Jeremy Whittle's stage 16 report
As we close down for the day, word emerges that Marc Soler failed to finish within the stage’s time limit. Tadej Pogacar therefore loses another UAE Team Emirates colleague in his push to defend the title.
That’s all from me today. Thanks for reading, and hope those experiencing excessively toasty weather are remaining safe and well. Tomorrow: more mountains as stage 17 tears from Saint-Gaudens to Peyragudes. Join us then!
Updated
Points standings
1 Van Aert 399pts
2 Pogacar 182
3 Philipsen 176
4 Pedersen 158
5 Jakobsen 155
King of the Mountains standings
1 Geschke 58pts
2 Meintjes 39
3 Powless 37
4 Vingegaard 36
5 Ciccone 35
Youth rankings
1 Pogacar
2 Pidcock
3 Jorgensen
Team
1 Ineos
2 Groupama-FDJ
3 Jumbo-Visma
Stage 16 classification
1 Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) 4hr 23min 47sec
2 Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) +1min 10sec
3 Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) +1:10
4 Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) +1:12
5 Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ) +1:25
6 Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:40
7 Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious) +1:40
8 Simon Geschke (Cofidis) +2:11
9 Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) +5:04
10 Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) +5:04
Hugo Houle speaks!
“I never won a race – I guess it’s the right place to win my first! They let me go. I went out, full gas. At the end I hang on, hang on, hang on. At the end in a technical section I gained some more time. When they showed me ‘one minute’ I thought – ‘Unreal, I’m going to do it!’ I was getting some cramp because I was missing some food as I couldn’t get my car for the last 60km.
“I had one dream – win the stage for my brother, who died when I turned professional. I won it for him. It’s incredible … I’m just so happy.”
Provisional GC standings after stage 16
1 Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) 64h 28min 09sec
2 Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +2min 22sec
3 Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +2:43
4 Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) +4:15
5 David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +4:24
6 Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) +5:28
7 Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) +5:46
8 Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +6:18
9 Romain Bardet (DSM) +6.37
10 Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) +10:11
------
11 Enric Mas (Movistar) +12:45
Updated
Bardet still had around 1.5km left when the leaders finished. Horrible day for both the DSM rider and writers of cycling liveblogs namechecking potential winners of a stage.
There’ll be no change in the top three – Van Aert tries to drag the pace on to eke a bit of time for Pogacar among the yellow jersey group. No dice: Vingegaard, Pogacar and Thomas cross the line together.
Updated
Huge emotion for Houle. His brother Pierrik was killed by a drunk driver while out running in 2012. Today’s victor saluted the sky as the line approached – I think it’s fair to say there’s no mystery over who that was for.
Updated
Canada's Hugo Houle wins stage 16 for Israel Premier-Tech!
Tongue out on the final corner. He punches the air in delight.
There is no North American 1-2-3 – Madouas gets back up with the chasers, almost from nowhere, and takes second. Woods takes third on a great day for IPT.
Updated
1.5km to go: This is the last couple of minutes that anyone can say Hugo Houle has never won anything of note. What a performance.
3.5km to go: The Canadian takes the lead out to over a minute. He gulps in the air and takes the corners safely and comfortably. We’re closing in on a North American 1-2-3.
5km to go: As delight looms for House, spare a thought for Soler, 47:29 back and only just at the foot of the second climb.
7km to go: Quite a nasty gash on Jorgenson’s arm but he’s back on his bike and has caught Woods. The lead is 55 seconds for Houle. It’s absolutely his to lose.
The yellow jersey contenders are 6:25 back and are very much in sticking rather than twisting territory.
🇺🇸 @MatteoJorg has rejoined 🇨🇦 @rusty_woods and is straight on the chase!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 19, 2022
🇺🇸 @MatteoJorg rejoint 🇨🇦 @rusty_woods et repart de plus belle !#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/lfy9q8fElh
Updated
10km to go: Barring calamity, Houle is about to join his team’s sports director as a Canadian winner of a Tdf stage. Woods is now 45 seconds back.
13.5km to go: Jorgensen is down! He gets it wrong on a tight hairpin, and takes a tumble. Thankfully he’s safely up, but that could have handed the stage to Houle, who has taken the lead out to 35 seconds. Woods now chases.
17km to go: Houle is 24 seconds clear. Steve Bauer is the only Canadian to have won a Tour de France stage, the opener in 1988.
19.0km to go: No full-on aggression on the way down from any of the GC contenders, and as things stand it’ll be as you were on the podium. What a day for Quintana though – he’s looking like ending the day fourth. Bardet has only crested Péguère’s peak.
