Belgian national champion takes his opportunity from the breakaway, riding solo for the final 43.5km to claim his first Tour de France stage win
July 20 2025
With a textbook display of breakaway craftsmanship, Tim Wellens rode to his first Tour de France stage victory on Sunday afternoon. The Belgian national champion made the most of his opportunity up the road on stage 15, taking the day’s honours and with it, UAE Team Emirates-XRG‘s fifth stage win of the race.
So often the selfless teammate, Wellens grasped his chance on the rolling roads from Muret to Carcassonne with both hands. The 34-year-old joined a speculative breakaway before conserving his energy and waiting for the ideal moment to strike out on his own.
Making his move with 43.5km to ride, Wellens immediately distanced his breakaway companions, and went to work at extending his advantage. Pedal stroke by pedal stroke, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rouleur began to put daylight between himself and his chasers, eventually raising his gap over those behind to well over a minute. It was ultimately an exemplar of how to win from a breakaway, with the next-best rider crossing the finish line some one and a half minutes after Wellens had raised his arms in celebration.
For Wellens, the stage 15 win is a landmark moment, completing his set of stage victories from all three of cycling’s Grand Tours. Having already taken two stages apiece at the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España, the Belgian’s victory in Carcassonne sees him become the 113th rider in history to have joined what is known as the ‘Treble Club.’
Clocking up win No.65 for the season for the Emirati squad, Wellens got the better of an all-star ensemble of riders up the road on Sunday, as the peloton’s general classification contenders took the opportunity to rest up ahead of a tough final week.
With Wellens in the breakaway for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the 34-year-old was joined by the likes of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Victor Campenaerts and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).
As those who missed out in the peloton looked to get a handle on the situation, there was a reshuffling in the two categorised climbs that fell midway through the stage.
On the Côte de Sorèze and the Pas du Sant, the four strongest riders emerged at the head of the race. In attendance were Wellens, Campenaerts, Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), who each looked well matched as the road went uphill. Save for another regrouping with the handful of riders that were chasing on, the race looked ripe for a daring attack on the plateau that followed the Pas du Sant.
From the top of the climb to the stage finish, the route trended mostly downhill and with a flat run into town in Carcassonne, it was either going to be a reduced sprint or a brave attack that decided the day’s honors.
As it happened, Wellens stole a march on the group when he darted to the left-hand side of the road with 43.5km to ride. The Belgian wisely spotted that his key rivals, Simmons and Campenaerts, were blocked on the right-hand side, offering him a precious couple of seconds to develop a gap. Once that moment was seized, Wellens arched his bike and continued to lay down the power, a tactic that would soon prove fruitful.
Despite his advantage hovering at 10 seconds for a short while, the elastic quickly snapped and Wellens was able to enter the last 30km of racing holding 40 seconds over his chasers. They would never see the Belgian’s back wheel again.
As Wellens roared to victory, race leader and teammate Tadej Pogačar offered his words of encouragement from behind. The Slovenian heads into Monday’s rest day with a handy four-minute advantage over the second-placed Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the general classification, with the final week of racing taking the peloton into the Alps. Before the Alps are reached, however, the race will first present a summit finish on Mont Ventoux on Tuesday afternoon.
No doubt looking forward to a day of rest on Monday, Wellens could not contain his pride when speaking to the reporters after his stage 15 victory.
Wellens: “It is a very special victory. I think everybody knows the Tour de France, everybody wants to ride the Tour de France and not many people win in the Tour de France so it is a very beautiful victory.
“I felt super good today. Even before the stage, Nils [Politt] and me were laughing a little bit that we would go in the break. Suddenly, there was a big crash, so I hope everything is ok. Tadej [Pogačar] said we try to block [the peloton] and we wait for this. But it kept on attacking and I followed one move and I was in the breakaway.
“On the climb, it exploded again and then on the last climb of the day, I felt really good. I saw the others also felt really good, but I knew that I had to go solo and at the top of the climb, I found my moment and I felt that I had the legs to go until the end.
“I had the opportunity, I took it and I had the legs to finish it. But, of course, I would trade my victory directly for Yellow with Tadej in Paris.”
Wellens went on to explain how it felt to complete the set of stage wins across cycling’s three Grand Tours.
Wellens [Cont]: “I knew I was going to be in a very beautiful list to finally complete my trilogy from the Giro, Tour and Vuelta. So I knew I had to enjoy the moment. I kept riding until the finish line because I wanted a big gap to fully enjoy it, and maybe put my bike in the air after the finish. But I was so happy to win that I forgot to do it!”
Tour de France 2025 stage 15 results:
- Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3:34:09
- Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1:28
- Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) +1:36
Tour de France 2025 general classification after stage 15:
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 54:20:44
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +4:13
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +7:53
