Tim Wellens raced clear on the descent toward Carcassonne to win the 15th stage of the Tour de France on Sunday while three-time champion Tadej Pogacar tightened his hold on the yellow jersey.

Wellens, a teammate of Pogacar at UAE Team Emirates-XRG, was in a four-man leading group with Michael Storer, Quinn Simmons and Victor Campeanaerts as they climbed the 1.8-mile, 10.2% incline Pas du Sant.

Carlos Rodriguez, Warren Barguil, Aleks Vlasov and Alexey Lutsenko were chasing, and Wellens waited for the trailing group to catch up before he attacked with 27 miles to go, knowing his rivals would find it hard to react with the downhill to come.

The Belgian rider finished 1 minute, 28 seconds ahead of Campeanaerts and 1:36 ahead of Julian Alaphilippe, Wout van Aert, and Axel Laurance.

Pogacar and his closest general classification rivals, Jonas Vingegard and Florian Lipowitz, finished in a large group 6:07 behind Wellens.

Pogacar maintained his overall lead of 4:13 over Vingegard and 7:53 over German rider Lipowitz.

The race finishes next weekend in Paris.

GOLF

Chandler Blanchet led wire-to-wire for his first Korn Ferry Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 for a three-stroke victory in Springfield, Mo.

Patrick Welch was second after a 63. Sudarshan Yellamaraju (65) and Brendan Valdes (67) tied for third at 22 under.

Sakura Koiwai shot a 6-under 66 for a one-stroke victory over four players in the Japan LPGA’s Meiji Yasuda Ladies. She finished at 14 under.

HORSE RACING

Journalism launched a dramatic rally to win the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

It was Journalism’s first race since the Triple Crown. He was the only colt to contest all three legs, winning the Preakness while finishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.

The Haskell win was Journalism’s sixth in nine starts for trainer Michael McCarthy, and earned the colt a berth in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar Nov. 1.

Journalism broke poorly under jockey Umberto Rispoli. He kicked into gear rounding the final turn to find Gosger and Goal Oriented battling for the lead. Journalism roared down the center of the track to win by a half-length. Gosger held on for second, a neck ahead of Goal Oriented.

COMBAT SPORTS

Max Holloway defeated Dustin Poirier in a unanimous decision to retain the UFC BMF Championship in UFC 318 Saturday night in New Orleans.

The win for Holloway is the first in three fights against Poirier, who beat him in 2012 and 2019.

Holloway (28-8) retained his BMF title after landing 98 more strikes (201-109) and landing 53% of his significant strikes.

The loss ends a brilliant career for Poirier, who finishes with a 30-10 record.

Manny Pacquiao pushed back against his doubters, the odds and even Father Time on Saturday night in Las Vegas, but in the end fell just short on judges’ scorecards as Mario Barrios escaped with a majority draw to retain the WBC welterweight championship.

Two judges scored the bout a draw, and Barrios was given a 115-113 victory on the third card.

Pacquiao, enshrined into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last month, was trying to break his own record for oldest welterweight champion.

He was 40 when he emerged in 2019 split decision over Keith Thurman. This was the first appearance in the ring in nearly four years for the 46-year-old Filipino.

Barrios, 30, from San Antonio, improved to 29-2-2. The heavily pro-Pacquiao crowd loudly booed the decision.

Sebastian Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs) retained his WBC super welterweight title when Tim Tszyu (25-3) didn’t come out for the eighth round in the co-main event. It was a big week of the Coachella resident who earlier in the week received his acceptance into Harvard.

SOCCER

Ian Pilcher scored his first goal in MLS for San Diego FC in a 1-1 tie with the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night in San Diego in a matchup of the top-two teams in the Western Conference.

San Diego (13-7-4) leads the conference with 43 points. Vancouver (12-5-6) has 42.

Pilcher made it 1-1 in the 80th minute.

The Whitecaps took a 1-0 lead on a own goal in the 40th minute. Édier Ocampo had his shot parried by diving goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega before Manu Duah’s clearance attempt went into the net.