Tour de France stage 16 - Live coverage

Hello and welcome back to our live race coverage from the Tour de France. I hope you're all rested from your day off and that you're ready for another blockbuster day in the mountains as we head from La Tour-du-Pin to Villard-de-Lans. 164km and five categorised climbs, it's another day for the GC riders.

We are about an hour away from the roll out with the official start scheduled for just a few minutes after that. Riders are currently signing on but the big news is that all the tests have come back negative for COVID-19. Not a single positive at the Tour, which remarkable but welcome news. This means that we should finish in Paris on Sunday. Here's our story on the tests. Remember we have four positives last week, five if you include grand fromage, Christian Prudhomme. 

Looking at today's stage, Procycling have described it as 'rugged', which is about right. It's a Gerard Butler of Tour de France stages, except it's probably got more depth to it when it comes to possible performance. 

Here's what Pro had to say about the stage:

The third week begins with a rugged stage to Villard-de-Lans. This is a rare incursion for the Tour into the Vercors, a region of tough, narrow roads, deceptively difficult climbs and deep gorges rising from the east bank of the Rhône. 

More damage can be done in the repetitive obstacles of the middle mountains than at high altitude. In the 1987 Tour, Jeff Bernard won the Mont Ventoux time trial, building what looked like a race-winning lead of 2:34 over Stephen Roche, in second. It took a day for Roche, in tandem with Pedro Delgado, to overturn that lead, with an aggressive ride in the Vercors, combined with bad luck for Bernard. 

Stage 16 provides five categorised climbs, including the finish atop Villard-de-Lans - Côte 2000, popular in the winter for skiing. The mountaintop finish is preceded by the 14.6km category 1 Montée de Sainte-Nizier-du-Moucherotte, which then provides a rolling downhill section of approximately 20km to set up the final 2.3km climb.

Riders wishing to emulate Roche will have identified today’s stage as the ideal territory on which to overturn leads. However, there’s a warning from history that there’s a fine line between success and failure - the République du Vercors lasted less than a month.

And someone in GC always comes out of the second rest day with bad legs, and that will be exploited on a stage like this, especially as we should expect a lightening quick start as Peter Sagan goes all out on the first climb in a bit to drop Bennett and take points at the intermediate sprint that comes just before the main climbs. Not to be controversial but the  battle for green has been more entertaining than the race for yellow until this point in the race.

While we wait for the race to start, why not listen to the CN podcast? We looked back at the GC, whats' happened with Bernal, the Jungels/Higuita crash, and then ask the question 'when is the right time to ask doping questions?' after a couple of moral compasses on Twitter had the temerity to raise concern over the yellow jersey being asked about credibility. Here's the podcast. 

Meanwhile, we're about 35 minutes from the roll out with riders still signing on and doing the odd interview in the mix zone. Roglic has just ridden by and he's still in yellow and holding a 40-second advantage over Pogacar. Here's what the Jumbo rider had to say on the second rest-day.

“Every day we see some guys going home, the main thing is to stay focussed,” commented Roglič through a recorded interview. He opted out of doing a traditional rest day press conference and preferred to limit his comments to a team video.

"When you are more and more tired, it’s easy to lose your concentration, stupid things can happen all the time and you can't afford that.

Read the full story here.

If you've been living in a cave for the last few weeks, or maybe just engrossed with Gerard Butler films, I dunno, maybe you've missed that we've created a Procycling section on the homepage. It's full of content from the mag, and the team are writing wonderful analysis stories after each stage. Go here, and check it out. And then subscribe with this amazing offer.

To be fair to Butler, The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star,  was pretty good.

We can see Bernal leaving the Ineos bus and heading to the start area. Late last night his team released a video in which he talked about his GC collapse on stage 15 and how he plans to come back stronger next season and win the Tour. It will be interesting to see how Ineos race over the next few days, as they adjust and look for stage wins in order to salvage their race. 

Here's what Bernal had to say.

