Belgian Tim Wellens wins Tour de France Stage 15
CARCASSONNE – Tim Wellens of Team UAE won a baking and hilly Stage 15 of the Tour de France at Carcassonne on Sunday after a 45km solo rampage towards the walled citadel.
Overall leader Tadej Pogacar held on to the overall lead with a 4min 13sec advantage on Jonas Vingegaard, who had to fight to catch up when caught behind an early mass fall.
Wellens had been part of an early break that was whittled down to five before the Belgian champion's sudden acceleration caught the others napping.
'If there is one rider in the Tour de France who deserves a victory it is Tim Wellens,' said UAE team principal Mauro Gianetti. 'He is so dedicated to the team, dedicated to Tadej, always five centimetres from Tadej, in training camp, in race, in morale, in everything.
'Today he was in the break without looking to be in it. He was in a position to not work in the first 50km when it was very hard, and the energy he saved in the first part of the breakaway he gave in the final. It was clever, like always, attacking just before the long descent.
'When he was away the others behind started looking at each other. Another fantastic day for the team and especially for Tim.'
This was a fifth win for Team UAE with Pogacar previously having won four on a thoroughly dominant Tour for the team.
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Wellens was so far ahead at the finish line he had time to high five dozens of Belgian fans on the run in on the eve of the Belgian national holiday.
He has also won stages on the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana.
The remaining 167 riders embarked towards Carcassonne Sunday on yet another nervy stage.
After a mass fall early on with Florian Lipowitz and Vingegaard involved, the Pogacar group raced on, leaving two-time winner Vingegaard and a clique of 30 riders to exhaust themselves catching up.
Pogacar entered the Pyrenees on Thursday tucked in at second to surprise yellow jersey Ben Healy but emerged with two more stage wins and a four minutes advantage atop the overall standings in his bid for a fourth Tour de France title.
Monday is a the final rest day before the 2025 edition soars into the Alps on Tuesday's stage 16 with the 15.8km ascent of Mont Ventoux at 7.9 percent gradient to its 1901m high summit. AFP
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'It is a bit of a risky sport if you do not know what to do, so we need to be very sure of our drills and prepare ourselves well.' Since then, MWO Tan has made more than 3,000 jumps, with National Day 2025 marking his 10th display jump to celebrate the nation's birthday. One of his most memorable jumps was in 2006, when he landed at the former National Stadium in Kallang. 'It was iconic to me because the old National Stadium was shaped like a bowl. So in the air, it acts like a speaker and amplifies the crowd cheering. Even at 3,000 feet (914m) high, I could hear Gurmit Singh speaking as the emcee. I thought, wow, I'm so high but I can still hear the crowd, and that struck me — to do an even better show for the nation,' MWO Tan said. The jump on Aug 10 will be MWO Tan's first at a heartland event. 'In the heartland, you get closer to the audience, which is something I look forward to,' he said. Despite being so experienced, each jump for MWO Tan is still as exciting as the first. 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