With the quests for the Yellow, Green, and White jerseys having all found their homes unless something unexpected happens, the King of the Mountains classification is still wide open. Four riders sit within 10 points of the other after 15 days with all 4 having different skill sets. Four stages remain with King of the Mountain points, 3 mountain stages and 1 small Cat 4. Will the stout and consistent grinding Poels maintain his lead? Will Woods explosive pedigree come to fruition and he overcome his crashes? Will Quintana, a former winner and esteemed climber, finally find the form and his former climbing prows or will he remain inconsistent? Will Van Aert be set free and use his explosive and descending abilities to shock the climbers and win again like on Mt. Ventoux? Or will a surprise winner come from Mollema who has already won a stage and has hilly classical winning experience shock the four riders ahead? Or at even longer odds, will Pogacar win the Mountain, Overall, and Young Rider classification for the second year in a row with wins on the two mountain top finishes?
The king of mountain (KOM) classification.
Pogacar is set to win his second yellows jersey with his massive lead and dominate performance but the podium places are still wide open. 56 second separate 2nd and 6th. That is not to discount Lutsenko, Mas, or Martin who are all within striking distance in case of a rider ahead faltering. Uran, Carapaz, Kelderman, and Mas all know what it takes to podium a Grand Tour What next fringe rider will enter second from a breakaway?
General classification after Stage 15.
Cavendish looks destined to win his second Tour and fourth overall Points Classification who has four times finished second in a Grand Tour points classification. His only apparent opponent is the time limit over the next three mountain stages but he has the teammates to help. Matthews, a former winner, is 72 points away and can look to gain more points in the upcoming mountain stages. He has yet to finish close to Cavendish in a sprint finish but his team could set up a win on stage 19 by dropping Cavendish. Setting up for a showdown in Paris. Everyone else is too far away barring a miracle and all the luck rolling their way.
The points classification.
No shock that Pogacar is leading the Young Rider classification as well with only a massive blow up costing him to lose a second white jersey. None of the other riders bar Vingegaard stand a chance of winning.
The young riders general classification.
With heavy favorite Team Movistar, a seven time Tour champion, 12 time Vuelta champion, and 2 time Giro champion, sitting at an unprecedented 8th place, Bahrain is looking to pull off the upset. Firing on rocket fuel can they maintain their almost 12 minute lead over EF a former winner.
Team Classification
Super Combativity Award is wide open with no rider winning the Combativity Award twice. Van Aert seems the favorite if he continues to attack and with his Mt. Ventoux solo win.
Stage 1. Ide Schelling
Stage 2. Edward Theuns
Stage 3. Michael Schar
Stage 4. Brent Van Moer
Stage 6. Greg Van Avermaet
Stage 7. Matej Mohoric
Stage 8. Wout Poels
Stage 9. Ben O'Conner
Stage 10. Hugo Houle
Stage 11. Kenny Elissonde
Stage 12. Nils Politt
Stage 13. Quentin Pacher
Stage 14. Bauke Mollema
Stage 15. Wout Van Aert
The king of mountain (KOM) classification.
RNK. | RIDER | POINTS | TEAM |
---|---|---|---|
1 | POELS Wout | 74 | Bahrain - Victorious |
2 | WOODS Michael | 66 | Israel Start-Up Nation |
3 | QUINTANA Nairo | 64 | Team Arkéa Samsic |
4 | VAN AERT Wout | 64 | Team Jumbo-Visma |
5 | MOLLEMA Bauke | 41 | Trek - Segafredo |
6 | ELISSONDE Kenny | 27 | Trek - Segafredo |
7 | POGAČAR Tadej | 26 | UAE-Team Emirates |
8 | O'CONNOR Ben | 24 | AG2R Citroën Team |
9 | HIGUITA Sergio | 24 | EF Education - Nippo |
10 | ALAPHILIPPE Julian | 20 | Deceuninck - Quick Step |
Pogacar is set to win his second yellows jersey with his massive lead and dominate performance but the podium places are still wide open. 56 second separate 2nd and 6th. That is not to discount Lutsenko, Mas, or Martin who are all within striking distance in case of a rider ahead faltering. Uran, Carapaz, Kelderman, and Mas all know what it takes to podium a Grand Tour What next fringe rider will enter second from a breakaway?
General classification after Stage 15.