And there's Bennett (S), in green as he rides to the start line as well. The Irishman should ride into Paris and take green but Sagan will probably throw everything at him today ahead of the intermediate sprint. 

"In the first week of the Tour, I was only falling asleep at 2 or 3 a.m. so it was definitely a relief when I got the win," Bennett told reporters in a Zoom call on Monday's second rest day.

"But now I've found myself in a whole new position, with a different kind of pressure. But I feel like I'm coping with it OK now. You somehow get used to it because it's there all the time. It's two weeks now so it's starting to become more normal."

You can read Barry Ryan's story on Bennett, right here.

Sagan also spoke on the rest-day via Zoom.

"We’re still in the game. There are the last six stages and there are three really hard stages, and then perhaps after there’s another opportunity for a sprint or something. Then we have to survive the time trial and then we’re going to Paris.

“I’m not disappointed. As I always say, every year is different and every race is different. I had my opportunities. I had all the team working for me but I had some bad luck in the finale and that’s what’s missing for me,” the three-time world champion said.

Here's Stephen Farrand's full story.

Looking at the profile of the stage, it's almost uphill from the very start as the riders tackle an uncategorized climb. Then it's that short 4th cat Côte de Virieu. We're going to have attacks from the gun and it will be interesting to see if Bennett lets Sagan go up the road or if the Irishman spends energy on trying to chase things down with the use of his QuickStep team.

We're just about 10 minutes away from the roll out and most of the peloton are making their way to the startline. Prudhomme is back at the race after a week of isolation but no sign of him just yet.

Tom Dumoulin also chatted away on the rest day. The Dutch rider, who currently sits in 10th on GC had this to say on the GC battle:

“My expectations are that we’ll be as strong in the last week as we were in the first week,” Dumoulin said on the second rest day of the Tour de France.

“I think that we have a super strong team, the strongest team in the whole Tour de France. We have been very dominant and we have the yellow jersey. We have the strength to control the race but we also have to be smart with our strength. Of course it all depends on Primoz being the best guy in the Tour in the third week. It all depends on that, eventually.”

The full yarn, is just here.

GC standings

Here is the GC before we begin stage 16 of the 2020 Tour de France

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 65:37:07

2 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:40

3 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Pro Cycling 00:01:34

4 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Astana Pro Team 00:01:45

5 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 00:02:03

6 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 00:02:13

7 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 00:02:16

8 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 00:03:15

9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 00:05:08

10 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 00:05:12

We're just heading out now, through the neutralized zone on stage 16 of the Tour de France. Stay with us for complete live coverage from the race throughout the stage.

Lets see who is on the front as that's a giveaway in term of who wants to be in the break. The KOM leader is there, and Sagan and Bennett, as we see Bernal is near the back and chatting with Chaves. Griepel is near the front but surely he's not going on the attack today. It would be nice to see, we've not seen a lot of the veteran in the race so far. And there's Prudhomme, waving his arms from the sunroof as we continue through the neutralized zone.

Conditions, perfect, 28 degrees, blue skies and very little wind out there right now. 

Van Baarle is near the front and so is Pinot, and we could expect both of those riders to go on the attack. Van Baarle won a mountain stage in the Dauphine last year, after all but we could see Ineos send a few riders up the road today.

Just under 3km to go until Prudhomme stands up again and starts the stage as we see Ewan just at the back of the peloton as he settles in for complete survival mode. 

Kevin Reza is also near the front and he's been on the attack already, having been in break during the first week. He can make it over the early climbs and could be crucial in setting up one of his teammates. Rolland for the KOM points, perhaps?

Bernal is right at the back and on his own, so a day of recovery and contemplation for last year's winner. If it's a back injury it's hard to see him trying to win a stage as it's unlikely to improve without complete rest, but lets see. Van Baarle is still right at the front, as we see D Martin right at the back. Today would have  been a good one for him. 

