Stage 16: Tour de France Summary
Stage 16 of the Tour de France was flat for a long time, but then the riders were forced to climb up Mont Ventoux, the most difficult climb of the Tour. Stage 16 was where the riders entered the Alps. There is a flat stage tomorrow and then two mountain stages. After the big climb in stage 16, the riders are exhausted.
What that means is that anyone who happens to feel good can win a stage, and there is a greatly increased likelihood of accidents. The big news today was that Wout van Aert got pneumonia and abandoned the Tour before stage 16. Do you think more riders will abandon the Tour tomorrow?
Stage 16 Summary
In stage 16, the riders were well-rested after their rest day, the second of this year’s Tour, because before the climb, they averaged more than 30 miles per hour. The riders showed no respect for the famous climb up Mont Ventoux. In that climb today in stage 16, race leader Tadej Pogačar climbed the most famous climb in all of cycling in record time. He finished stage 16 in fifth place as his frantic sprint was not good enough to secure the stage victory. What was clear after his mad dash was that no one can beat him in this year’s Tour as long as he does not fall off his bicycle.
The winner of stage 16 was Valentin Paret Peintre. Ben Healy, the Energizer Bunny of this tour, finished second. Santiago Buitrago finished third. Ilan Van Wilder was fourth. The aforementioned Pogačar was fifth. Jonas Vingegaard was sixth, two seconds behind Pogacar.
There was only a change in fifth place in the overall classification following stage 16. Pogacar stayed in first, Vingegaard in second place, 4:15 back. Florian Lipowitz stayed in third place, 9:03 back. Oscar Onley stayed in fourth place, 11:04 back. Primoz Roglic was now in fifth place, 11:42 back. Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin was in sixth place now, 13:20 seconds back.
Mont Ventoux
In stage 16 today, the riders climbed up historic Mont Ventoux. Lance Armstrong called this climb, in his podcast, the most difficult climb in France. The climb, which was featured in stage 16 today, has sometimes been used as a time trial. Mont Ventoux has been deforested and looks like a lunar landscape.
The top half of the climb is all rocks and is barren. It is right to wonder, as commentator Brent Bookwalter did today, why anyone would build a road on that mountain. Maybe to get all the cut trees down? Regardless, the fact that there is a road makes Mont Ventoux the most iconic climb in all of France.
As an iconic climb, the best times up Mont Ventoux have been recorded. Pogacar set the record today for the 10-mile climb. The list of riders who have done the climb reads like a who’s who of mountain climbers in the Tour.
Massive Breakaway
There was a massive breakaway in stage 16, and it almost stayed away. The members of the break on stage 16 were Gregor Muhlberger, Xandro Meurisse, Ilan Van Wilder, Victor Campenaerts, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Simone Velasco, Tiesj Benoot, Michael Woods, Santiago Buitrago, Andreas Leknessund, Krists Neilands, Pavel Sivakov, Marco Haller, Clément Champoussin, Marc Hirschi, Louis Barré, Clément Russo, Pavel Bittner, Mick van Dijke, and Ben Healy joined the breakaway.
Conclusion
Stage winner Paret-Peintre told ITV4, “How I won that stage is hard to say. I was thinking maybe I can win today, maybe I’m the best climber in this breakaway. I asked my teammates to make a good pace at the bottom, and I tried so many times to drop Healy, but he was very strong, and at the end, I was just waiting for the sprint, and then I won.”
Tomorrow will be the last, probably, battle between the sprinters as Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan battle to keep green. The 160.5-kilometer stage is from Boulange to Valance.
