Geraint Thomas will wear yellow for sixth straight day as Magnus Cort Nielsen wins Tour de France Stage 15

Sport360 staff 21:09 22/07/2018
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  • Magnus Cort Nielsen made it two wins in succession for Astana.

    Geraint Thomas will wear the yellow jersey for a sixth straight day after Magnus Cort Nielsen won Stage 15 of the Tour de France to Carcassonne.

    Dane Nielsen outsprinted Jon Izagirre of Bahrain-Merida and Bauke Mollema of Trek-Segafredo to make it a second successive stage triumph for Astana, Nielsen the first three home from a 29-man breakaway which had been allowed to get away by the peloton.

    The main contenders crossed the line more than 13 minutes later, with Thomas in the front group along with Sky team-mate Chris Froome, Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin, and Primoz Roglic of LottoNL-Jumbo to ensure there was no change in the general classification.

    Thomas continues to lead Froome by one minute and 39 seconds, with Dumoulin a further 11 seconds back. Roglic sits fourth, two minutes and 38 seconds down.

    World champion Peter Sagan got into the breakaway, and he took third place in the day’s intermediate sprint to all-but wrap up the points classification, receiving his 100th green jersey at the finish.

    The peloton elected to take things relatively easy ahead of Monday’s rest day, with three big days to come in the Pyrenees next week.

    Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate Rafal Majka attacked out of the breakaway on the climb of the Pic de Nore, crested some 41.5km from the finish, but was caught on the long descent towards Carcassonne as eight riders came together.

    The final flat section towards town took the pack through fierce crosswinds, and that was the moment for Nielsen, Izagirre and Mollema to sneak off the front.

    It is a second straight victory for Astana following Omar Fraile’s win – also out of a breakaway – in Mende on Friday.

    It is a first career Tour stage win for the 25-year-old Nielsen, whose previous season highlight was victory atop the Cow and Calf on Stage 2 of the Tour de Yorkshire.

    Geraint Thomas remains in charge at the Tour de France.

    Geraint Thomas remains in charge at the Tour de France.

    It was some way for Nielsen to mark his Tour debut as Astana took full advantage of what was set to be a transition stage ahead of three tough days in the Pyrenees mountains starting from Tuesday.

    Nielsen was one two Astana riders who fought hard to get in a breakaway group of 29 riders, along with compatriot Michael Valgren.

    And when it came to the final kilometres, the race debutant seized the day.

    Nielsen first underlined his ambitions 8km from the finish when he quickly countered Italian Domenico Pozzovivo’s effort to break clear.

    And two kilometres further on, Nielsen was quick to join Dutchman Mollema and Izagirre when they left five of their breakaway companions behind.

    A lack of cooperation in their wake meant the trio were allowed to build an insurmountable advantage over the closing kilometres.

    But Nielsen was simply unbeatable after launching his sprint just under 300m from the finish, where Izagirre finished second and Mollema third.

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