Tour de France : German Wins Rain-Soaked 15th Stage; Leader Gains

West German Rolf Golz out-sprinted Frenchman Roland le Clere and Ireland’s Martin Earley in a final dash for the line Wednesday to win the rain-soaked 15th stage of the Tour de France.

The three finished 11 minutes 46 seconds ahead of a group that included overall leader Charles Mottet of France, who retained the leader’s yellow jersey and gained more than a minute on his chief rivals in the bicycle race that ends July 26.

The 102-mile stage was marked by heavy rains that made riding treacherous on the hilly route through southern France.

Le Clere, Earley and Frenchman Jean-Claude Colotti broke away on a bonus sprint early in the stage and built a wide lead on the pack in the pouring rain.

“Colotti fell back just before Golz, (who made) a strong individual effort, caught up to the lead group,” said Le Clere, who began the day 146th overall, more than an hour behind Mottet. “Golz, an excellent sprinter, broke first 400 meters from the finish and won easily. I knew Golz was the fastest in the group so I tried to catch him on the last kilometer, but he was too fast.”

Golz and Earley went into the stage more than 40 minutes back overall, so none of the escapees was considered dangerous by the pack.

More interesting events occurred in the pack, where two-time Tour champion Laurent Fignon of the Systeme U team led a pursuit group that got ahead of several of teammate Mottet’s main rivals.

Australia’s Phil Anderson led in the group, 11:46 behind Golz, while the second pursuit group came in 12:53 back.

Mottet thus gained 1:07 over second-place Jean-Francois Bernard of France and third-place Stephen Roche of Ireland.

Among those in the group with Mottet were Colombians Luis Herrera, Pablo Wilches and Fabio Parra; Andy Hampsten of the United States; Pedro Delgado of Spain, and Raul Alcala of Mexico. Hampsten finished seventh and stands 10th overall, 8:44 back of the leader.

The stage was part of a transition eastward from the Pyrenees to the Alps. Today’s 16th stage covers 134 miles, mainly uphill, to Millau-Causse Noir.