RNK. | RIDER | TEAM | TIME |
---|---|---|---|
1 | POGAČAR Tadej | UAE-Team Emirates | 62:07:18 |
2 | URÁN Rigoberto | EF Education - Nippo | 5:18 |
3 | VINGEGAARD Jonas | Team Jumbo-Visma | 5:32 |
4 | CARAPAZ Richard | INEOS Grenadiers | 5:33 |
5 | O'CONNOR Ben | AG2R Citroën Team | 5:58 |
6 | KELDERMAN Wilco | BORA - hansgrohe | 6:16 |
7 | LUTSENKO Alexey | Astana - Premier Tech | 7:01 |
8 | MAS Enric | Movistar Team | 7:11 |
9 | MARTIN Guillaume | Cofidis, Solutions Crédits | 7:58 |
10 | BILBAO Pello | Bahrain - Victorious | 10:59 |
Cavendish looks destined to win his second Tour and fourth overall Points Classification who has four times finished second in a Grand Tour points classification. His only apparent opponent is the time limit over the next three mountain stages but he has the teammates to help. Matthews, a former winner, is 72 points away and can look to gain more points in the upcoming mountain stages. He has yet to finish close to Cavendish in a sprint finish but his team could set up a win on stage 19 by dropping Cavendish. Setting up for a showdown in Paris. Everyone else is too far away barring a miracle and all the luck rolling their way.
The points classification.
RNK. | RIDER | POINTS | TEAM |
---|---|---|---|
1 | CAVENDISH Mark | 279 | Deceuninck - Quick Step |
2 | MATTHEWS Michael | 207 | Team BikeExchange |
3 | PHILIPSEN Jasper | 174 | Alpecin-Fenix |
4 | COLBRELLI Sonny | 159 | Bahrain - Victorious |
5 | ALAPHILIPPE Julian | 135 | Deceuninck - Quick Step |
6 | POGAČAR Tadej | 103 | UAE-Team Emirates |
7 | VAN AERT Wout | 101 | Team Jumbo-Visma |
8 | MØRKØV Michael | 95 | Deceuninck - Quick Step |
9 | MOHORIČ Matej | 81 | Bahrain - Victorious |
10 | MOLLEMA Bauke | 76 | Trek - Segafredo |
No shock that Pogacar is leading the Young Rider classification as well with only a massive blow up costing him to lose a second white jersey. None of the other riders bar Vingegaard stand a chance of winning.
The young riders general classification.
Rnk | Prev | ▼▲ | Rider | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | - | POGAČAR Tadej | UAE-Team Emirates | 62:07:18 |
2 | 2 | - | VINGEGAARD Jonas | Team Jumbo-Visma | 5:32 |
3 | 3 | - | PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien | AG2R Citroën Team | 21:15 |
4 | 4 | - | GAUDU David | Groupama - FDJ | 27:15 |
5 | 5 | - | HIGUITA Sergio | EF Education - Nippo | 57:26 |
6 | 7 | ▲1 | DONOVAN Mark | Team DSM | 1:22:49 |
7 | 6 | ▼1 | MADOUAS Valentin | Groupama - FDJ | 1:25:30 |
8 | 8 | - | POWLESS Neilson | EF Education - Nippo | 1:33:02 |
9 | 9 | - | RUTSCH Jonas | EF Education - Nippo | 1:56:00 |
10 | 10 | - | VAN MOER Brent | Lotto Soudal | 2:00:42 |
With heavy favorite Team Movistar, a seven time Tour champion, 12 time Vuelta champion, and 2 time Giro champion, sitting at an unprecedented 8th place, Bahrain is looking to pull off the upset. Firing on rocket fuel can they maintain their almost 12 minute lead over EF a former winner.
Team Classification
Rnk | Prev | ▼▲ | Team | Class | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | - | Bahrain - Victorious | WT | 87:10:05 |
2 | 2 | - | EF Education - Nippo | WT | 11:37 |
3 | 3 | - | AG2R Citroën Team | WT | 26:21 |
4 | 6 | ▲2 | Team Jumbo-Visma | WT | 32:02 |
5 | 4 | ▼1 | INEOS Grenadiers | WT | 33:24 |
6 | 8 | ▲2 | Trek - Segafredo | WT | 40:15 |
7 | 5 | ▼2 | BORA - hansgrohe | WT | 50:16 |
8 | 9 | ▲1 | Movistar Team | WT | 56:12 |
9 | 7 | ▼2 | Astana - Premier Tech | WT | 56:46 |
10 | 10 | - | UAE-Team Emirates | WT | 1:35:26 |
Super Combativity Award is wide open with no rider winning the Combativity Award twice. Van Aert seems the favorite if he continues to attack and with his Mt. Ventoux solo win.
Stage 1. Ide Schelling
Stage 2. Edward Theuns
Stage 3. Michael Schar
Stage 4. Brent Van Moer
Stage 6. Greg Van Avermaet
Stage 7. Matej Mohoric
Stage 8. Wout Poels
Stage 9. Ben O'Conner
Stage 10. Hugo Houle
Stage 11. Kenny Elissonde
Stage 12. Nils Politt
Stage 13. Quentin Pacher
Stage 14. Bauke Mollema
Stage 15. Wout Van Aert