Tour de France stage 16 Live - Pogacar attacks Vingegaard in Pyrenees as Houle takes emotional win

Bonjour and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 16 of the 2022 Tour de France.

As the Cyclingnews blimp takes height, the riders are signing on and gathering for the start.

Riders are wearing ice-vest and stasyinghydrasted but fortunately the weather is cooler today it is currently 29C in Carcassonne.

As always, Cyclingnews will have full live coverage of the 178.5km stage.

The stage is the first of three in the Pyrenees. Today is the easier of the three but could still see attacks amongst the GC riders. 

Alpecin-Deceuninck are the last team to sign on after Jasper Philipsen won stage 15 in Carcassonne on Sunday. 

Five minutes to the roll out. 

The riders are lining up on the start line.

Jonas Vingegaard takes up his place on the front line of the grid as race leader and yellow jersey.  

Pogacar lines up alongside Vingegaard. 

Will we see a battle between the two today? Perhaps. We should at least see the early skirmishes. 

C'est Parti! 

The countdown ends, the local mayor drop the flag and the riders roll out of Carcassonne. 

Allez le gars!

This is Le Tour's preview. 

The riders face 5.4km of neutralised roads before the 'depart reel.'

The riders are tired after 15 stages of intense racing but we're expecting attacks to go into the break of the day.

There is an east wind blowing, which could make the early kilometres fast and nervous.    

As you may have seen on Cyclingnews, the AG2R Citroën team have revealed that Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Mikaël Chérel were the two riders at the Tour de France to test positive for COVID-19 on the final rest day. 

Further testing has ruled that their viral load does not allow them to continue in the race.

After losing leader Ben O'Connor and other riders to injury,  the AG2R Citroën team have just three riders left in the Tour: 

Benoit Cosnefroy, Stan Dewulf and Bob Jungels.

Here we go! 

Race director Christian Prudhomme waves his yellow flag and the stage is on.

Attack! 

Tim Wellens is the first to make a move. But he is quickly closed down.

The stage starts with a gradual climb out of Carcassonne. The Côte de Saint-Hilaire cat 4 climb comes after 10km.  

Neilson Powless of EF has sparked another attack. A dozen or so riders are with him. 

Others riders surge across and suddenly there are 29 riders up there, with almost every team present. 

The peloton is already 1:00 behind as Michael Matthews tries to go across. 

That will not be easy.

Riders up front include: Vlasov, Caruso and Teuns,  

Dani Martinez for Ineos, Brandon McNulty for UAE are there, as is Wout van Aert of Jumbo-Visma.   

This was the moment the attack went away.

Quinn Simmons is also trying to jump across but he is 2:00 behind and Zimmerman stops working with him.

Simmons appears to have shaved off his red beard on the rest day. This was one of his attacks earlier in the Tour.  

Aleksandr Vlasov is 11th overall at 10:32, he is the highest ranked of the breakaway group. 

Neilson Powless, Valentin Madouas and Damiano Caruso are the other members of the top 20 overall.

The attacks has opened a 3:30 lead on the peloton. 

Matthews and Simmons both appear to have missed the move and are losing time on the attackers.

165km to go

Bissegger is the first to top of the Côte de Saint-Hilaire and scores 1 KOM point, beating polka-dot jersey wearer Geschke. 

The peloton reaches the summit of the Côte de Saint-Hilaire with a gap of 5:05. 

The Jumbo-Visma team is riding on the 

Jumbo-Visma are leading the peloton to protect Vingegaard's race lead.

However they have van Aert and Van Hooydonck in the 29-rider attack.

The climb has already split the attack, with Burgaudeau, Gougeard and Jorgenson going clear. 

There is already a race within the breakaway, which is the race within in the race. 

The roads are twisting up and down and through the vineyards and sunflowers of the stunning Aude region, south of Carcassonne. 

In the peloton Jumbo have just 2 riders on the front - Laporte and Benoot, with lots of Ineos riders behind them and then Vingegaard sat in their slipstream.

