Tadej Pogacar stays in the maillot jaune, but Stage 15 of the 2026 Tour de France saw Remco Evenepoel emerge victorious for the day over Pogacar and Mexican upstart Isaac del Toro.
Pogacar and Del Toro set the pace on the final climb of the day, but had to settle for second and third behind Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), the only rider to follow Pogacar’s pace. The Belgian produced a powerful sprint at the summit to take his third Tour stage win after two ITT successes in 2024 and 2025. This is Belgium’s 500th stage win in the Tour. Evenepoel is now second in the overall standings also because of the withdrawal of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who crashed out of the race for the first time in six appearances. The Dane had reached the overall podium in his five previous Tours, notably winning it in 2022 and 2023.
Sunday’s stage was a final mountain showdown ahead of the second rest day. After Tadej Pogacar’s victory at Le Markstein, the 169-man peloton faced the first HC finish of the 2026 Tour de France, at Plateau de Solaison, after 183.9 km on demanding roads. The race started in Champagnole, a pearl of the Jura on the banks of river Ain associated with success for Sylvère Maes (the first Tour stage winner here in 1937), the Johannessen twins (who achieved a 1-2 in a Tour de l’Avenir stage that started in Champagnole) or Justine Ghekiere (winner of a Tour de France Femmes avec Zwit stage that started in Champagnole).
Alpecin-Premier Tech controlled the first part of the day until Jasper Philipsen took full points at the intermediate sprint in Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux (km 17.3). Second on the line, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) defended his green jersey and maintains an advantage of 31 points against his Belgian rival.
Then, the battle for the breakaway began. It panned out over half of the 183.9 km of the day, with EF Education-EasyPost proving particularly intent on launching Richard Carapaz. A group emerged at the front at km 87 and became consolidated with 24 members, including five riders from the GC top-20: Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5), on the move for a third consecutive day; as well as Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos), Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step), Yannis Voisard (Tudor), and Adam Yates (UAE Emirates XRG).
There was a lack of harmony within the breakaway. Brent Van Moer (Pinarello Q36.5) emptied his tank to bring the gap up to 2’55” before the climb of Le Salève – Col de la Croisette (cat 1, summit at km 136). Tom Pidcock (Pinarello 36.5) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) accelerated on the brutal slopes (4.7 km at 11.2 %). Only five riders followed them: Adam Yates (UAE Emirates XRG), Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ United), and Yannis Voisard.
Behind them, Visma-Lease a Bike drove a strong chase until Jonas Vingegaard hit the deck with 24 kilometres to go. The race doctors put his right arm in a sling and the Dane got into the ambulance, marking the end of his sixth Tour. He was first (2022, 2023) or second (2021, 2024, 2025) in his previous participations.
Schmid accelerated ahead of the final ascent, the unprecedented climb to Plateau de Solaison, and faced the final 11.3 km at 9% with a lead of 25 seconds. Simmons distanced everyone and passed the Swiss winner of Belfort (stage 13) as they enter the final 9 kilometres.
In the peloton, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe set a strong pace until Tadej Pogacar took the reins of the bunch 8 kilometres from the summit. Rapidly, only two riders remain on his wheel: his young teammate Isaac del Toro and their rival Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). They got to Yates, who closed the gap to Simmons before being dropped with 4.5 km to go.
Pogacar sets the pace again. Del Toro accelerated a couple of times inside the last kilometre. But Evenepoel reacted well and eventually powers to victory ahead of Pogacar and Del Toro. Fourth on the day, Seixas loses the white jersey to Del Toro, who moves up to 3rd place overall, 25 seconds ahead of the French wonderkid.
“What an amazing day. I want to thank the entire team – both the riders and all the staff. Winning a big mountain stage at the Tour de France has always been one of my biggest dreams, so this means the world to me. I’m incredibly proud of what we achieved today. We’ll enjoy this moment, celebrate it together, and then make the most of the rest day tomorrow.” – Remco Evenepoel
Isaac del Toro moved his way up to third overall for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, with the Mexican taking control of the young rider’s classification. Overtaking Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM in the race for the final podium, Del Toro takes the White Jersey into the race’s final rest day.
2026 Tour de France: Stage 15 Brief Results
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) @ 4 23’09”
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) s.t.
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) @ 6″
Speaking after the finish, Pogačar was more than satisfied with the team’s efforts on stage 15. The Slovenian heads into Monday’s rest day with a commanding lead in the Yellow Jersey, but is wary to avoid complacency ahead of the final week.
Pogačar: “It helped us a lot that in the first two hours, the break didn’t form, so the first two hours, it was the perfect day. Then, Visma decided to go for the stage, and it was good that we had Adam in the front. Then we could go for the stage. When Adam was with Quinn Simmons – chapeau to him, he was super solid today – we tried with Isaac, and it is his climb. But he also had a little bit of pain, I think, from the crash, and lost a little bit of confidence in the final. But anyway, I think it was a good day for Isaac today, and we can be happy that he is in the White Jersey and third on GC.”
“Chapeau to Remco, today I think on Solaison it is like a 30-minute test, and we did I think one of the best numbers. I think Remco sometimes needs a bit of a morale boost, and today he showed he is flying. He is a rocket, and he is going to be a man to watch next week.”
2026 Tour de France: General Classification After Stage 15
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) @ 55h 41’31”
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) @ 5’00”
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) @ 5’58”
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