André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) took his third stage victory of this year’s Tour de France when he outsprinted John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) in a bunch finish in Valence.

172 riders started stage 15 in Mende, and Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) was the first attacker of the day. A large group of twenty seven riders would then go clear on the Côte de Badaroux, while at the back, Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step) was in trouble and lost contact with the bunch.

Amongst those in the lead group at the front were some big names including Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Michal Kwiatkowski and Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-Quick Step), Andrew Talansky and Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) and Sagan.

Behind, Katusha led the peloton in support of Kristoff. The lead group then splintered leaving nine up front. This group consisted of Pinot, Hesjedal, Kwiatkowski, Sagan, Adam Yates (Orica-Green Edge), Matteo Trentin (Etixx-Quick Step), Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal), Simon Geschke (Giant-Alpecin) and Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo). Sagan won the intermediate sprint at Aubenas, and increased his lead in the green jersey competition.

The lead group were reeled back in with the last to be caught with 29 kilometres to go. Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-Quick Step) attacked with 3.5km to go but was reeled in with a kilometre to go. In an exciting finish, Greipel was fastest, taking his ninth career stage win.


Summary – Stage 15 (Mende > Valence) – Tour de… by tourdefrance_en

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