Cycling
Remco Evenepoel grabs Tour stage win "with both hands"
The Belgian rider grabbed his chance to win stage 15 of the 2026 Tour de France, finishing ahead of Tour leader Tadej Pogačar.
Part of this story
"Whenever there is an opportunity, you have to grab it with both hands," Remco Evenepoel said in his post-race interview after winning stage 15 of the 2026 Tour de France. The Belgian rider finished ahead of Tour leader Tadej Pogačar on the final climb to claim his first Tour de France road stage win and his first Tour stage victory with Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe.
Evenepoel said he had faced "so many critics" who questioned whether he could survive steep climbs after winning a demanding mountain stage that took riders 183.9km from Champagnole to the summit finish at Plateau de Solaison in the Haute-Savoie region. "It just feels amazing," he added. "It means a lot."
Vingegaard crash reshapes GC battle
A key moment came 21km from the finish, when Jonas Vingegaard, who had started the stage as number two in the general classification (GC) crashed and was forced to abandon the race. Evenepoel's teammate Jai Hindley also crashed in the same incident but was able to continue.
The Australian rejoined the race and later helped lead the peloton alongside his Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe team-mates, who set the pace over the final 11km. Those final kilometres featured the Hors Catégorie (HC) Plateau de Solaison climb, an 11.3km ascent averaging 9 percent, making it one of the Tour's toughest tests.
A "crazy hard pace" on Tour de France stage 15
Remco Evenepoel is finally on a Tour de France podium again
© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
With around 7km on stage 15 remaining, GC leader Pogačar reached the front of the race with UAE Emirates XRG team-mate Isaac del Toro and Evenepoel. After Pogačar led the trio up the final climb for Del Toro, the Mexican attacked first with 1km to go and again inside the final 500 metres.
"You have to understand I’m racing with the best guy, the best rider ever and he has been doing a hell of climb to try and win the stage with Isaac," Evenepoel said post-race. "For me it’s a big step forward that I can follow this pace because it was a crazy hard pace.”
Evenepoel responded to both moves, resisted the pressure from the UAE Emirates XRG pair and sprinted to his first-ever Tour de France stage victory outside of an individual time trial.
What made stage 15 so difficult – and what's next?
Stage 15 of the 2026 Tour de France took riders 183.9km from Champagnole to the summit finish at Plateau de Solaison in the Haute-Savoie region. The stage featured the Hors Catégorie (HC) climb to Plateau de Solaison – an 11.3km ascent averaging 9 percent – making it one of the race's toughest mountain stages and a key test for the riders before the Tour's second rest day on Monday.
Racing resumes on Tuesday with stage 16, a 26.1km individual time trial around Lac Léman.
Tour de France 2026 stage 15 results: Top five riders
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe)
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates XRG)
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG), +6s
- Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), +58s
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe)
Tour de France 2026 general classification after stage 15
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates XRG)
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe), +5m 00s
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG), +5m 58s
- Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), +6m 23s
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe), +6m 48s
Part of this story