21.5km to go: Vingegaard, Pogacar and Thomas reach the peak, and they’ve done their climbing for the day. Will the Slovenian stick or twist?
Updated
24.5km to go: Always a little misleading when the leader is over the hill and there are groups still grimacing in the closing stages of their way up. However, with a 6:12 gap from front to yellow, about to crest the peak it’s safe to say the lead in reality is shortly to show as significantly under six minutes now – possibly more like five.
Updated
27km to go: Houle is the first to hit downhill, with a 25-second advantage. Jorgenson, Storer and Woods are the chase trio.
Bardet currently is 1:45 down on Quintana and Yates. In the live standings he’s dropped out of the top five.
Updated
27.75km: Dicey moment as Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) grinds to a halt as part of the yellow jersey group. Thankfully he just needs a new bike and those immediately behind respond in time to avoid a collision.
29km to go: Tom Pidcock and Chris Froome are among many, many people suffering on the Péguère climb.
Vingegaard and Pogacar have taken some distance from the peloton. Quintana is clinging on to them and both he and Adam Yates look like leapfrogging Bardet today. Yates is dragging Thomas along to keep his Ineos teammate in sight of the GC leaders.
Updated
30km to go: The chase group is down to three: Jorgensen, Storer and Woods. They’re starting to munch a little time out of Houle.
Bardet, after looking like being dropped by the peloton, is now safely back with the pack, but certainly doesn’t look the freshest among it.
30.5km to go: The lead is holding steady around 50 seconds. Houle fancies this. Can he manage one more push on the climb?
Caruso hits the wall (thankfully not literally) – suddenly he looks like I felt in the closing stages of a horrible treadmill trudge at the weekend. Storer and Woods (the latter Houle’s teammate, let’s not forget) look the strongest of the chasers.
🇮🇹 @CarusoDamiano and 🇫🇷 @tonygallopin are dropped from the first chasing group.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 19, 2022
🇮🇹 @CarusoDamiano et 🇫🇷 @tonygallopin sont distancés du groupe des poursuivants#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/JL9RWar3cT
Updated
32km to go: Some 4.5km to the climb, Houle goes 46 seconds clear. Gallopin is reeled in by a group of five – Madouas, Caruso, Jorgenson, Storer and Woods. Van Aert and Vlasov are now in a group of six 1:18 off the front.
🏁 34KM
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 19, 2022
🇨🇦 @HugoHoule
🇫🇷 @tonygallopin +14"
Chasers/Poursuivants +35"
Gr. 💚🔴 +57"
Gr. 💛 +7'41"#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/u7sz21EbXA
Updated
34km to go: Up they go again, with the big-time climb of the Mur de Péguère looming. Houle now 25 seconds clear. The yellow jersey group is exactly eight minutes back. Will Pogacar try and press again either side of the peak?
37km to go: As always, the downhills prove as much of a test as the climbs. Houle is on the move up front. He opened up 15 seconds on Tony Gallopin (Trek-Segafredo), who is suddenly on his own around 40 seconds clear of a bunch of five – Madouas, Caruso, Jorgenson, Storer and Woods. Vlasov was there but has fallen away.
Confirmation now emerges that Soler is still there, 36 mins back.
Updated
Update: I might have gone a bit early there on Soler …
@stuartgoodwin I see Soler more than 34 minutes back. I have no idea how he hopes to finish within the elimination time. And it's far too late for his team to help him.
— Beau Dure 🇺🇦🌈🖖☮️ (@duresport) July 19, 2022
43.5km to go: The effort ebbs again from the defending champion, enabling Thomas to get back on terms. The indication is that Pogacar definitely wants to take time out of his podium rivals today.
46.5km to go: Pogacar hits the top of the climb and goes again! Vingegaard scrambles once more, and gets back on his wheel. Thomas initially wants no part of it this time, on an extremely technical descent. The top two in GC briefly go toe to toe, but Pogacar sees nothing but yellow polyester over his shoulder.
49km to go: Pogacar attacks! All those scratching their heads wanting a move from the Slovenian get what they want as he swings rightwards and slams down the hammer.
But Vingegaard responds, as does Thomas …
53km to go: Am awaiting confirmation, but Soler is no longer being picked up by the official tracking. That might be that for the Spanish rider.
Geschke takes 10 KoM points at the top of Port de Lers, followed by Van Aert (8), McNulty (6), Jorgensen (4), Caruso (2) and Woods (1).