154km to go

The peloton is at 5:50 and lined out on the country roads.

Up Front, Jorgenson of Movistar has eased up and is dropping back to the attack group. 

Burgaudeau and Gougeard push on and lead by 55 seconds. 

The rider start the Col de l'Espinas. It is 5.2km long at 5.2%.

Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) has just been told by his team car to ease up. That leaves Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) alone out front but his leads is falling. 

The 28 chasers will surely catch him soon. 

Only six teams with full rosters going into final mountain stages of the Tour and Ineos Grenadiers are among them, while Jumbo and UAE are down to six riders.

Can the British team use its numerical advantage to push Geraint Thomas even higher on GC?

Thomas has dropped back to his team car. The mechanic seems to have applied some sun cream on his back. 

142km to

The peloton has slipped to 6:30 on Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM).  

Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) reaches the top of the climb alone as he continues his solo exploit up front.

Bissegger leads the chase group  to the climb at 40 seconds. 

135km to go

These are the 29 riders in the attack. 

Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) 

Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Wout van Aert and Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma), Daniel Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers), Alexander Vlasov, Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mikkel Honoré (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), Gorka Izagirre and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Damiano Caruso and Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious), Olivier Le Gac, Valentin Madouas and Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ), Nils Eekhoff (Team DSM), Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan), Stefan Bissegger and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Maxime Bouet and Lukasz Owsian (Arkéa-Samsic), Philippe Gilbert and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Tony Gallopin (Trek-Segafredo), Hugo Houle and Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech), Cyril Barthe (B&B Hotels-KTM). 

Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) lead the 28 by 50 seconds. 

The peloton is 6:20, with the work of Benoot and Laporte pegging the gap at around 6:00. 

That still means that Vlasov will still move up in the GC if he can hold his gap. 

The riders are on rolling valley roads. The next key point is the intermediate sprint in Lavelanet, in 20km or so. 

Crash in the peloton!

Nobody was hurt in the crash and everyone was quickly away.

125km to go

Up front Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) has been caught and so we have a 29-rider attack. 

They lead the peloton by 6:00.

The work of Jumbo is reducing the gap to the break. It's down to 5:30.

It will be interesting to see if Wout van Aert and Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma) drop back after the intermediate sprint that comes in 10km.  

Caleb Ewan stops for to have his saddle position tweaked. The nose is dropped a little, perhaps to help him after his crash the other day.

The AG2R Citroën team revealed that Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Mikaël Chérel were the two riders at the Tour de France to test positive for COVID-19 on the final rest day. 

Further testing has ruled that their viral load does not allow them to continue in the race.

Barry Ryan spoke to AG2R Citroën team manager Vincent Lavenu about the cases to get the full story.  Click below to read what Lavenu said. 

Two AG2R Citröen riders leave Tour de France with positive COVID-19 test

115km to go

5km to the intermediate sprint in Lavelanet.

Poor Tiesj Benoot is working a lot on the front of the peloton to keep the gap at 6:00.

He crashed hard on stage 15 and is battered and bruised.

Mark Cavendish has vowed to return to the Tour de France and is confident he can win again and so beat Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 stage victories.

The 37-year-old Manxman was not selected for the QuickStep-AlphaVinyl roster, with Fabio Jakobsen securing the sprinter’s role but he made his ambitions clear while speaking to the BBC from the Isle of Man as he prepared for the Commonwealth Games road race.

"I know I'll win again," Mark Cavendish told the BBC.

Click below for the full Cavendish story.

‘I know I’ll win again’ Cavendish vows to fight on for Tour de France record

Well, that's a surprise.  Nils Eekhoff beat van Aert to win the intermediate sprint, collecting the 20 points. 

Van Aert scored 17 points and quickly had a word with Eekhoff. However he is mathematically close to winning the green jersey.  

The 29 riders are rolling through and off on the flat roads as they head towards the foothills of the Pyrenees.

The peloton gets to the sprint point some 6:40 after the break. 

