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In short:
Tadej Pogačar has once again demonstrated his climbing prowess, taking out the gruelling 15th stage of the Tour de France.
The Professional Cyclists' Association says it will take legal action against a spectator who threw potato chips at Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard on Saturday.
What's next?
The Tour de France has a rest day on Monday, before the riders tackle the final week of the race, with Pogačar holding a lead over Vingegaard.
Tadej Pogačar has demonstrated his climbing dominance once again, winning the gruelling 15th stage of the Tour de France on Bastille Day with a scorching ascent to the Plateau de Beille to keep the yellow jersey.
The marathon stage on France's national day was nearly 200 kilometres long and featured four big climbs before an even harder grind up to Plateau de Beille.
Pogačar attacked with 5 kilometres remaining during the final "hors catégorie" (beyond category) climb, solidifying his reputation as the master of the mountains.
"I'm super happy with my shape right now," Pogačar said.
"I usually struggle with the heat but today the team did a really good job with cooling me down. It was an incredible day."
It was Pogačar's third stage win in this year's Tour and his seventh career stage win in the Pyrenees mountains.
"Somehow I like them [the Pyrenees] and they like me back," Pogačar said.
"Let's keep it that way."
The stage began with an immediate climb up the Col de Peyresourde, fracturing the peloton.
A breakaway group of climbers, including Richard Carapaz, Laurens De Plus, and Enric Mas, set a fierce early pace but were reeled in as the decisive moments approached.
Temperatures soared close to 35 degrees Celsius on the final climb.
Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, aided by his Visma teammate Matteo Jorgenson, tried to respond but couldn't match Pogačar's relentless pace, finishing more than a minute behind.
Vingegaard is now 3 minutes, 9 seconds behind Pogacar overall.
Third-place Remco Evenepoel, another top contender, also struggled to keep up and is in third place overall, trailing Pogačar by 5:19.
"Tadej is on another planet this year," Evenepoel said after the race.
"Right now he is the best in the world. There is absolutely no doubt about that."
Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay, who has won three stages, retained the best sprinter's green jersey.
Monday will be the second rest day in the three-week race, ahead of a flat stage 16 between Gruissan and Nimes in the south of France.
Legal action taken 'with pleasure'
Meanwhile, the Professional Cyclists' Association (CPA) said it would take legal action against a spectator who threw potato chips at Pogačar and Vingegaard during Saturday's stage 14.
Charging solo up the last stretch of Pla d'Adet, Pogačar had to dodge a fan who leapt out to hurl a bag of chips at the Slovenian race leader.
The spectator did the same thing to Denmark's Vingegaard, who came through moments later.
"The CPA will take legal action against this guy with pleasure due to what he did to both Pogačar and Vingegaard," CPA President Adam Hansen wrote in a post on X.
"This is disrespectful and will not be tolerated."
Vingegaard described some of the antics from the crowd as "strange".
"There was quite a bit of booing and someone was throwing chips, I heard also they threw the chips at Tadej and that's strange to do," Vingegaard said after stage 14.
"Just stay off the road. I don't understand why you go to a bike race and boo at people."
AP/Reuters
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