⚪🔴 10 points for the polka dot jersey 🇩🇪 @simongeschke at the Port de Lers.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 19, 2022
⚪🔴 10 points pour le @maillotapois au Port de Lers.#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/8CFhagbGHY
On the downhill, Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious) flies down to join the group up front.
54.5km to go: The lead group now numbers seven, and Van Aert is right up there. Caruso, Storer and Woods are also joined by Geschke, McNulty and Jorgensen before the Port de Lers summit.
55.5km to go: Movistar are on the move at the front of the peloton, possibly as a response to the threat posed up the road by Vlasov. Enric Mas started the day in 10th. Teammates Carlos Verona and Gregor Mühlberger join him and they burst 30 seconds clear of the bunch.
Updated
57km to go: Green jersey holder Van Aert looks almost terrifyingly at ease in the chase group, possibly wanting to improve the day for Jumbo-Visma.
The group, consisting of Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Van Aert, Vlasov (!), Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) and Geschke are 25 seconds off the front.
60km to go: Caruso, Storer and Woods are now a trio up front.
3⃣ riders in the lead, with the @WoutvanAert group trailing by 1'
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 19, 2022
3⃣ coureurs en tête à présent, le groupe @WoutvanAert est à 1 minute.
🇮🇹 @CarusoDamiano
🇦🇺 @mjstorer_au
🇨🇦 @rusty_woods #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/jcods0Sbrg
Joanna, writing from Turks and Caicos, emails:
“Was just pondering over Soler clearly struggling to stay in the race to potentially aid Pog. If he feels better in coming days and the fact that Rog seemed to have left the tour with a few miles left in him (compounded by Steven crashing and leaving) … Do you think the Rog decision will come back to haunt TJV?”
Soler is now almost 24min off the front. I think immediate concerns for the team is that he ends the day able to get off the bike himself rather than with assistance.
In terms of the context of the race, the 21 stages are always a case of survival of the fittest, and I’m certainly not one to tell anyone feeling the aftershocks of earlier injuries sustained whether they should or shouldn’t grin and bear it through discomfort.
If Pogacar can’t find a way back to yellow, however, team meetings at Jumbo-Visma are going to be moody, no question about that. Anyone betting against him before last Thursday was a very brave individual indeed.
Updated
62km to go: Caruso opens up a half-minute gap as the peloton reaches the climb. Vlasov is 56sec back among a group of 14. Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ) and Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) are betwixt group and leader.
64km to go: The lead group shatters as the gradient ramps up.
Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) makes a break and opens his jersey to more or less wear it as a cape. Straight away on the climb 10 riders are staring at their pedals and rocking alarmingly. Caruso won the Giro di Sicilia in April and looks strong.
⛰ The breakaway has started the climb up the Port de Lers. 🇮🇹@CarusoDamiano and 🇫🇷 @leGacOlg have attacked.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 19, 2022
⛰ L'échappée entame la montée au Port de Lers. 🇮🇹@CarusoDamiano et 🇫🇷 @leGacOlg ont pris quelque longueurs d'avance.#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/3DLZiRG2xC
66km to go: Things get very, very real for those with heavy legs in just over 1km. Soler now 10mins 30 off the back. I’m not sure he’s getting to the downhill on the other side of this climb.
In real-time, Vlasov is more or less level with Pogacar in second on the virtual GC. We’ll get a lot more interested in that if it’s still the case two mountains down the road.
68km to go: Soler-watch: he’s still on the bike, over nine minutes behind the peloton, which is 8:05 behind the lead.
Live-tracking suggests the lead group has already shed a member (now numbers 28) before hitting the serious climb. Unclear who that is at this stage. More will doubtless fall away as the heave increases.
71km to go: Grumbles among the riders in the lead group about the distribution of effort up front. The leaders have been moving upwards for several km now and the real ramp up is imminent.
76km to go: Inbox lights up a bit in relation to Thomas (good afternoons to Pete Younger, James Abbott and Tom Stuart respectively).
All suggesting his waiting game is the right one, which indeed is as the man himself said yesterday.
“Oh come along now Stuart, it’s not as if Thomas is just swanning about out there, he knows what he can and can’t do better than us,” says James.
People only call me Stuart when I’ve been naughty as well, so that’s me told.
“It’s been pretty clear from the racing so far that both Pog and Vingegaard are stronger than him on the climbs,” adds Tom, “and it’s not as if he has an enormous time gap behind him to 4th place on GC. If he wants to win, certainly a big move is needed, but if the people ahead of you don’t show signs of weakness such that the move might stick, then it’s no longer a risk – more like throwing away a podium place.”