Tony Martin moves up and he'll chase down anything dangerous as we see Luke Rowe next to him. Prudhomme gets on the mic, waves a flag and we're off on stage 16 of the Tour de France. We're already climbing.

And it is Van Baarle who goes first with Asgreen on his wheel. In fact there are about 30 riders on his wheel as Pacher goes next. Classy little rider is the Frenchman.

Already some big gaps as we look back but Pacher is clear, and ahead of a group of around 30 as we continue to climb. This is a brutal way to start a race after a rest day. 

The bunch reform on a short descent but Pacher has about 8 seconds on the peloton. Bennett is just marking Sagan's every move a five more riders clip off the front.

Van Avermaet is leading a small group but the race is about to come back together, although it's already stretched out. Powless is also up there but Movistar are marking him.

Sivakov goes and Alaphilippe is on his wheel. Then the Frechman goes for a second time and he has a small gap almost immediately. Chaves is chasing and so too his Trentin and Sagan. Team Sunweb then toss a rider up the road and he joins Alphilippe. It's none stop attacking, with Trentin attacking on this 4th cat climb.

153km to go and it's all back together but off the back, Gaudu is suffering as we see Sivakov try again. Sorry we're just over that unclassified climb, the 4th cat is still to come.

Pinot is attacking but Sivakov is trying to match every move at the moment but with 157km we have a huge group of about 25 off the front with Mitchelton driving the pace on the descent. This group is too big, so it's going to kick off again on the climb that's coming up.

Is Sagan in the move? That's the question. Pinot, and Carapaz are both there but the gap is at 31 seconds.

Right now Bora are leading the break and the peloton. 

No Sagan or Bennett in the front group as we see GVA leading a counter attack. Alaphilippe is currently driving the break at the moment as Bauer takes a turn for Chaves. The gap is up to 45 seconds ad this move could be quite dangerous. Kung is there for Pinot too.

1km to go on the climb and the total number in the  break is 35 as Bora lead the chase at the front of the peloton. This hasn't gone to plan for Sagan as we see Ewan being dropped from the back of the peloton. 

There are too many riders in the break but this could get interesting for Sagan if he can go clear and join the leaders because he has men up the road as we see the Bora leader look back to see Bennett on his wheel. The gap is down to 30 seconds.

Now Jumbo Visma have moved up and started to set the pace. They're chasing things down right now as Cofidis and Rolland try and hit them hard. There's no control and Wout Van Aert is forced to the front already. The gap is down to 14 seconds, so it's all coming back.

149km to go and it's briefly back together but immediately Ineos and Cofidis try and jump clear. Ineos are making this really hard for Jumbo Visma but once more Van Aert pushes on the pedals and closes it all down. 

Carapaz and Roche are the next to ping off the front with 146km to go. 

They have quality in their legs but they need more firepower from the bunch as the gap holds at 8 seconds.

Sagan has gone and Bennett has to make a huge effort because he was caught napping and let Sagan's wheel go. He closes the move down. Just.

Carapaz and Roche have just been joined bit a large group that includes Trentin and Alaphilippe. Bora have a couple of riders in the move and they have 17 seconds. Barguil is there, Bettiol too. Movistar have two riders as well, so too do Ineos.

140km to go and the gap is up to 25 seconds and it will be interesting to see who chases this down. Jumbo have moved up and they might let this one go.

The only rider intent on shutting this down is KOM leader Benoit Cosnefroy but he's left it too late. But now Chaves attacks. The gap is only 26 seconds but there are more attacks. This is relentless. 

131km to go

According to our friends  at Le Tour, the leader are 15-strong and they are:

Andrey Amador, Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), Lennard Kämna, Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First), Winner Anacona, Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Imanol Erviti, Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), Chris Juul Jensen (Mitchelton-Scott), Nicholas Roche (Team Sunweb), Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept).

They have 1'31 over the peloton.

There is a chase group at 47 seconds but they're going to find it hard to make it to the leaders. We're still 10km from the intermediate as once again we see attacks from the peloton.

