint from a breakaway. That said, there are few sprint opportunities on this Tour and the remaining sprinters may be keen to pull it all back together.

200km down through the standard Tour fare of sunflower fields to take the peloton to the foothills of the Pyrenees, a rest day tomorrow and then MOAR MOUNTAINS!

Primoz Roglic will not start stage 15#TDF2022 https://t.co/F79DU4hYUX

— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 17, 2022

Wow!

That’s a blow to JV. What exactly happened to Rogelic?

30 secs in

he dislocated his shoulder, sat in someones chair and popped it back in and got back on his bike and only lost just over 2 mins to Pog

Magnus Cort is another DNS. Covid.

top bottle wrangling by Trek Segafredo rider Tom Skujins, he’s got a round of bottles, enough for everyone in the peleton stuffed down his skinsuit!

Shame – two great riders out.

Its ironic (and a real bummer) that the first ‘normal’ tour ‘after’ covid has seen more riders leave the tour with covid than in either 20 or 21

Still at least as a non-participant with covid I get to watch the remainder, but I’d rather be watching a full peloton!

I’m really worried one of the GC will have to pull out basically nullifying the tour – going out with covid isn’t the same as going out after a crash

Jumbo not doing well for crashes today

Yes, and that was a close call for the YJ

that’s one isolated yellow for a relatively flat stage !

bike exchange from hero to zero! all that work for another team to take it!

blimey Fred Wright got 10th!

and a no show from Jacobson! (is this Quickstep’s worst tour in a while ?)

and a no show from Jacobson! (is Quickstep’s worst tour in a while ?

Shoulda brought Cav…
😉

I didn’t want to labour the point 😉

but Cav always finds a way 🙂

another great stage, not always for the right reasons….hope the crashed riders aren’t bashed out of contention.

Great sprint at the end and a maiden win, but jeez they ride close. Philipsen was sprinting on the left hand half of the left hand side of the road, and just after the line had squeezed Pedersen right into WvA tight to the RH barriers. Unless the last 100m was on a bend and that was the straight line, that doesn’t look great to me.

🏆 A first Tour stage win and what a way to do it!

The slow-motion look at 🇧🇪 Jasper Philipsen's win

🏆 Une première victoire sur le Tour avec la manière !

Admirez au ralenti le sprint victorieux de 🇧🇪 Jasper Philipsen !#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/SWuxIHEU5u

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2022