Tour de France: Geraint Thomas gains time on Julian Alaphilippe, Simon Yates wins stage 15

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Geraint Thomas has gained 27 seconds on Tour de France leader Julian Alaphilippe after stage 15 of the Tour de France.

The reigning champion finished seventh on the stage with Alaphilippe showing his first signs of fatigue over the 185km mountain stage.

Britain’s Simon Yates, who won stage 12 on Thursday, left Simon Geschke behind with nine kilometres to go to ride to victory.

Thibaut Pinot moved up to fourth in the general classification after finishing second.

“I felt better than yesterday but I needed to try to pace it when it all kicked off. Wout was really good but then I got stuck behind Alaphilippe. We had to let him ride a bit and then I jumped,” Thomas told ITV4.

“It’s a difficult one, tactics wise – I wanted to go, I had the leg to go but I wasn’t going to chase down Egan Bernal with Alaphilippe on my wheel.

“I’ve no idea what Steven Kruijswijk said to me – I just told him we wouldn’t pull with Alaphilippe on the wheel. Then Steven attacked, which was good but Alaphilippe stuck with again.

“I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place, I had to wait a few kilometres and that gave Thibaut Pinot time but at least the leg are responding really well.

“Pinot is going really well but there are so many guys that are still so strong.”

The Tour takes a rest day on Monday before resuming with the 166km flat loop course in Nimes on Tuesday.

Cover Photo: Chris Froome – 2013 Tour de France by Brian Townsley used under license by CC BY 2.0.

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