There was some calm in the bunch but ISN missed the move so they fire two riders up the road. 129km to go.

George Bennett is now forced into marking moves as AG2R go again. We're not on a classified climb but the road  is still rolling and these little digs are slowly hurting the bunch. Right at the back we see Bernal hanging on with Dan Martin.

Sivakov leads another massive attack from the front and that will close the gap on the chasing group that includes Bauer and Boasson Hagen. Hirschi attacks with 126km to go.

Hirschi reaches the second group as more and more riders go on the attack. Other than Bernal and D Martin I think everyone has attacked now.

Jumbo are back on the  front and Robert Gesink take control. Jumbo just want a steady pace so that everything just settles down. They don't mind the 15 up the road going clear but they don't want any more accelerations but Rolland didn't get the memo and he's attacked. 

123km to go and the 15 leaders have 1'03 on the yellow jersey. 

And there's another wave of attacks, with a group containing three EF Pro Cycling riders jumping away, having taken the lead from Rolland.

Rolland is 57 seconds behind the leaders but now we see two Sunweb riders attacking in tandem. At the intermediate Trentin takes the maximum of 20 points. 

Rolland has been caught by Pedersen and Benoot from Sunweb with 118km to go as we hear that Gaudu has quit the race. 

All of this means that Sagan and Bennett don't pick up any points. So that's a win for Bennett in the green jersey competition. 

115km to go and finally the bunch sit up for a natural break as the gap goes out to 2'21. That should allow Ewan a chance to come back because he lost three minutes in that first hour of racing.

We're about to start climbing even though we're well off the next climb of the Col de Porte. The gap to the leading 15 is at 3'16 but there are still several chase groups in between them and the peloton.

Mads Pedersen, the current world champion, has sent in his latest blog from the Tour and you can read it, right here.

A reminder of the 15 leaders:

Andrey Amador, Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), Lennard Kämna, Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First), Winner Anacona, Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Imanol Erviti, Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), Chris Juul Jensen (Mitchelton-Scott), Nicholas Roche (Team Sunweb), and Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept). 

But the Rolland group are closing at 47 seconds. Then we have another group of 8 at 1'52 as the road starts to climb. 

At the front of the peloton Tony Martin is just tapping out a steady but manageable pace.

Rolland and the two Sunweb riders are at 35 seconds and they can just about see the 15 leaders up ahead. The bunch are now at 5'14.

Rolland and Benoot make it across so we have 18 leaders now with 108km to go. 

The Nieve group, the second group on the road are about 1'15 away from the main break,  so they're closing as we approach the Col de Porte. In that chase group we have Sivakov, Powless, Geschke, Nieve and Sicard.

Onto the climb and Bennett (S) starts to slip back, with the 18 leaders now 7'18 ahead and the pace starting to settle after a truly breathtaking start to the stage today. 

We're 4.5km from the summit for the break but the peloton are still near the base of the climb as Daniel Oss sits at the the front of the break. He's getting his in work early as he knows  he'll struggle on the  later climbs when the pace goes up.

100km to go and the 18 leaders have 7'59 over the main field as Alaphilippe goes back to the team car for a chat and some fresh bottles. He's the main favourite for today but there are some really good climbers in this and the Sivakov group. 

At the back of the peloton Kwiatkowski is on Bernal duty once again as Jumbo Visma once more set the pace. The gap is now up to 8'46, so the winner is going to come from the break at this rate. 

1.3km to go until the summit and Rolland takes off as he wants the KOM points. Roche is going after him though but this is a long way to hit out from. 

Roche has made it up to Rolland's wheel but Rolland takes 5 points and he's closing on the KOM jersey. They'll sit up as we see Bernal go back for bottles. He's shaking his head as we continue to climb as back down the climb Ewan has been dropped again. This is going to be a really though day for the Australian. 

This Nieve group could link up with the leaders on this long descent as the peloton drift out to 9'16 with 93km to go.

