Cort Nielsen wins after Tour breakaway

CARCASSONNE: Denmark’s Magnus Cort Nielsen claimed a blackboard victory on the Tour de France when he prevailed in a three-man sprint at the end of a long breakaway in the 15th stage yesterday.

The Astana rider was the overwhelming favourite as a sprint specialist in the finale and he duly delivered, comfortably beating Spain’s Ion Izagirre and Dutchman Bauke Mollema, who were second and third, respectively.

Briton Geraint Thomas retained the overall lead after a 181.5-km hilly ride from Millau through the vineyards of Minervois, Corbieres and Cabardes in Southwestern France.

He leads Team Sky mate and defending champion Chris Froome by 1:39 and Dutchman Tom Dumoulin by 1:50 before today’s rest day as the race heads to the Pyrenees.

A 29-man breakaway took shape early on, and after they had built an advantage of more than 10 minutes to make sure the win would be decided between them, the fireworks started.

Fabien Grellier and Julien Bernard, the son of Jean-Francois, third overall in the 1987 race, attacked with 70 kilometres left.

But Poland’s Rafal Majka, who has three Tour stage wins to his name, jumped away from the group and chased the duo down, whizzing past them to reach the top of the Pic de Nore, a 12.3-km climb at an average gradient of 6.3 per cent, in first position.

He was isolated when things heated up and had to concede defeat, breaking down in tears after crossing the line in seventh place, 34 seconds off the pace. – Reuters