Tour de France: Belgian Tim Wellens wins in Carcassonne

Belgian Tim Wellens, Tadej Pogacar's loyal lieutenant, won the 15th stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, between Muret and Carcassonne, reaching the finish line solo. Already a stage winner in the Giro and the Vuelta, the Belgian champion claimed his first Tour de France victory, having worked since the start of the Tour de France for his Slovenian leader, who retained the yellow jersey after an uneventful day.

Wellens proved to be the strongest of a large breakaway group, taking advantage of the rare carte blanche given by the UAE team on this transition day.

"If any rider deserves to win the Tour de France, it's Tim Wellens. He's so dedicated to Tadej, he's with him all the time, five centimeters from his wheel, protecting him in the race, in training camp, all the time," UAE manager Mauro Gianetti said.

His compatriot and rival from Visma-Lease a bike, Victor Campenaerts, Jonas Vingegaard's team, also took second place, alone. Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, caught in a crash early in the stage, won the sprint in the chasing group ahead of Wout Van Aert, depriving the Belgians of a hat-trick on the eve of their national holiday.

"Alaf" even thought he had won the stage and raised his arms as he crossed the finish line, unaware that the two Belgians had beaten him due to a radio problem, according to his team.

On the eve of the rest day, Wellens became the 113th rider to have raised his arms in the three major Tours, less than a month after his crowning in the Belgian championship, where he had already won at the end of a solo raid launched 42 km from the finish, only one less than on the roads of the Black Mountain.

In one of the final uphill sections of the stage, he managed to break away from the front of the race by attacking a group of strong riders, including Michael Storer, Warren Barguil and Quinn Simmons. Also in the breakaway, the Spaniard of the Ineos-Grenadiers team Carlos Rodriguez gained a place in the general classification and overtook the Irishman Ben Healy to ninth place.