Tony Martin is still tapping away as we see Bennett start to drift towards the back of the peloton. Up ahead and Roche and Rolland have 15 seconds on the Alaphilippe group.

83km to go and the Sivakov/Nieve group are 45 seconds as Roche and Rolland are caught by the rest of the break. We'll have 23 riders in the lead before the next climb. Meanwhile the peloton are at 10'18. 

Alaphilippe has a mechanicacl and it looks like he will take a new bike in the next few kilometers.

Juul Jensen will be called to action soon. He's at the back of the break and hasn't worked because his teammate Nieve has been chasing but that will all change soon enough. The Dane will be on the front for the next climb if his teammate can make the juncture. 

Rolland by the way is now just 5 points off the KOM lead as Alaphilippe finally has his bike change. He's got quite a long chase though and he might get picked up by the Sivakov group, which is still at 43 seconds with 65km to go.

No Alaphilippe will make it back on his own as we see him coming through the team cars.

The views are stunning today. 

97km to go

As the riders near the summit of the Col de Revel,  Jumbo continue to lead the chase and set the pace. 

They are again dragging  the peloton around France today but have allowed the break to extend their lead to over 10:00.   

Attack Pierre Rolland! 

The Frenchman kicks again to try to maximum points on the Col de Revel. He is about to take the polka-dot jersey.

Rolland takes the KOM and a further five points. He is now equal on 36 points with long-time KOM leader Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R).

The peloton also summits the Col de Revel. They are 11:50 back on Rolland but do not seem concerned.  

It is almost certain the breakaways will fight for the stage victory today, while there could be some late attack on the last climb. However Jumbo-Visma  now seem to have the race under control after Bernal's time loss. 

Situation

Inside the final 57km of the stage and Bora are leading the break, which has 11'26 over the main field, so the winner will come from this group.  Our leaders in order of their team and then star sign:

Andrey Amador, Richard Carapaz, Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), Lennard Kämna, Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Bettiol, Neilson Powless (EF Education First), Winner Anacona, Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Imanol Erviti, Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Simon Geschke, Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), Chris Juul Jensen, Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott), Romain Sicard (Total Direct Energie), Tiesj Benoot, Casper Pedersen, Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), Quentin Pacher, Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept)

Caleb Ewan, here after getting dropped.

Ewan is nw back in the main field after losing time on the first couple of climb as he digs deep for the final couple of sprint friendly stages to come.

Oss is still here and tapping away at the front of the main break, he's done a huge job but he could be slipping back here as there are a number of tired riders in this move. A few gaps are creeping in.

We're still some way off the Montée de Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte, which is the final climb of the day as Oss once more comes back to the front to set the pace.

Pressure on the three Ineos rider in the break as they need to rescue the team's Tour. All three of Andrey Amador, Richard Carapaz, Pavel Sivakov and have the capacity to win today. 

Nieve is another to watch. All of his Grand Tour stage wins have come in the second half of races, although he's never won a stage in the Tour. He's looking good though and is just riding in the wheel as we see Pinot at the back of the main field with Yates.

Mads Pedersen is near the front and has Richie Porte on his wheel. Will the GC riderst attack today or will they wait for stage 17, which is arguably a lot harder.

The gap to the break though is going out and it's now at 12'26 to the leaders as the peloton take it easy after a super quick start. 42km to go.

We are closing on the Montée de Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte. It's 11.1km in length with an average gradient of 6.5 per cent. Jumbo are just setting a steady pace for now but that could change later on once the main field reaches the climb.

A reminder of our leaders: 

Andrey Amador, Richard Carapaz, Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), Lennard Kämna, Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Alberto Bettiol, Neilson Powless (EF Education First), Winner Anacona, Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Imanol Erviti, Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Simon Geschke, Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), Chris Juul Jensen, Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott), Romain Sicard (Total Direct Energie), Tiesj Benoot, Casper Pedersen, Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), Quentin Pacher, and Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept).

In the Giro Rosa, it was Vos who won today's stage. You can find our report and results,