Photo gallery: 2016 Tour de France, Stage 15
Photography by Cor Vos, Jered & Ashley Gruber, Kristof Ramon, BrakeThrough Media
Colombia’s Jarlinson Pantano out-sprinted Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) at the Tour de France Sunday to take a stellar victory for his IAM Cycling team, which is disbanding at the end of the season. Panatano and Majka were part of the original day’s breakaway, with the latter cresting the final climb of the day with less than 15km to go alone, but unable to hold off the dare-devil descending Colombian.
Pantano bridged to the Polish rider and then out-sprinted him at the finish in Culoz, even after he was forced to lead out the race to the line.
“This is incredible,” Pantano said after the stage. “It’s a dream come true. I came to the Tour de France for that, but I didn’t believe it could happen. I’m very happy. I’ve done it thanks to my teammates. I dedicate this victory to my wife and my team captain Mathias Frank who had to pull out because he was sick.”
The mountainous stage lacked fireworks in the battle for the overall classification with most of the general classification contenders crossing the finish together more than three minutes after the winner. There was one loser on the day, American Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), who suffered up the final climb of the day, the Lacets du Grand Colombier. Van Garderen fought all the way to the finish in the valley below, but ultimately conceded 1:28 to the other GC contenders and dropped from sixth to eighth overall.
Chris Froome (Team Sky) retained his 1:47 lead over Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) in the overall, with Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) in third, 2:45 back, and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in fourth, 2:59 behind.
Read the full stage 14 race report, highlight video and results here.
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- Every rider has their own unique routine to get ready for a stage of the Tour de France. Photo: Gruber Images
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- 2014 Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) infiltrated the day’s breakaway on Stage 15, but the Sicilian would not factor in the finale. Photo: Cor Vos
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- A lonely training ride, or the biggest bike race in the world? Photo: Gruber Images
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- Climbing amongst the team cars is never a good sign for a rider. Photo: Gruber Images
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- Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep) has been riding well in his maiden Tour and was active in the breakaway on Stage 15. Photo: Gruber Images
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- Robert Wagner (LottoNL-Jumbo) had a bit of fun with the cameras during the climb of the Grand Colombier. Photo: Cor Vos
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- Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) rode away from their breakaway companions on the climb of the Grand Colombier. Photo: Cor Vos
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- Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) had the legs to follow the leaders on Grand Colombier. Photo: Gruber Images
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- Jarlinson Pantano (IAM) and Alaphilippe bridged to Majka and Zakarin (Katusha) on the descent down the Grand Colombier. Photo: Kristof Ramon
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- A reshuffle in the valley saw Pantano and Majka enter the final climb together. Though Pantano was dropped by Majka on the Lacets du Gand Colombier, he would regain contact on the descent. Photo: Kristof Ramon
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- Pantano demostrated his bike-handling skills on the descent to bridge back up to Majka Photo: Cor Vos
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- The elation of victory, versus the agony of defeat. Photo: Cor Vos
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- Wout Poels (Team Sky) guided maillot jaune Chris Froome across the line. Photo: Cor Vos
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- Thumbs-up from Pantano on a job well-done. Photo: Cor Vos
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- Matteo Tossato (Tinkoff) must have been happy to have stage 15 done, as he saluted when he crossed the finish line. Photo: Cor Vos
