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Astana Pro Team rider Magnus Cort Nielsen of Denmark wins the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France.STEPHANE MAHE/Reuters

Magnus Cort Nielsen of Denmark sprinted away from two other challengers to win Stage 15 of the Tour de France on Sunday.

The Astana rider claimed his first career win at the Tour after staying ahead of Ion Izagirre Insausti and Bauke Mollema in a sprint over the final 200 metres of the hilly 181.5-kilometre leg from Millau that finished in a long descent to Carcassonne.

The three riders were the last of a breakaway group of 29 cyclists.

Geraint Thomas in the yellow jersey, second-placed Chris Froom and the rest of the overall contenders were in a pack more than 10 minutes behind and had not finished yet.

Team Sky rider Gianni Moscon was expelled from the Tour on Sunday after he appeared to deliberately hit a fellow cyclist during the race.

The Italian lashed out at French rider Élie Gesbert of Team Fortuneo while both were competing during Stage 15 from Millau to Carcassonne.

Sky team principal Dave Brailsford said in a statement that “we support and accept the decision by the race organizers to exclude Gianni Moscon from the Tour de France.”

Brailsford said Sky would consider taking further action against Moscon after the Tour concludes next weekend.

The 24-year-old Moscon was suspended by Sky for six weeks last year for using a racial slur against an opponent.

His expulsion leaves Sky with seven remaining cyclists.

Sky’s Geraint Thomas is leading the race ahead of teammate Chris Froome after 15 of 21 stages.

Spectators continue to taunt Froome along the roads of the Tour after the four-time champion was cleared of doping.

Prior to the start of Stage 15 on Sunday, one spectator leaned over the barriers toward Froome and made a gesture as if he was injecting his arm.

Throughout the race, spectators have voiced their disapproval of the Team Sky rider.

A cloud had hung over Froome after a urine sample taken during the Spanish Vuelta in September showed a concentration of the asthma drug salbutamol that was twice the permitted level.

Tour organizers had informed Froome that he wasn’t welcome at this year’s race until the International Cycling Union announced five days before the event started that Froome’s result did not represent an adverse finding.

Froome is aiming to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the only riders to win the Tour five times.

With one week remaining, Froome sits second in the overall standings, 1 minute 39 seconds behind Thomas.

Thomas has been jeered for being Froome’s teammate.

“It’s not a nice situation. For me, it’s the highlight of my career and a massive honour and a privilege to be wearing the [yellow] jersey,” Thomas said. “But at the end of the day, you need to stay strong in your head and just crack on.

“The way I see it is I would rather be in this jersey and having the race of my life and getting booed or whatever than maybe being 30th and dropped at the first climb of the day and everyone cheering me,” Thomas added. “It is what it is and I am enjoying it still.”

The race will have a rest day on Monday. That pause precedes the four days in the Pyrenees, followed by the individual time trial on the penultimate day of the race.

The racing returns on Tuesday with Stage 16, a 218-kilometre mountain trek from Carcassonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon.

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