“Perhaps on Thursday if there’s no big change ahead of G,” reckons Pete. “But the race may fall into his lap if riders keep withdrawing. These tactics paid off in Tour de Suisse last month after all.”
It’s clear Ineos are absolutely fine with how the stage is panning out, and that doubtless includes Soler’s plight. Whenever there’s an overhead shot the Ineos jerseys leap out in train as a visual demonstration of the strength they still have out there.
80km to go: Reminder: what’s happening to Soler isn’t a sprinter feeling the heat in the hills – he’s seen as a key player in the mountains. He departed last year’s race after a first stage crash.
Peloton 7:37 back, Soler now 13:18 and probably feeling like he’s riding a Raleigh Budgie with hamstrings made of rope.
An important teammate for 🇸🇮 @TamauPogi, 🇪🇸 @solermarc93 is struggling at the back, over 3' behind the Yellow group.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 19, 2022
Équipier de 🇸🇮 @TamauPogi, 🇪🇸 @solermarc93 connaît des difficultés à l'arrière de la course, avec plus de 3' de retard sur le groupe Maillot Jaune#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/WDWU9RrM6O
Updated
82km to go: Around 9km to go before the gradient starts to laugh at everyone and say: “Oh yeah, that was the easy bit lads.” And then chortles again twice more further up the road.
Rash prediction: by the peak of Port de Lers, there will not be a lead group of 29 riders.
Updated
87.5km to go: Soler’s going to do extremely well to finish today and that’s potentially awful news for his teammate Pogacar. Now 10:34 off the lead and dropping fast. Alberto Contador, on the back of a motorbike for Eurosport, suggests his compatriot looks all but done.
Still no response further back to the lead group challenge being laid down by Vlasov.
90km to go: A glorious sight of the peloton snaking across the full width of the road. They’re 7:28 off the lead group.
We’re in calm before the bleurgh territory for those who fear climbs. Solar is deep in that territory right now however – he’s 1:40 off the back of the bunch. He just cocked the camera operator a snook that suggests he’d much rather they’d just bugger off and shove a lens at someone, anyone else.
The Port de Lers is a gruelling climb, and @JumboVismaRoad are well aware of dangerous it can be
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 19, 2022
In last year's @RondeIsard, their @TJVacademy turned the race upside down and @GLeemreize set the @Strava KOM on his way to 🏆#TDFdata #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/OtOGgsrepw
98km to go: The peloton’s over 7 mins back. Dropping off the back alarmingly, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates, started the stage 79th) – he looks more than a little green around the gills. Imagine taking on a cat 1 climb when you feel rough. Good luck Marc.
Paulo Biriani writes:
“I love Geraint Thomas (as does my wife for a different reason) but can someone just get it through to him that he will need to take a risk if he wants to win rather than waiting and waiting and waiting …”
I don’t have his pager number but it’s a point well made. Ineos look organised today and don’t seem too displeased about how the stage is panning out. It feels hideously unlikely that he can just stay on the coattails of Vingegaard and Pogacar and then overhaul both in Saturday’s time trial, so it feels like he must put in a telling effort at some point. Friday’s flat stage 19?
Local interest corner: As the peloton rolled by the intermediate sprint marker, the official Tour feed offered the splendid titbit that Lavelanet is the hometown of Fabien Barthez – who has apparently been spotted roadside today.
The former France goalkeeper is still enjoying a second wind as a racing driver.
108km to go: With a rise in pace up front for the sprint, the gap to the bunch is up to 6:40. Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), well in there with the lead group, is now into the top five on virtual GC as things stand.
The Russian rider is no mug, having won the Tour de Romandie and the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana this year. He started the stage 11th, 10:32 off the lead, and all other top 10 GC riders are among the peloton.
Eekhoff takes intermediate sprint
111km to go: Wasn’t an eyeballs-out effort in the end – Van Aert looks like waltzing to another 20 points under minimal pressure before DSM’s Nils Eekhoff almost jokily pulls ahead … and takes the sprint. The Jumbo-Visma rider almost bursts out laughing in response.
112km to go: Green jersey group looks like it will be hitting the sprint with a gap around the 6:25 mark. 1km to go before all hell breaks loose for a bit. Van Aert is very handily positioned.
