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Like many stages in the 2017 Tour de France, Stage 15 offers a profile that’s hard to characterize. Taking the race over 189.5km of the winding, undulating roads of France’s Massif Central, it’s a stage that could see both a breakaway stage victory and more changes to the Tour’s General Classification.
The stage starts in Laissac-Sévérac l’Église and soon after sends the race up a Category 1 climb to the Aubrac Plateau, which should provide the perfect opportunity for a breakaway to escape. It then winds and rolls across the top of the plateau for more than 100 kilometers before descending back down into the Gorges de l’Allier.
Australian Michael Matthews won the 14th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday as Chris Froome retook the yellow jersey from Fabio Aru. Matthews won comfortably ahead of Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet in the tough uphill sprint finish to the 181.5km stage from Blagnac to Rodex, with Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen third.
“A lot of planning went into the day, not just today, but weeks or months of planning, to deliver a win like that for my whole team,” said Matthews. "I targeted this stage from the beginning of the year, I’ve been gearing my efforts around that finish and it came true.”
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[ATTACH=full]112886[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]112887[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]112888[/ATTACH] Niko huku Mua Hills kujionea TT, not participating though. Too much climbing yesterday, 3200m elevation