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07/19 12:11 CDT Evenepoel wins 15th stage of the Tour and Pogacar retains big lead as Vingegaard crashes out of race Evenepoel wins 15th stage of the Tour and Pogacar retains big lead as Vingegaard crashes out of race PLATEAU DE SOLAISON, France (AP) --- Remco Evenepoel held off Tadej Pogacar and his teammate Isaac Del Toro to win the 15th stage of the Tour de France, while Pogacar kept his commanding overall lead and saw his main rival Jonas Vingegaard crash out of the race. Vingegaard fell about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) from the end of the 184-kilometer (114-mile) trek, which ended with a big climb. His Visma--Lease a Bike team said in a statement posted on X that he sustained a fractured collarbone, which will require surgery in the coming days, and multiple abrasions. "I'm really sad to see Jonas crash out. Without him the Tour will not be the same," Pogacar said. "We go back a long way." Belgian rider Evenepoel withstood two attacks from Del Toro in the last 800 meters and then beat Pogacar in a dash to the line for his first stage win of this year's race and third overall on the Tour. Del Toro finished a few seconds behind them in third. "It's amazing, I'm literally trembling from emotions," Evenepoel said. "You have to understand, I'm racing with the best rider ever and he's been doing a hell of a climb. For me it's a big step forward that I can follow this pace." Vinegaard's retirement means that Evenepoel climbed to second overall, five minutes behind four-time Tour champion Pogacar, with the 22-year-old Mexican Del Toro 5:58 back from Pogacar in third place. Barring mishap, a fifth Tour crown looks inevitable for Pogacar, who has won four stages so far in this year's race. Only Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault have won the overall Tour five times.

Vingegaard crashes before final climb Sunday's trek featured one Category 1 (the second-hardest category) up Col de la Croisette and concluded with a HC climb (the hardest category) up Plateau de Solaison in the French Alps --- an 11-kilometer slog with a punishing 9% gradient. It was a special stage for the 19-year-old rising French star Paul Seixas, whose grandparents' house was about 15 kilometers from the finish. Seixas credits his grandfather, Jos Manuel Seixas, for introducing him to cycling when he was a youngster. Seixas finished fourth and is fourth in the standings, 6:23 behind Pogacar. A lead group of nine riders, including Olympic mountain bike champion Tom Pidcock and American Quinn Simmons, headed up the sharp 4.7 kilometers of Col de la Croisette, with Simmons moving ahead. Shortly after Vingegaard's crash, which saw the Danish rider tumble close to a roadside kerb after losing control of his front wheel, riders reached the Solaison ascent. Pogacar caught Simmons with just under 5 kilometers remaining, with Del Toro and Evenepoel the only ones able to stick with him. "I just kept my momentum and tried to go as hard as possible to the finish line," said Evenepoel, who said his win will silence detractors who said he could not climb well. "On hard mountains like this, it's really hard to beat guys like Tadej." Monday is the second rest day of the race, which concludes on the Champs-lyses in Paris on July 26. Tuesday's 16th stage is an individual time trial and offers Evenepoel, the reigning time trial Olympic and world champion, a good chance for another stage win. "We have a good rest day and then a beautiful day on Tuesday where I will try to go again for a stage win," Evenepoel said. "It's amazing that I find my best legs for this Tour." He won the Tour time trial last year with a stunning ride.

Doping checks Pogacar and Vingegaard were woken up in the early hours of Sunday morning by officials carrying out unannounced anti-doping tests. Pogacar said his test was carried out at 5 a.m. and that Vingegaard's was at 2 a.m. The Slovenian star suggested fatigue may have led to his rival crashing. "Me, I had a control (test) at 5 in the morning (and) Jonas did a control at 2 in the morning," Pogacar said in a post-race interview on French television. "So you never know, maybe this was also the consequences of one bad sleep." Cycling's governing body, the UCI, entrusts testing to the Swiss-based International Testing Agency.

Trust needed rebuilding Cycling's reputation was heavily damaged when American Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour titles (1999-2005) after confessing in 2013 to having used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. Two years later, a 227-page report detailed cycling's historic culture of drug use and investigated alleged mismanagement by the UCI. The year-long probe was ordered by the governing body's new leadership in a bid to rebuild trust in cycling as a clean sport. -__ AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports