Tour de France: Jasper Philipsen wins stage 15 after very rough day for sprinters

Jasper Philipsen has taken his first win in the Tour de France after a brutal day in southern France. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has survived the day's attacks and splits, and in the end had the top speed in the final sprint.

The extreme heat and rolling terrain had a lot of tension early in the day, as many riders looked to get in the day's breakaway. A big battled ensured, but a trio went up the road with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) present, joined by Nils Politt (Jumbo-Visma) and Mikkel Honoré (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team). As the peloton managed to restrict everyone else from riding up the road and chased hard, the green jersey waited for the peloton leaving two in front.

The duo never had much of a time gap, however they forced the peloton to ride hard all day long. In the final categorized climb of the day the duo were caught as Trek - Segafredo pushed the pace hard, seeing some sprinters dropped - definitely in the case of Fabio Jakobsen and Caleb Ewan.

Jumbo-Visma suffered some crashes, with Steven Kruijswijk forced to abandon and Jonas Vingegaard put under serious pressure at a certain point. Over the top of the climb there were some moves, with Benjamin Thomas and Alexis Gougeard getting a gap despite the hard pace, coming from Trek, Alpecin and BORA.

Risk of echelons as also present with INEOS trying twice to cause splits, however without success. The chase was furious, and necessary as Benjamin Thomas rode into the final 500 meters still at the head of the race, only to suffer a heartbreak in sight of the line.

Trek - Segafredo led the sprint out with Mads Pedersen in prime position, however in the technical final sprint it was Jasper Philipsen who carried the most speed, beating Wout van Aert and Pedersen to the line.