Hmmm. Marc Soler of UAE has slipped back from the peloton. 

He has already visited the doctor's car. Is he ill? 

UAE team leader Tadej Pogacar is up front with his other teammates.

Of course, UAE also have Big Nut Brandon McNulty in the 29-rider break as a strategical move.  

We're hearing from French television that Soler has vomited earlier in the stage. 

He is suffering in the 31C heat. And the hardest part of the stage, the two major climbs, are still to come. 

95km to go

The peloton reaches the feed zone, with riders grabbing musettes to enjoy a moving lunch. 

The peloton has eased slightly, with Vingegaard taking a natural break. The gap to the 29-rider attack is up to 7:00.   

Soler is not feeling great but does seem able to ride on. He will try to finish inside the time limit and try to recover for the next two stages in the Pyrenees. 

90km to go

Jumbo continue to lead the peloton but Ineos are also riding up front. However only Christophe Laporte is riding for Jumbo, hence the gap going up to 7:30.    

Poor Marc Soler is riding just ahead of the broom wagon. 

He faces a 88km ride of survival.  

With Soler sick, Marc Hirschi was on domestique duty.

80km to go

The 29 riders in the break are pushing on, trying to evade the peloton.

Marc Soler is suffering just ahead of the Voiture Balai.

Fortunately for Pogacar he looks fine and has several teammates in the peloton to help him.

The first climb of the Pyrenees comes in 22km. That means the climb starts in 12km.

The Port de Lers is 11.5km at 6.5%. It will surely shake up the race, split the break and expose the team leaders and their teams. 

Barry Ryan is in Foix and has written an excellent preview of the Vingegaard-v-Pogacar battle that is expected to happen today and especially on Wednesday and Thursday in the Pyrenees. He's compared the two to prize fighters. 

Barry writes: 

"On the day Tadej Pogačar sent Primož Roglič sprawling to the canvas atop La Planche des Belles at the end of the 2020 Tour de France, he became his sport’s undisputed heavyweight champion. In almost every outing since, he has seemed to produce dizzying combinations that left even the doughtiest of opponents feeling punch drunk.

"But now, just as Pogačar’s dominance was becoming monotonous, Jonas Vingegaard has emerged as the Frazier to his Ali. The Dane already performed the rare feat of laying a glove on Pogačar when he briefly distanced him atop Mont Ventoux en route to second overall on last year’s Tour, but that warning shot came long after a boxing referee would already have stopped the fight. An unbloodied Pogačar still reached Paris with a lead of more than five minutes over Vingegaard."

To read Barry Ryan's full feature, click below.

Prize fight in the Pyrenees – Vingegaard versus Pogacar for the Tour de France

Poor Marc Soler is now 17:00 down on the attackers. Yet he bravely rides on.

The Port de Lers starts and there is a sudden acceleration in the 29-rider attack.

Caruso and Le Gac up the pace massively. Other riders are dropped, including Gilbert. 

Caruso goes solo. 

He's is going for a long-range attack.

60km to go

The peloton are 8:00 down but now riding faster as they also near the foot of the Port de Lers.   

Damiano Caruso is on a mission to complete his Giro/Tour/Vuelta stage win collection. 

But the chase group is numerous and strong. Woods and Storer  going across to him.

Caruso already leads by 1:00. Forza! 

In the peloton Laporte is dropped after his hard work on the front. 

Incredibly van Aert is still up front and in the group chasing Caruso. He has not done any work today and is up the road if Vingegaard needs him but his tactics are questionable. 

Woods and Storer join Caruso with 4km of the Port de Lers to climb.

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) is also chasing and Geschke moves too. Vlasov and van Aert join him, as does McNulty.

Behind Movistar kick-off the GC race, upping the pace for Mas. 

Three riders are trying to drag mas away. 

This is interesting. Mas is 10th at 9:58 and needs to pull back time.

Now Groupama mass at the front of the GC group and Vingegaard loses Benoot.

