Tour de France stage 15 live: as it happened – big break, individual win, GC stalemate

Here we go with Cycling Weekly's live coverage of Stage 15 of the 2023 Tour de France. The riders are currently rolling through the long neutralised section, with 7km+ to go until the start

Former Arsenal Football Club manager Arsene Wenger – reportedly a big fan of cycling – is accompanying race director Christian Prudhomme in the lead car today

We're underway!

Mathieu van der Poel is on the attack

As Giulio Ciccone joins the moves with the expected aim of mountains points, Wout van Aert turns up and looks like he might be wanting to get clear with the breakaway

Splits in the peloton as more attacks go off the front, attempting to pull a breakaway clear 

Neilson Powless is present in the latest breakaway attempt, trying to retake the lead in the KOM competition – today he's wearing the jersey on behalf of Vingegaard

Van der Poel is back on the front of the lead group but the gap is still only hovering around 15-17 seconds

Cofidis are getting frustrated at the front of the chasing peloton, but the gap has been closed

Nils Politt's off on a solo, with a few glances back hoping for some company

Three riders are coming across to Politt, he'll have some mates soon enough

More riders are trying to get clear of the main peloton as the front group becomes four: Politt, Julian Alaphilippe, Aurélien Paret-Peintreand Alexey Lutsenko

Wout van Aert's just remembered he's got a few more gears and off he goes round the group he was in. But once at the front he eased up a bit

As A. Paret-Peintre loses touch with the other three, Van Aert skips past him to top the front group back up to four

With so many riders going off the front of the main peloton and with the impetus now lacking out front a bit, it could be all back together again. But it could go either way at this point

Tony Gallopin is struggling at the back of the peloton 

The breakaway now has 25 seconds but this isn't set yet

Just as Powless has got to the front group, he's getting shelled by an attack by Alaphilippe. Lutsenko has managed to match the move 

Tom Pidcock now active in an attack

Alaphilippe and Lutsenko are working well together to grow their advantage

Big crash!

The road narrowed, and was further narrowed by the crowds encroaching the road, and the coming together saw riders hit the deck

Riders are still waiting for replacement bikes while others are struggling to get up. This could see the breakaway get clear after the peloton had been holding the lead riders within reach

Replays suggest, though it's not confirmed at this point, that a member of the public may have caused the crash by dangling their arm into the peloton 

30+ chasers behind the lead pair, who possibly would have been closed down by the peloton if it hadn't been for the crash (possibly caused by a 'fan')

Alaphilippe and Lutsenko chatting, probably deciding whether to push on now or let the 35-man group behind come up to them. With four minutes on the peloton, the lead groups are now well clear 

Tom Pidcock is on his way back to the peloton from the second group 

The peloton is taking it very steadily as it reaches the intermediate sprint point, almost eight minutes down on the very front of the race 

Lutsenko had a gap on Alaphilippe but they're back together now 

Powless is following Ciccone as they both hunt mountains points. They're 26 seconds behind the lead pair so could push on and catch them. The rest of the second group are all just looking at the KOM hunters 

Lutsenko goes over the KOM summit ahead of Alaphilippe while Van Aert sets the pace behind 

Ciccone beats Powless to third 

Lutsenko just holds it up, dangling his right leg out for balance on a corner as he and Alaphilippe head down the descent 

The second group is now the first group as Alaphilippe and Lutsenko are brought back 

Marco Haller (Bora-Hansgrohe) has eeked out 14 seconds on the breakaway, using the descent to get away

Haller is on the Col de La Croix Fry, starting the climb with 45 seconds over the break and 7:03 over the peloton 

Rui Costa is on the move, making his way to Haller

Rui Costa's last Tour stage win came 10 years ago, when Tadej Pogacar was a 14-year-old school boy

Costa has dropped Haller 

Haller's adventure is over as the polka dot group has reached him, led by Wout van Aert

57.7km to go

Costa's gap is closing and Ciccone looks ready to take more KOM points. A bad day for Powless who's been dropped

56.6km to go

David Gaudu is having a bad day, fighting to hold the group

55.8km to go

Costa's been caught

54.8km to go

Rigoberto Uran is following Ciccone, probably hoping to take some points off him on behalf EF teammate Powless

54.6km to go

Ciccone takes the points with relative ease, no challenge from behind. With three climbs to go, he's in the joint lead of the competition 

54.6km to go

Ciccone takes the points with relative ease, no challenge from behind. With three climbs to go, he's in the joint lead of the competition

47.6km to go

Soler is on the attack, he'll probably take the two points at the top of the climb, to Ciccone's annoyance

