Tour de France 2004/15. stage
| Status after the 15th stage | |
| Stage winner | Lance Armstrong 4:40:30 h |
| Second | Ivan Basso +0: 00 min |
| Third | Jan Ullrich +0: 03 min |
| Yellow jersey | Lance Armstrong 67:13:43 h |
| Second | Ivan Basso +1: 25 min |
| Third | Andreas Klöden +3: 22 min |
| Green jersey | Robbie McEwen 225 P. |
| Second | Thor Hushovd 213 P. |
| Third | Erik Zabel 212 P. |
| Dotted jersey | Richard virusesque 177 P. |
| Second | Lance Armstrong 102 P. |
| Third | Michael Rasmussen 95 P. |
| White jersey | Thomas Voeckler 67:23:11 h |
| Second | Sandy Casar +7: 41 min |
| Third | Vladimir Karpez +7: 54 min |
The fifteenth stage of the Tour de France 2004 was the first Alpine stage after the rest day on Monday . The route led over 180.5 kilometers and seven mountains, including three second and one first category, from Valréas to Villard-de-Lans . As always, there were also two sprint ratings , this time at kilometer 34 and kilometer 115.
After the start, the race was initially very quiet until Janek Tombak attacked. Tombak followed Garcia Acosta , da Cruz, Martin, as well as the wearer of the dotted jersey Richard Virusque . Michael Rasmussen , Paolo Bettini and Axel Merckx caught up with Virusque, from whose leading group many drivers fell behind. Shortly before the mountain classification, Axel Merckx attacked from the top group and scored the mountain points. Richardirusesque received nothing. Over time, the leading group increased to nine drivers: Botero, Gutiérrez, Gonzalez, Karpets, Moncoutié, Serrano, Goubert, Robin and Merckx. The best placed from the top group was Goubert from the AG2R team, 12:44 minutes behind Thomas Voeckler .
Meanwhile, the Rabobank team from the Netherlands set the pace in the field. However, the lead of the leading group consolidated at three quarters of a minute. In the second mountain classification the field was divided into two parts. In the first part there were the favorites, in the second part the yellow jersey Thomas Voeckler, who was later able to join the first group.
In the first field, the attacks increased after the second mountain classification, also favored by the ever smaller gap between the top group and the field. After the leading group was caught by the peloton, there were immediate counterattacks by Fofonov, Fédrigo and Merckx, followed by other drivers, including the German Jens Voigt . Meanwhile, the gap between the second field and the first increased to over 1:40 minutes.
On the ascent to the third mountain, a solid group of leaders formed with Voigt, Rasmussen, Virusque, Brochard and Gonzalez. Behind was another group with drivers Gonzalez, García Acosta, O'Grady, Fofonov, Vandevelde and Charteau. Thor Hushovd and Laurent Dufaux were 7 seconds behind . Sunderland was 40 seconds behind these drivers. In the third mountain classification the lead of the top quintet was 3:10 minutes.
Shortly before the mountain classification, O'Grady, García Acosta and Vandevelde were able to catch up to the top. On the descent from the Col des Limouches there was an attack by Stuart O'Grady who wanted to secure the points in the sprint classification. O'Grady was followed by Thor Hushovd, who took second place in the sprint classification after him. The remaining runaways had come together in the meantime and were able to catch O'Grady and Hushovd.
During the climb to the Col de l'Echarasson, Jan Ullrich attacked and was able to break away from Lance Armstrong , Ivan Basso and Andreas Klöden and caught up with some of the leaders. The lead increased to 55 seconds. Meanwhile, the front runner Jens Voigt had to let himself fall back to his captain Ivan Basso to set the pace for him. Ullrich was finally overtaken by Armstrong's group, but his direct competitors were distant due to the high speed.
On the climb, the lead of Virenque and Rasmussen at the top decreased significantly compared to the group of favorites. Shortly before the mountain classification Levi Leipheimer took over the position from Mickael Rasmussen, who fell back. Leipheimer was then able to break away from virusesque, but both immediately fell back into the group of favorites.
Thomas Voeckler's group was nine minutes behind the leaders. With that, the yellow jersey passed to Lance Armstrong. The dotted jersey stayed with Richardirusesque. The green jersey was also successfully defended by Robbie McEwen .
Lance Armstrong secured the stage win in the sprint ahead of Ivan Basso. Jan Ullrich was third ahead of Andreas Klöden.
Intermediate sprints
Intermediate sprint 1 in Puy-Saint-Martin (34 km)
| First | Jean-Cyril Robin , 6 p. And 6 s |
| Second | Marcos Serrano, 4 p. And 4 s |
| Third | David Moncoutié, 2 p. And 2 p |
Intermediate sprint 2 in Saint-Jean-en-Royans (115 km)
| First | Stuart O'Grady , 6 p. And 6 p |
| Second | Thor Hushovd, 4 p. And 4 s |
| Third | Laurant Brochard, 2 p. And 2 p |
Mountain prices
Mountain Prize 1
| Côte d'Aleyrac, category 3 | |
| First | Axel Merckx , 4 points |
| Second | Aitor González, 3 points |
| Third | Marcos Serrano, 2 points |
| Fourth | Jean-Cyril Robin, 1 point |
Mountain price 2
| Côte de Puy-Saint-Martin, category 3 | |
| First | Axel Merckx , 4 points |
| Second | Santiago Botero, 3 points |
| Third | José Gutiérrez, 2 points |
| Fourth | Vladimir Karpets, 1 point |
Mountain price 3
| Col des Limouches, category 2 | |
| First | Richardirusesque , 10 points |
| Second | Laurant Brochard, 9 points |
| Third | Santos González, 8 points |
| Fourth | Michael Rasmussen, 7 points |
| fifth | Jens Voigt, 6 points |
| Sixth | Anthony Charteau, 5 points |
Mountain price 4
| Col de l'Echarasson, category 1 | |
| First | Richardirusesque , 15 points |
| Second | Mickael Rasmussen, 13 points |
| Third | Laurant Brochard, 11 points |
| Fourth | Jens Voigt, 9 points |
| fifth | Christian Vandevelde, 8 points |
| Sixth | Jan Ullrich, 7 points |
| seventh | Santos González, 6 points |
| Eighth | Vincente Garcia Acosta, 5 points |
Mountain price 5
| Col de Carri, category 3 | |
| First | Richardirusesque , 4 points |
| Second | Mickael Rasmussen, 3 points |
| Third | Jan Ullrich, 2 points |
| Fourth | Santos González, 1 point |
Mountain price 6
| Col de Chalimont, category 2 | |
| First | Richardirusesque , 10 points |
| Second | José Azevdo, 9 points |
| Third | Carlos Sastre, 8 points |
| Fourth | Ivan Basso, 7 points |
| fifth | Lance Armstrong, 6 points |
| Sixth | Jan Ullrich, 5 points |
Mountain price 7
| Villard-de-Lans Côte 2000, category 2 | |
| First | Lance Armstrong , 20 points |
| Second | Ivan Basso, 18 points |
| Third | Jan Ullrich, 16 points |
| Fourth | Andreas Klöden, 14 points |
| fifth | Levi Leipheimer, 12 points |
| Sixth | Richardirusesque, 10 points |