115km to go: With an intermediate sprint ahead at Lavelanet, it’s as you were. Still 29 in the lead group, peloton sitting pretty 6:03 back. Ewan has worked hard, snaffling up his deficit post-adjustments to rejoin the masses.
Gougeard-watch: he’s hanging on in there, bless ’im.
Updated
A question (ooh) from Marcus Banag:
“Hi – just wondering who you’d like to see win the 2022 Tour De France?”
Hmm. I’ve thought about this a lot and, on balance …
Annemiek van Vleuten.
(Starts Sunday. Going to be GREAT!)
120km to go: Caleb Ewan (Lotto–Soudal) is off his bike, albeit voluntary, I’m pleased to report. Wobbly seat syndrome appears to have struck. An attendant allen key has hopefully done the trick.
Norman writes: “Not wishing to complain …”
Norman then complains: “Your stage guide profile at the beginning of the day gives distance from the start; your blog updates give distance from the finish. I have to do a bit of subtraction every time.”
Ah, the old distance covered v distance to go argument. Many races, both riding and running, have that call to make, and people have their own preference. Some marathons, for example, have one mile, two mile, three mile … markers, while others opt to let competitors know how much is left (26 miles to go, 25 miles to go etc).
Where the Tour is concerned, with two cat 1 climbs ahead, I’m sure everyone pounding the pedals is much more concerned with what’s left than what’s gone before!
(Norman closes with “thanks for the coverage” btw. Cheers Norman. I’m very jealous of Bristol’s 31C and cloudy.)
127km to go: Gougeard looks over his shoulder and sees many, many, many riders behind him. He swings right, gives way and looks far from unhappy to do so. The breakaway group therefore now contains 29 (we’ll see if Gougeard latches on), with the peloton 5:43 behind.
128km to go: Live tracking appears to indicate Grossschartner is back up and riding. He’s dropped to 45sec behind the chase group. Gougeard’s goose may be cooked, meanwhile – his advantage has just ebbed by half a minute in almost no time.
132km to go: Reports of a crash – Felix Grossschartner (Bora–Hansgrohe) has apparently gone down among the green jersey group. I’m yet to see the incident but fingers crossed nothing more than the most minor case of road rash.
On yesterday’s rest day, Geraint Thomas was pleasingly forthright on what needs to happen for his yellow ambitions to advance.
“They’ve got three days [the Pyrenean stages] left to control so it’s not too long, but so much can happen in that time,” he said. “If Vingegaard is vulnerable or isolated, even by a puncture, and he’s got nobody there, that can cost him a lot of time.
“If they balls it up, it’s not going to look good.”
Full story from Jeremy Whittle below.
137km to go: It appears that AG2R, Alpecin, Intermarche and – now Matthews has been reeled in – BikeExchange are the only four teams that do not have at least one rider ahead of the peloton. It’s a pleasingly diverse green jersey group. Current weather out front for Gougeard is 31.8C with a bit of cloud, which I can’t believe I’m saying is weather I’m currently jealous of.
138km to go: Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) and stage 14 winner Michael Matthews (BikeExchange–Jayco) had spent a good half an hour betwixt peloton and chase group. No longer: they’ve been swallowed up by the pack.
140km to go: More KOM points on offer, and Gougeard – still 44sec clear of the chase group – hoovers up two of them at Col de l’Espinas. Bissegger takes one.
144km to go: As the peloton passes a succession of stunning vineyards, no time to stop and stare as the gradient ticks up to 6%. Meanwhile the local temperature from where I type has just hit 38C and I’m now in two fans territory. New record! Oh yeah, that’s not a good thing. That record btw was set yesterday. Hope everyone everywhere is staying as cool as they need to.
146.5km to go: Tiesj Benoot is trying to pick things up back in the peloton, with Ineos shirts aplenty massing up back there. The gap is over 6min to the front but realistically the gap to the green jersey group (46 secs off the front, and with 28 on board) is the key marker.
148km to go: Team instructions from TotalEnergies, who evidently don’t fancy their rider’s chances, sees Burgaudeau sit up, and Gougeard is alone up front with a climb ahead of him.
151km to go: Jorgenson is swallowed up by the chase group, who are 48sec back. The gap from front to peloton has steadied around the 5:45 mark for a spell. The top three will not be too distraught at how this stage is panning out – the lead pair went into today 106th (Gougeard) and 117th (Burgaudeau) in the GC standings.
153.5km to go: Visible frustration from the French pair at Jorgenson not pulling his weight up front, and Burgaudeau and Gougeard huffily kick away. The breakaway is now down to two.