He only has Kuss to pace him now. 

Up front the attackers have come together. 

Van Aert is again going deep in the attack rather than ride in the peloton with Vingeggard.   

Of course Pogacar only has Majka with him, McNulty is in the attack and Soler is sick and stay in the race.

Geschke surges to take maximum points at the KOM.

There are 7 riders in the attack group. Van Aert, McNulty, Geschke and Jorgenson have joined Caruso, Storer and Woods in the lead.

They're racing for the stage victory.

Geshke scores 10 more KOM points.

The GC group is 9:20 down on the attackers and so still have a way to climb.

ATTACK POGACAR!!!!

Here we go! 

However Vingegaard quickly manages to join him.

The Dane responded very well to the first attack. 

Now there's another!

The two ease and so Gaudu accelerates away. Thomas follows him.

The attacks have blown the GC group apart. 

Bardet is dropped as Kuss is back to pace the group and protect Vingegaard.

50km to go

The GC riders reach the summit of the Port de Lers at 7:30. 

Pogacar attacks again! This time on the descent!

Again Vingegaard jumps on his wheel. 

This is mano-a-mano racing. 

Thomas and the other come back to Vin+Pog as Bardet is forced to chase hard with several teammates.

Today's stage and the Port de Lers was the entree to the big Pyrenean stages and today's final climb. 

Pogacar has kicked it off earlier than expected.

Thomas and Yates, Quintana and others are there as they catch Mas. 

40km to go

Up front, Vlasov joins the attack. 

Bardet is 20 seconds down on the GC group.

It's still hot out there, despite the race entering the Pyrenees.

Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) is now on the move up front, forcing the others to chase and so give Woods a free ride. 

The Canadian is onto the final climb of the stage, the steep Mur de Péguère.

It is a real wall in parts and climbs 9.3km at 7.9% but the second half is the real steep part.  

The attack has split into 4 different group. All could still win the stage.

This is the Mur de Péguère. It is going to hurt.

Jumbo again lead the GC group. Vinegegaard has Kuss and now Nathan Van Hooydonck riding on the front. 

Majka has a problem. 

Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert) attacks the GC group to try to anticipate later surges. Clever, if it works. 

Houle is pushing on bravely as the gradients begin to hurt.

Houle leads the Woods group by 45 seconds, the van Aert group is at 1:30.  

Behind Meintjes is back in the GC peloton, which is at 8:00. They will not fight for the stage today.  

Van Art is dropped from his group and eases up. He will have to play a role for Vingegaard on the descent to the finish in Foix.

Movistar is pacing the GC group to the steepest parts of the Mur de Péguère.

Movistar's work is helping Jumbo to control the race with their pacing. 

Is that a friendly alliance growing there?  

As the steep roads begin, Majka moves past Movistar to set a harder pace.

Pogacar is spinning his legs for now. But Pidcock and Bardet are quickly dropped.

Thomas and Yates are slightly off the back but riding their own pace.

The GC group is spread down the road. Froome is not far from the front of the action.

Yates makes an effort to drag Thomas up to the Pog+Vin group.

Quintana and Gaudi are also there. 

Majka has a problem and so Pogacar is alone.

27km to go

Majka seemed to snap his chain. Ouch.

Now Kuss is setting the pace and hurting everyone in the GC group.  

Houle is first to the top and faces a fast descent to the finish. The chasers are at 25 seconds.

Behind it's Kuss+Vingegaard+Pogacar+Quintana.

Thomas is 30 seconds behind now, he's struggling on the steep climb. 

Thomas has dropped Gaudu and is fighting to limit his losses.  

20km to go

Thomas, with some help from Dani Martinez who was in the break, gets back to the yellow jersey group. 

Van Aert is also with them, after also waiting from the break.   

Pogacar also has McNulty in a clever game of team tactics. 

The GC group is 6:10 down on Houle, who is still solo up front and chasing his first ever pro road race win. 

He leads his chasers by 30 seconds. They are Jorgenson and his teammate Woods.

