The late catch of attacker Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) gave the sprinters a rare chance for victory, with Philipsen grabbing the chance to win in Carcassonne. The win was the Belgian’s first after eight top-three finishes in the past, an emotional win for the rider as he broke down in his post-race interview.
“It’s unbelievable. I’ve tried so many times… It worked out today,” said Philipsen. “I thought Wout van Aert would be coming from behind. I got boxed in a bit before the final corner. I knew from last year that the finishing line would not come long after the last curve. It’s good that I could pass Mads [Pedersen].
“It’s been a massive search for the victory at the Tour de France. I’m just proud that we can finally finish it off at stage 15 with the team. Everybody continued to believe that it was possible. I knew I had good legs. We just had to wait for the right moment and the right opportunity, and today was the day.”
A sedate start to the stage belied the frantic finish, with three riders getting into the breakaway, then Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) pulling out and dropping back to the peloton.
The remaining pair of Nils Pollitt (BORA-hansgrohe) and Mikkel Honore (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl) were kept within reach throughout the race, with the sprinters’ teams of BikeExchange and Alpecin-Deceuninck controlling affairs at the head of the peloton. They started to reel them back in from a maximum lead of two and a half minutes, when a series of accidents hit the peloton, with Jumbo-Visma caught up in both, Steven Kruijswijk having to abandon the race and then yellow jersey wearer Jonas Vingegaard crashing with teammate Tiesj Benoot in an unrelated incident soon after.
The Côte des Cammazes was only a 5.5 kilometre climb at 3.9 per cent, but a fearsome pace set by Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) ensured that it would be too tough for many of the sprinters, dropping Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) and Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco) on the ascent.
Over the top of the climb with 48 kilometres to go, Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels) made an attack, gaining a lead on the descent of 25 seconds as they sped towards Carcassonne. The Trek-Segafredo, DSM and BORA-hansgrohe squads all chased hard, with the dual benefit of keeping the dropped sprinters from returning quickly. Groenewegen was eventually ushered back into the peloton with the efforts of his BikeExchange-Jayco squad with 25 kilometres to go.
Thomas and Gougeard continued strongly at the front of the race, while the general classification teams accelerated in the crosswinds and slowed in headwind sections, giving the breakaway a bit of hope with the pair having a 30 second lead with ten kilometres remaining.
Gougeard dropped off with just under five kilometres remaining, leaving Thomas alone with a gap of ten seconds trying to hold off the peloton. Pedalling in an extreme aero position, Thomas managed to fight all the way into the final 450 metres before being swallowed up by the sprinters.
Trek-Segafredo led the way through the final few hundred metres and around the final bend for their sprinter Mads Pedersen with van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) in position to launch. However, it was Philipsen who took the most direct line through the final bend that carried the most speed and he took his first win at the Tour de France with a narrow margin as he threw to the line ahead of van Aert and Pedersen.
The general classification remained unchanged with Jonas Vingegaard the overall leader saying after the finish that he had taken a bit of skin off in the fall, but felt OK otherwise.
The Tour de France goes into a rest day, but will resume with Stage 16, an intermediate day in the foothills of the Pyrenees that sees the riders traverse 179 kilometres to the finish in Foix. Watch on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker from 2020 AEST, with the SBS and SBS On Demand broadcast beginning at 9.30 AEST.
