Astana’s Fuglsang moves into 9th overall at Tour de France Stage 15

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM - It’s a very active stage 15 at the Tour de France for Astana Pro Team, with Alexey Lutsenko, Pello Bilbao and Omar Fraile in the breakaway and Jakob Fuglsang finishing fourteenth on the summit finish, Kazinform has learnt from the club’s press service.

Simon Yates won the stage, Julian Alaphilippe is still leading the race. Jakob Fuglsang is now ninth overall, after finishing just behind most of the GC contenders.


«It was a tough day for everyone and I gave my all during the stage and especially in the final. However, I missed a bit to stay with the best riders up there in front. Yeah, I still miss something more to be in fight for the Top-3. Anyway, there is one more week in this Tour de France and some more hard mountain stages. I hope to recover as well as possible to fight back in the general classification,» said Jakob Fuglsang.

«It was a super intense and hard day with many hard climbs including the final one. But as tomorrow we will have a rest day, today I was ready to fight in with my best. After yesterday tough stage I was able to recover well, so from beginning I was up there in front trying to go in a breakaway. Finally, we’ve managed to escape with Pello and Omar in a big group. But, the peloton never gave us too much space since there was Nairo Quintana in our group and he is still a contender in the general classification. Maybe with a bigger gap I could have more chances in the final, but anyway a stronger climber won today. Yeah, it was a hard day, but I did it on a maximum,» said Alexey Lutsenko.

Another day in the Pyrenees, as stage 15 went from Limoux to the summit finish on Foix (1st category). After a hard start of the stage, a big breakaway was created including Kazakh champion Alexey Lutsenko, Pello Bilbao and Omar Fraile. After two climbs, Alexey Lutsenko remained in the breakaway until Simon Yates attacked to take a solo stage victory. Meanwhile, Bilbao and Fraile dropped back to the reduced peloton including Jakob Fuglsang, who launched a good attack together with Mikel Landa but later was caught back by the other GC contenders. On the final climb of the day, Fuglsang had to let some of the main favorites go, finishing fourteenth. Julian Alaphilippe is still leading the race, Jakob Fuglsang is now ninth (+5’27»).

Tomorrow is the second rest day of the Tour de France, before the riders will start on stage 16, a relatively flat day with start and finish in Nimes.