15km to go

So it's Canada, with the USA (Jorgenson) chasing, with Canada (Woods) rightly sitting on.

If all goes right for Israel, they could go 1-2 today.

The other chasers are 1:20 back. 

We spoke too soon! 

Jorgenson has crashed! 

He slipped out on a corner! 

Jorgenson slipped across the rough Pyrenees gravel.  

That's tragic for the American. Let's hope he can get up and chase. 

 The crash has left Woods chasing Houle at 30 seconds. 

The last and only Canadian stage winner in the Tour de France was Steve Bauer in 1988.

He's in the team car now for Israel-PremierTech.

8km to go

Jorgenson returns to Woods. He's full of road rash but refuses to give up the fight. 

That means that Woods can now sit on him again.

Whatever happens, Hugo Houle (Israel Premier Tech) has won the Prix Antargaz de la Combativité for his attack. 

Jorgenson has a wound on his left arm, with blood running down his arm but he races on.

5km to go

Houle has extended his lead out to 1:00 on Jorgenson and Woods. 

He can savour his first pro win and Canada's first win since 1988. 

Behind Martinez is dragging the Vingegaard group along to try to gain time on some of their GC rivals, especially Bardet, who was fourth overall.  

This could be a historic day for North American cycling, with a possible 1-2-3 for Houle, Woods and Jorgenson. 

Here's Houle. He can start to celebrate and remember his late brother.

It will be an emotional finish for him.

Indeed, he points to the sky and punches the air.

Chapeau Hugo! 

Houle wins the stage in Foix! 

Madouas has joined Woods and Jorgenson.  

He spoils the North American party by taking second place, ahead of Woods.

Here come the chasers, including Vlasov, who will gain time in the GC.

It is 34 years and 15 days since Steve Bauer's stage win. This is there second. 

Houle takes out a chain with a cross and says: 'This is for my brother."

Woods arrives beyond the finish and hugs Houle.  

Here comes the GC group. 

It's important to see the gaps to Bardet and others in the top 10. 

We'll see some changes. 

Van Aert brings them home to score a few points but there is no gap between Vingegaard and Pogacar and Thomas too. 

Indeed, Vingegaard hugs and thanks van Aert. 

In the GC, Quintana moves up to fourth overall, passing Bardet. 

Pidcock and Yates come, a minute or so down. Bardet is still out there and fighting to limit his losses.

Bardet loses a chunk of time. 

They are naturally celebrating at the Israel Premier Tech team bus.

Pogacar is given a cold water shower as he warms-down in the podium area.

Pogacar attacked on the first climb but then the pace set by Kuss hurt him and he was unable to attack on the Mur de Péguère. 

Houle celebrated his stage win with lots of emotions. He dedicated it to his brother, who was killed a decade ago. 

Riders are still finishing the stage in Foix. 

The time limit is 42:13 today. 

Here are more shots of Houle's big day out and how he dedicated his win to his late brother Pierrick. 

It's nice to see that fellow French-speaking Canadian heads to the podium area to congratulate Hugo Houle.  

Houle can savour his moment on the podium.

He smiles and waves to the crowd but is emotional. 

Jonas Vingegaard can also celebrate on the podium. He defended his 2:22 lead on Pogacar. 

Houle was emotional about his win.

"I’ve never won a race so I guess it’s the right place to win my first race," he said.

"When I attacked, it was to set the table for Michaewl Woods but they let me go and Mike made a gap. I just went full gas. I hung on and hung and was suffering so much on the steep part of the climb. 

"I knew that if I got to the top with 30 or 40 seconds, that I could do it and so I went full gas. It was tight and a long time at 30 seconds but I never gave up.  When they showed me I was at one minute, it was unreal and I knew I was going to do it.

"I was a bit afraid and suffered with cramps because I couldn’t get to the team car for the last 60km but I made it."  

Houle talked dedicating his win to his later brother.

