Remco Evenepoel beats UAE duo Tadej Pogacar and Isaac del Toro to Stage 15 glory as Jonas Vingegaard abandons 2026 Tour de France after crash

Tour de France

Stage 15 | Mountain | Men | 19.07.2026

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ChampagnolePlateau de Solaison

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18:09

EVENEPOEL WINS STAGE 15 AT PLATEAU DE SOLAISON AFTER VINGEGAARD CRASHES OUT

The Tour de France entered a fresh phase on Sunday as Belgium's Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) denied UAE Team Emirates-XRG duo Tadej Pogacar and Isaac del Toro victory at Plateau de Solaison on a day two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) dramatically crashed out of the race.

With Stage 15 perfectly poised as Vingegaard's Visma team chased down the remnants of the day's break ahead of the final climb, the 29-year-old appeared to clip the kerb exiting a mini-roundabout before hitting the deck at high-speed.

Vingegaard was taken to hospital in an ambulance with a suspected broken collarbone, but UAE duo Del Toro and Felix Grossschartner - both of whom also went down in the Dane’s wake - were able to press on.

Tour de France

Pogacar 'really sad' as Vingegaard abandons Tour after nasty Stage 15 crash

19/07/2026 at 17:35

Del Toro soon rejoined team-mate Pogacar, the yellow jersey holder, in the main group of race favourites as they chased down a group of seven riders up the road, including the Briton Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling), the American champion Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Stage 13 winner Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla).

In the breakaway for the third day running, Pidcock rode a lot of the stage in virtual third position before the move eventually succumbed to the inevitable as Pogacar, Del Toro and Evenepoel rode clear of their GC rivals in pursuit of the remaining escapees up the road.

One of those riders was UAE's Adam Yates, who gave his team-mates a pull on the front before setting them on their way towards the finish. For his part, Simmons - who had ridden clear of the break on both the final two climbs - was able to help his ailing Lidl-Trek team-mate Juan Ayuso who, like the white jersey Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGA) and Evenepoel’s German team-mate Florian Lipowitz, had been distanced following Pogacar's acceleration with around 5km remaining.

Measuring his attack so as not to distance Del Toro, Pogacar put in a sustained pull on the front of the select trio in a bid to pave the way - for the second time at this Tour - for his Mexican understudy. But once Del Toro twice pulled the trigger inside the final kilometre, Evenepoel had his measure.

On the second occasion, with 400m remaining, the Belgian passed Del Toro and took flight with the yellow jersey on his wheel. But rather than contest for a fifth stage win of the race, Pogacar seemed happy to let his Red Bull colleague ride to his first ever road stage victory on the Tour.

Watch: Evenepoel 'beats Pogacar at his own game' to snatch historic Stage 15 victory

Video credit: TNT Sports

With Vingegaard abandoning, Evenepoel has emerged as the principal obstacle between the world champion and his record-equalling fifth Tour triumph. But despite missing out on a 26th career Tour stage win, Pogacar enters the second rest day with a five-minute cushion over Evenepoel.

Del Toro has risen back onto the podium and wrested the white jersey from the slender shoulders of Seixas, who battled to limit his losses to 58 seconds alongside Germany's Lipowitz. The French prodigy is now fourth at 6:23 with Lipowitz moving up to fifth at the expense of Ayuso.

Four categorised climbs and almost 4,000 metres of climbing made the 184km stage from Champagnole a challenging final leg ahead of Monday's much-needed day of rest. And with the intermediate sprint coming with only 17km on the board, the Alpecin-Premier Tech team of Jasper Philipsen worked hard to keep the race together as the road headed uphill from the outset.

Philipsen paid his team-mates back by winning the sprint ahead of his rival Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who conceded five points to the Belgian in the green jersey battle but still looks all-but guaranteed of a first-ever maillot vert in Paris.

Watch as Philipsen pips Pedersen to win intermediate sprint to retain slim green jersey hopes

Video credit: TNT Sports

The skirmishes started on the Cat.3 Cote des Rousses, with Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) going over the top in pole position ahead of Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) to assert himself as Pogacar’s closest challenger in the polka dot jersey competition.

On the long descent, a break of 24 riders finally came together, with Pidcock, Simmons, Yates and Schmid joined by a raft of solid escapees, not least Visma duo Victor Campenaerts and Bruno Armirail, who were clearly looking to be satellite riders for their man Vingegaard.

Pidcock's tempo on the double-digit ramps of the Cat.1 Col de la Croisette blew the breakaway to smithereens, although it was Simmons who rode clear to crest the summit in pole position. Simmons was soon reeled in before Schmid - just as he did two days ago - put in a surprise attack on the descent to open up a small but seemingly impenetrable gap.

