Stage 15: Champagnole → Plateau de Solaison: Remco Evenepoel plays the finisher, and 46 ballots had the right name

On the road to Plateau de Solaison, no surviving breakaway, no heroic solo: Remco Evenepoel outsprinted Tadej Pogacar and Isaac del Toro in a small group at the top of the mountain. Pogacar keeps his yellow jersey and polka dots, del Toro keeps the white, and the green stays in Mads Pedersen's pockets. Clean, neat, and frankly not so obvious to predict.

Out of 254 ballots, only 46 had bet on Evenepoel as winner: and they deserve to be named. Seppe, BakkerS, RafDiest, GillSchm, ThierryMons, Gil_Charleroi, VerKob, TuurB, Thibo, Antoinelefebvre, Bra73, Bart_Vlaanderen, Osc and Steph 🦄 all sensed the Belgian move at the summit. Well done to them. On the nationality of the winner, only 38 out of 253 ticked Belgium: even the black-yellow-red flag wasn't obvious. On the other hand, the exact podium was validated by 200 players out of 254, a nice collective success. And the type of finish, this small group sprint at altitude, only fooled 14 people: a real gem for those who saw it coming. On the yellow jersey, 76 players felt it wouldn't change hands, and 85 had ticked Evenepoel as best Franco-Belgian.

In terms of points on the stage, Achille and Thibo share the best performance of the day with 54 pts each, closely followed by alainf, mardyl, PhilCrampon and TheoV at 49 pts. And these scores show in the general standings: Thibo jumps to 50th place (+49 places), alainf climbs to 129th (+56), mardyl and PhilCrampon each make +59, TheoV +55. A nice collective move up from the lower depths.

The most spectacular climb of the day goes to PopescuO, who gains 69 places at once to settle in 48th position, closely followed by MilanD (+58, 48th tied), Jempi (+53, 105th), Gigi (+55, 113th) and PhilCrampon (+59, 116th). Higher up in the table, Steph 🦄 is propelled to 15th overall with a climb of 22 places, and TuurB joins 16th place (+10).

And at the top of the contest, the scenario turns around: Hubogoss puts on the contest's yellow jersey for the first time with 500 pts, opening up a 5-point lead over maxime patin (495 pts, 2nd), who gives up the lead after long dominating. Mich_Mich remains solid 3rd at 441 pts. The gap is minimal, the Alps aren't finished: everything can still change. And for the 70 players who leave this Solaison empty-handed, no panic, a mountain can be done again.