"This means a lot to me. I had one dream: to win the stage for my brother who died when I turned professional. I won this for him. I waited for 12 years for this. Today I got my win for him. It’s incredible. I don’t know what to say, I’m so happy." 

This is the emotional flash interview.  

Sadly not everyone could celebrate today. 

Daniel Ostanek is at the finish line for Cyclingnews and has confirmed that Marc Soler finished outside the time limit.   

The Spaniard was ill and was dropped early in the stage. He fought to finish but came in after the 42:13 time limit.

Here's Vingegaard on the podium. He must be feeling more and more confident as he responds to every Pogacar attack. 

To read more about how Vingegaard responded to Pogacar's attacks and how houel won alone in foix, click below to read our full stage report and see the growing photo gallery.  

Hugo Houle wins stage 16 of Tour de France with solo attack in Pyrenees

We challenge you to watch this video and not cry. 

In contrasting emotions, this was the moment Marc Soler finished outside the time limit. 

It leaves Pogacar with just 4 teammates!

Geraint Thomas made it through another hard stage without losing time to Pogcar and Vingegaard, while gaining time on  on some GC rivals like Bardet.

"It’s tough to do anything with the front row because they’re super strong but you never know," Thomas said. 

"I never expected Pogacar to have the day he had up the Granon. It’s good the team is strong and Dani is feeling a lot better after his sickness and Castroviejo is on his way back up too. We've got Yatesy and Tom Pidcock too. 

"A big shout out to Yatesy, he really committed to me there.  He’s out of contract this year and that can always play a part when committing to a teammate but he committed to helping me and was really strong. That allowed me to close the gap at the top."   

Thomas added: 

"It was hot out there and after the rest day, you never quite know how people are going to pull up. 

"It was a nervous start with the wind, and the break went pretty quickly. It was good for us because we had Dani in there. It was a case of doing the two climbs as best as possible. I rode my own pace and I’ve been doing most of the race and come back to them just over the top. 

"I had Dani there to close the last 100 metres which was great. I gained a bit of time on Bardet, which is nice but the other guys are still all there. It was a decent day." 

Thomas is considering the Pyrenees as a big block of important racing. 

"I’m seeing it as a three-day block and every stage gets harder. Four solid climbs tomorrow and then the day after there are three but even tougher," he said. 

"A lot can still happen especially in his heat. We’re dealing with it but if it does get you, you can get through it but the knock-on effect can make you pay for it." 

Daniel Ost`a nek spoke to Steve Bauer at the finish in Foix and will have a full story very soon on Cyclingnews.   

Bauer was the last Canadian to win a Tour stage back in 1988 and was in the Israel team car today, advising Houle.  

"It’s incredible to see. What a tough pro Huge has been. He’s like the top team man for his leaders, doing his job day in, day out," Bauer told Cyclingnews. 

"He’s a top professional. He studies the plan, he organises himself well and to have such a performance like that today is superb. He had a chance to go for the wein and he was super strong. He rode smart, he rode strong and deserves it all."  

To study the full results from the stage, click below. The results are provided by our friends at FirstCycling.

Despite some aggressive attacks from Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) on Port de Lers, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) remains in yellow after stage 16 with a margin of 2:22 over the Slovenian.

But Pogačar's attacks took their toll as Romain Bardet (Team DSM). He suffered badly during the first major climb and then was dropped more dramatically on Mur de Péguère. Bardet now sits just inside the top 10, 6:37 behind Vingegaard.

Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) was also in the break and so gained four minutes, moving up from 11th to 8th. 

Click below to read the latest GC standings.

The current GC standings in the 2022 Tour de France after stage 16

Hugo Houle took an emotional stage win in Foix, while Tadej Pogacar tried to attack Jonas Vingegaard but the Dane responded every time.

Click below for our full stage report, photo gallery and full results.

Hugo Houle wins stage 16 of Tour de France with solo attack in Pyrenees

Thanks for joining us for full live coverage of stage 16. 

We'll be back on Wednesday for full coverage of stage 17.