Schmid retained a 20-second lead over Pidcock and his chasers as they approached the final test, with the chasing yellow jersey group picking up both Campenaerts and Armirail. Reinforced, Visma had six riders at the front reducing the advantage of the escapees while setting their Dane up for a chance of a win.

But any plan they had went awry inside the final 20km when Vingegaard hit the deck and, for the first time in his career, was forced to withdraw from a Grand Tour.

'A sad sight' - Vingegaard abandons Tour after nasty Stage 15 crash

Video credit: TNT Sports

A period of indecision followed as the yellow jersey group took stock of the situation and eased up accordingly, gifting Schmid and the remaining escapees another minute to play with going on the 11.3km final climb to Plateau de Solaison, making its debut in the Tour after several appearances in the Dauphine.

The most recent of those appearances came last month, where Del Toro took the win - and the yellow jersey - following the withdrawal of Seixas after a crash. This time around, it was Vingegaard’s withdrawal that provided the sorry subplot.

With Pogacar going deep for his team-mate, it looked as if the Mexican would make it a Plateau de Solaison double. But Evenepoel put in one of his best climbing performances of the Tour to stay with the UAE duo - and then pounce when Del Toro couldn't summon the requisite energy to finish things off.

Understanding the diplomacy of not winning everything - especially on a day his main rival abandoned - Pogacar seemed content with second place.

Evenepoel will now look to build on his stage win by doubling up on Tuesday in the Tour's only individual time trial, for which he will be the outright favourite on account of his Olympic and world champion status in the discipline.

But while Pogacar seems unstoppable in his quest for third straight Tour triumph, Vingegaard's plight will be a reminder that anything can happen and that this race is far from over.

17:15

17:15

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 15

The world champion may be sitting pretty, but all of a sudden, the battle for the remaining two podium places – and the white jersey – looks very juicy indeed. Here’s the GC going into the second rest day…

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
2. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +5:00
3. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +5:58
4. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) +6:23
5. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +6:48
6. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) +7:25
7. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +9:38
8. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) +10:28
9. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +10:56
10. Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) +19:26

17:11

FRANS MAASSEN ON VINGEGAARD CRASH

Asked if there was an update on the Dane’s injuries, Visma-Lease a Bike DS Frans Maassen said:

”Not really. He’s going to hospital. It looks like he had broken his collarbone. It’s a shame because we wanted to go for the win today and they were fighting for that. We wanted to win with Jonas and we needed some satellite riders to be sure we could catch the break. We did that Jonas felt really strong and wanted to go for it. I didn’t see that crash properly, I only saw him on the ground.”

'A sad sight' - Vingegaard abandons Tour after nasty Stage 15 crash

Video credit: TNT Sports

17:03

STAGE 15 RESULT – TOP 10 AT PLATEAU DE SOLAISON

1. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull)
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE) ”
3. Isaac del Toro (UAE) +06
4. Paul Seixas (FDJ) +58
5. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull) ”
6. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain) +1:57
7. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) ”
8. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) +2:00
9. Adam Yates (UAE) ”
10. Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) +2:16

Watch: Evenepoel 'beats Pogacar at his own game' to snatch historic Stage 15 victory

Video credit: TNT Sports

16:57

EVENEPOEL: ‘IT’S A BIG STEP FORWARD’

A great and gracious interview with Remco Evenepoel, who was open about his achievement and excited about the next phase of the race – all while paying tribute to the stricken Jonas Vingegaard, while praising his rivals Pogacar and Del Toro.

"It’s amazing. I’m literally trembling with emotions. It’s been a hell of a day. Pretty hard start – I was actually feeling really bad at the beginning, but I got better and better during the day. You have to understand that I’m racing with the best guy ever [Pogacar] who’s doing a hell of a climb to try to win the stage with Isaac [del Toro]. For me, it’s a big step forward that I can follow this pace, because it was crazy hard. You have to understand that I get so many critics saying I cannot survive these deep climbs and this and that. It feels amazing. It means a lot to me and everyone around me.

"I was not really expecting any attacks from Isaac but he want with one kilometre to go and then again with 400m to go. It was the perfect way to make my sprint and I just tried to keep my pace to the finish and get the win. It’s amazing to go into the rest day with this win and this feeling."

It’s really bad news for [Jonas Vingegaard] and his team and for the race that he’s out. It’s something you never wish for anyone. But afterward you have to try and refocus and go for the maximum. Taking the stage, arriving with Tadej and Isaac, and taking time off the others with quite a big gap is amazing. Now we have a rest day and then a beautiful day on Tuesday when I will try to go for the stage [for the time trial]. I’m finding my best legs on this Tour and I hope I can recover. The win shows that I have put a step forward and it sets me up well for the final week.

'I've had a lot of critics' - Evenepoel reacts to staggering Stage 15 victory

Video credit: TNT Sports