Sepp Kuss wins first Tour de France stage but Tadej Pogacar retains lead

Rider from Colorado holds off Alejandro Valverde at finish
Geraint Thomas on Pogacar: ‘I don’t think he’s unbreakable’

Sepp Kuss of the Jumbo-Visma team, won stage 15 of the Tour de France, from Céret to Andorra la Vella, after a 32-rider breakaway disintegrated on the final climbs of the Port d’Envalira and the first category Col de Bexailis. The 26-year-old from Colorado held off the veteran Alejandro Valverde on the descent to Andorra, to take a career-first win in the Tour.

On what could, on the eve of the second rest day, have been classifed as ‘moving day,’ both the Ineos Grenadiers and Jumbo-Visma teams opted to gamble on dislodging race leader Tadej Pogacar with a change in tactics. Both teams, increasingly desperate to find the defending champion’s weak spot, sent riders into the 32-man group with the hope of pressurising the seemingly implacable Slovenian and his UAE Emirates team.