Tour de France Stage 15 recap: Ineos' day of reckoning
As Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic battled out a summit finish for the third time this Tour, Egan Bernal and Team Ineos were nowhere to be seen.
The defending Tour champion, riding for cycling's evil empire of the last decade, cracked within the first seven kilometers of the 17-kilometer Grand Colombier as Wout van Aert -- riding for Jumbo-Visma, cycling's new overlords -- winnowed the peloton at a ferocious rate. As the few Ineos riders left fell back to help their team leader, Jumbo-Visma was six riders strong at the front, neutralizing all challenges.
As has been the case through two weeks, only the 21-year-old Pogacar was able to follow Roglic's finishing kick. He towed the yellow jersey to the line just as Roglic towed him two days ago on the Puy Mary, emphasizing once again that the two Slovenians are riding a different race from everyone else.
Ineos, meanwhile, are left fighting for consolation prizes. It's not that they haven't had bad Tours before -- Bradley Wiggins crashed out as a favorite in 2011, and Chris Froome's repeat campaign ended with an abandonment in 2014. But never have they been beaten head-to-head like this, with a team leader shaking his head on a marquee climb, his legs screaming and teammates largely absent.