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Tour de France 2012 stage 15

Live team coverage of stage 15 at the 99th edition of the Tour de France

Good morning and welcome to live coverage of stage 15 at the 99th Tour de France from VeloNews.com.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:07:55 PM
Today's hilly, 158.8km stage from Samatan to Pau should see a bunch finish similar to Saturday's run along the Mediterranean, but with no riders in the breakaway at under an hour on GC, we may just see another escape make it to the line.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:11:26 PM
Here's today's stage profile, which features two Cat. 4 climbs and one Cat. 3 climb in the final half of the stage.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:12:11 PM
From our stage preview:
"Pau, on the other hand, is one of the most visited cities in Tour history, with 64 previous stages and many of the sport’s greats having won there. In 1930 it was Alfredo Binda winning the first two stages to visit Pau – stage 8 that finished there and stage 9 that started there. They were the only two Tour wins for the Italian legend..." [More here]

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:13:51 PM
Sylvain Chavanel has just abandoned the Tour.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:14:59 PM
We don't have word yet on why Chava has hung it up.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:16:09 PM
Edvald Boasson Hagen said before the start today that Sky would be working for Cavendish today, but hesitatingly said he would be there if Cav was not. With the three final climbs, it may just be BoHagen's day... or a chance for Cav to put the peloton on notice for Box Hill at the London Games.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:19:05 PM
Good morning, Brian. Is this Sagan's first day in red numbers?

by Travis Dotson 7/16/2012 12:20:14 PM
Good morning, Travis. This is in fact Sagan's first day in the red numbers of the most combative rider at the Tour.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:20:15 PM
With a shorter stage today, the racing just got underway at the top of the hour. At just over 20km in, we've had some shuffling at the front, with Dan Martin, Dries Devenyns and Alexander Vinokourov among a handful of riders with a small gap.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:22:39 PM
Vino, Fedrigo and Nicki Sørensen are giving it a go now.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:23:24 PM
Chava has battled for 4 days with sickness, taking antibiotics. He was forced to stop the fight today. #TDF12 #OPQS

by opqscyclingteam via twitter 7/16/2012 12:24:51 PM
There you have it. Hopefully Chavanel can make it back in time to give the Olympics a full go. The racing is better when he's in it to win it.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:25:37 PM
Our man Caley Fretz shot this out on Twitter a short while ago: "Lando Calrissian outside the Death Star." instagr.am

by CaleyFretz via Instagr.am edited by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:28:45 PM
Vino's all excited today about the break. He's on the move again, this time with Liquigas' Sagan leadout man Daniel Oss.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:30:28 PM
"The Death Star." Nice.

by Logan VonBokel via mobile 7/16/2012 12:30:35 PM
A few Sky/Star Wars references already today. Froome was asked at the busses this morning which character he would be, but said he would have to think about it and answer tomorrow. Matt and I have decided that he has Lando Calrissian potential, though.

by CaleyFretz via mobile 7/16/2012 12:30:41 PM
And the Death Star thing comes from David Millar's twitter this morning.

by CaleyFretz via mobile edited by Neal Rogers 7/16/2012 12:32:28 PM
Millar, who is on the attack right now.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:33:00 PM
Millar wearing his Giro Air Attack helmet today?

by Logan VonBokel via mobile 7/16/2012 12:34:21 PM
It doesn't appear so, Logan. He's really stacking the odds against himself with that vented lid.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:35:19 PM
Five riders are off now with a descent gap. Millar, Arashiro, Grivko, Costa and Grabsch are together, but Katusha and Saur are trying to get up to the move.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:36:24 PM
Saxo doesn't look happy to be missing from the group.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:37:04 PM
Grivko's Ukrainian champ's kit is pretty slick, I must say.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:37:44 PM
If you've got a case of the Mondays, give Dan Wuori's column on the circus that is the Tour a read: velonews.competitor.com

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:38:47 PM
I commend Giro's efforts with the Air Attack, but they are fighting an uphill battle against fashion sense. Seems that Lazer's method of keeping the general shape the same is less offensive to our eyes, despite the fact that we look equally ridiculous regardless of helmet shape to an outsider.

by CaleyFretz via mobile 7/16/2012 12:41:00 PM
Driving through lots of sunflower fields today. Expect some pretty shots from Casey and Graham.

by CaleyFretz via mobile 7/16/2012 12:43:09 PM
Sunflowers on the way to Pau

by CaleyFretz via mobile edited by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:43:48 PM
Giro Air Attack = Better for breakdancing.

by Logan VonBokel via mobile edited by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:43:50 PM
The five leaders are at :18 and have been for a couple of minutes. They'll probably need to take on another couple of passengers to make a clean break.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:43:52 PM
Going back to yesterday's events, why didn't any of the breakaway riders get flats? It would seem as if somehow the tacks got on the road after the breakaway crested the summit.

by meathead 7/16/2012 12:48:28 PM
That's likely the case, meathead. ASO is investigating the incident. With the number of flats in the yellow jersey group, it's hard to imagine the break could have gotten through without a problem if the tacks were on the ground.

If you missed Sunday's at-tack, our Casey B. Gibson was right there when it happened: velonews.competitor.com

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:48:31 PM
For what it's with, David Harmon is speculating about a gambling tie on Eurosport.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:49:27 PM
With all the people at Mur de Peguere, surely somebody can finger the criminal.

by CB 7/16/2012 12:50:16 PM
Hopefully.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:50:19 PM
Man, these guys are killing themselves out there. It's attack after attack from the bunch with teams trying to get men up into the breakaway on the rolling hills outside Samatan.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:51:24 PM
by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:51:41 PM
What happened to Leipheimer this year? Yesterday's collision was the first time he's made any news during the whole Tour. Before that, I hadn't read about him being involved in any significant crashes. Is he sick or is a matter of being close to the end of his career?

by Bruce Antley 7/16/2012 12:55:02 PM
That's a good question, Bruce. Leipheimer made it safely through the race's first week after finishing third overall at the Tour de Suisse, which he won in 2011. He's not been great in the mountains, however, losing buckets of time last Thursday at La Toussuire and crashing hard yesterday. He was hit by a car in Spain in April and fractured a fibula. He came into the Tour fresh, but perhaps the time he missed in April and early May is catching up to him now.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:55:04 PM
These video guys do all sorts of crazy stuff to get a shot.

by CaleyFretz via mobile 7/16/2012 12:56:17 PM
The break is back to 12 seconds. About 15 men have massed in front of the bunch and are trying to bridge.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 12:58:08 PM
Talking about Levi and his injuries, these guys are tough as nails. Watching Johnny Hoogerland finish the stage where he was catapulted into barbed wire takes toughness to a whole new level. It's amazing how quickly they come back from injuries given that they probably couldn't beat Gumby at arm-wrestling.

by meathead 7/16/2012 1:00:13 PM
That's why we named Johnny Hoogerland our Most Courageous rider in 2011: velonews.competitor.com—-most-courageous_200159

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 1:00:15 PM
With 103km remaining, we may just not see a break go out above a minute today. Brutal.

by Brian Holcombe 7/16/2012 1:00:57 PM
How about Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen at the front of the peloton, urging everyone to slow down and allow this break to get away? Crazy that the average speed of the first hour was 46.1kph.

by Neal Rogers 7/16/2012 1:02:23 PM