Reaction is still coming in to the crash earlier in the stage:

'Stay at home if you don’t respect the riders' - Jumbo-Visma boss blasts intruding fans at Tour de France

43.8km to go

A couple of riders have gone down on a corner, it looks like Uran was one of them, both riders look to have escaped serious harm 

42.9km to go

Powless and Alaphilippe have been caught by the peloton, not the way they would have wanted their days to go 

42.1km to go

Van Aert and two others have caught Soler

Fingers crossed we don't get any attack hindering moto-moments today

Photographer who blocked Tadej Pogačar's attack at Tour de France apologises

40.6km to go

The front group is Van Aert, Soler, Wout Poels and Krists Neilands

39.8km to go

Van Aert and Neilands have distanced Soller but he's still in sight. Poels is in between at a varying distance 

36.4km to go

Neilands has gone down on a corner, hitting a small wall. On the last shot of him, he'd sat up so hopefully is relatively unscathed 

The situation is worse than it first appeared: Neilands took a bottle from a moto, which clipped his rear wheel and caused him to crash. The previously accused wall probably saved him from going over the edge of the road. The rider looks to be alright though, fingers crossed 

26.3km to go

The lead trio are working well together and their gap is out over a minute. Apparently Neilands is up and riding, which is good news, but his chance of a stage win is long gone, which is a real shame 

20.1km to go 

The chasing group is rotating through but the gap is not coming down, so it's not proving very effective

17.1km to go

The Wouts are dropping Soler on the descent

11.4km to go

Soler looks to be coming back a bit as the road starts to go up again

10.8km to go

Here comes Soler as Poels drops Van Aert 

9.8km to go

Soler has caught and passed Van Aert. Poels is still in the lead. 

9.6km to go

Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) is on the attack from the chasing group. He's looking around a lot though 

The Jumbo-Visma led peloton is in bits, split up by the descent and the run in to the final climb(s)

Barguil's been caught and is now getting dropped. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) is on the move, perhaps a bit early, but he could improve his GC position with a strong gap over the yellow jersey group 

UAE are driving the pace on the front of the hugely reduced peloton. So reduced, 'peloton' probably isn't accurate 

Maximum points on the KOM for Wout Poels, but that probably doesn't interest him 

Van Aert and Soler are together again, 30 seconds behind Poels 

Poels has completed the short descent between the pair of climbs, he's now on the final ascent with 7km to go and 27 seconds over the chasers

Pidcock working hard to hold on to the group. Come on Tom!

5.1km to go

Poels has 42 seconds over Van Aert and is pushing on

Pidcock passes Neilands on the descent 

Pidcock is back on the group!

Carlos Rodriguez is clear of the GC group, perhaps by luck rather than design, but he's looking strong 

3.8km to go

Poels has a minute and should be on for the stage win

3km to go and 1:11 for Poels: the stage is his, surely?

Van Aert looks to be paying for earlier efforts and is really labouring. His advantage over Soler should see him finish second on the stage, but it's unlikely a rider of his quality will be happy with that 

4.9km to go for the GC group, almost seven minutes behind Poels. It looks like it's advantage Pogacar as Kuss has been dropped and Vingegaard is isolated 

Yates is pacing Pogacar and Vingegaard

Yates is out the saddle and pushing hard 

Flamme rouge for Poels

3km to go for Yates, Pogacar, Vingegaard

Yates is riding away from Pogacar... tactical or is Pogacar getting dropped? 

Poels wins!

Rodriguez has caught Pogacar and Vingegaard

Van Aert crossed the line over two minutes down on Poels

Yates has caught his teammate Soler: would it have been better if both had slowed off and ridden with Pogacar? 

The remnants of the break are crossing the line in ones and twos

Vingegaard looks like he's ready to attack as the trio passed under the flamme rouge

Pogacar goes first!

Vingegaard goes with him and gets back on his wheel. They pass Soler. 

It was actually Yates they passed, Soler gave Pogacar a short turn

Vingegaard comes round Pogacar on the final bend but it might be a photo for who got across the line first. With the bonuses long gone, the gap between the pair will stay the same going into the second rest day

What a day! We've now got a rest day followed by a 22.4km time-trial with an uphill finish. It should fit its nickname as 'the race of truth'

Here's a round up of today's stage:

Wout Poels wins Stage 15 of the Tour de France as the GC battle ends in a grinding stalemate

Rest day tomorrow, so read up on the race so far on Cycling Weekly's 2023 Tour de France hub ahead of Tuesday's ITT