Updated
156km to go: The trio are looking good up front and this looks like a decisive break. They’re peeking back and there’s nothing to see but road there. The gap remains around the high-50sec mark.
Corrections and clarifications: Stefan Bissegger took the aforementioned KoM point – not his EF Education-EasyPost teammate Neilson Powless.
160km to go: Burgaudeau isn’t having it all to himself up front. He’s been reeled in by Jorgensen (Movistar) and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R Citroën), and they’re closing in on a 1min gap to the chase group. Despite the peloton being 5:13 back, they’re hardly hanging around, with Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) wheezing and mentally waving a forlorn “come back, come back …”
Updated
162.5km to go: Straight after the climb, Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) sets off for the first solo break of the day. Nils Politt (Bora–Hansgrohe) has been in the pits to address a case of Wonky Wheel.
164km to go: The peloton is now 3:57 off the front. Vlasov went into the stage 11th and is the highest GC contender up there. Powless, meanwhile, snaffles up a King of the Mountains on côte de Saint-Hilaire.
Today's main breakaway is formed
168km to go: Wout van Aert is among the breakaway, which is a strange old move from the Jumbo-Visma man given how depleted his team now is. Eurosport seem to think there’s another JV rider up there too, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The breakaway consists of (deep breath) Vlasov, Powless, Madouas, Caruso, Teuns, McNulty, Jorgensen, Houle, Velasco, Gallopin, Martinez, Storer, Owsian, Woods, Geschke, Izagirre Insausti, Bouet, Grossschartner, Gilbert, Bissegger, Gougeard, Barthe, Le Gac, Burgaudeau, Honoré, Eekhoff and Wellens.
Updated
170km to go: For example, in the last km they’ve grown that gap to 2:12.
171km to go: Vingegaard, Pogacar, Thomas and Bardet are all safely tucked among the peloton. The gap to the breakaway is already at 1:47, and that gap is going up with every character I rattle off.
173km to go: 27 are now in a breakaway, made up of a healthy cross-section of teams. The peloton is already 49 seconds behind. Michael Matthews sees the threat and is attempting to bridge the gap.
176.2km to go: First flinches came to nought, but Neilson Powless picks things up, leading a group of 12. Geschke is among them.
Updated
Key event
178.5km to go: Picnic baskets are all buckled and kickstands stowed as the peloton pass the start point. The mercury, incidentally, is at 31C in Carcassonne.
General classification after stage 15
1 Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) 59h 58min 28sec
2 Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +2min 22sec
3 Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +2:43
4 Romain Bardet (DSM) +3:01
5 Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:06
6 Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) +4:15
7 Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) +4:24
8 David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +4:24
9 Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) +8:49
10 Enric Mas (Movistar) +9:58
Other jerseys
Points: Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)
King of the mountains: Simon Geschke (Cofidis)
Stage 16 guide: Carcassonne to Foix (178.5km)
The first stage in the Pyrenees with two first category mountains; hard enough for the early break to target the stage, but not hard enough to induce the overall contenders to do more than keep a watching brief, writes William Fotheringham. With 27km downhill to the line, the finish is for a good climber who can descend well: perhaps Romain Bardet, or the Dane Jakob Fuglsang, or that old lag Bauke Mollema.
Preamble
To the Pyrenees! The peloton gears up after the second and last rest day for a light, leisurely jaunt up two category 1 climbs – Port de Lers and Mur de Péguère. Breakaway chances abound in the first half of the stage before the gradients ramp up … and then the Tour gods give plenty of altitude back for a downhill charge to the line.
Last time the race took in the slender Péguère pathway, in 2017, Warren Barguil delighted home fans with victory on Bastille Day. There’ll be no repeat this year – the ProTeam Arkéa–Samsic rider left the race on Friday after testing positive for Covid-19. Can Romain Bardet, fourth in the GC standings, get the Tricolores waving at the finish this time around?
It’s a potentially good day to be a confident climber who can also barrel down at a decent lick for a thundering finish. Plenty fit the bill. Jonas Vingegaard remains in yellow, but is smarting from a tumble last time out and has lost Jumbo-Visma comrades Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk – they would have been extremely useful today.
UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogacar is 2min 22sec off the lead. Potential intrigue comes in the form of third-placed Geraint Thomas, 2:43 behind Vingegaard but backed by an Ineos team who will roll out of Carcassonne with comfortably the most strength in depth of the top three contenders.
Six stages left. Who wants it, eh?
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