20-07-2016, 22:47
Ilnur Zakarin sniffed the sweet smell of success with a dominant and well deserved win today. He was part of the breakaway of 11 riders and bided his time after a further attack and first led with 8 km to go. He then surged away and won by 55 seconds from Jarlinson Pantano, winner of Stage 15. Peter Sagan was once again in the vanguard of the race, but only for the Green Jersey points which he duly collected. Majka was similarly inspired to take some minor King of the Mountain points, but didn't keep up with the leaders on the final climb.
Meanwhile, the peloton cruised along more than eleven minutes behind at one point. They only really livened up near the finish when Richie Porte sprinted away and he was immediately followed by Chris Froome. There was some movement in the GC race, with Quintana, Valverde and Van Garderen losing time.
Mollema is now 2'27" behind Froome, with Yates 2'53" behind and Quintana 3'27" behind. Of the rest, only Bardet and Porte are within 5 minutes.
In the other classifications, Sagan is 197 points ahead of Kittel, so Sagan just needs to finish in Paris to claim the Green Jersey. Majka is 83 points ahead of De Gendt in the King of the Mountains and looks fairly safe. Yates leads Meintjes by 3'14", with Barguil and Emanuel Buchmann more than 30 minutes behind. In fact these are the only riders within 1 hour of Yates.
Movistar are 2'02" ahead of Team Sky in the Team event and 14'48" ahead of BMC Racing Team. The rest are at least 38 minutes behind.
Tomorrow sees a 17km Time Trial, most of which is uphill. There is a 9.4% section after 4km and only the final 2.5km is downhill. The riders have to pace themselves early on to make sure they have the energy to be competitive late in the stage. It's a climbers' stage and Froome won't be far away. Porte looked good today and perhaps Sagan was saving himself for tomorrow. I'll go for Mollema to make the GC standings more interesting with a win. He has half a chance to catch Froome and also the chance to consolidate a podium position if he can find just a little bit extra.
Meanwhile, the peloton cruised along more than eleven minutes behind at one point. They only really livened up near the finish when Richie Porte sprinted away and he was immediately followed by Chris Froome. There was some movement in the GC race, with Quintana, Valverde and Van Garderen losing time.
Mollema is now 2'27" behind Froome, with Yates 2'53" behind and Quintana 3'27" behind. Of the rest, only Bardet and Porte are within 5 minutes.
In the other classifications, Sagan is 197 points ahead of Kittel, so Sagan just needs to finish in Paris to claim the Green Jersey. Majka is 83 points ahead of De Gendt in the King of the Mountains and looks fairly safe. Yates leads Meintjes by 3'14", with Barguil and Emanuel Buchmann more than 30 minutes behind. In fact these are the only riders within 1 hour of Yates.
Movistar are 2'02" ahead of Team Sky in the Team event and 14'48" ahead of BMC Racing Team. The rest are at least 38 minutes behind.
Tomorrow sees a 17km Time Trial, most of which is uphill. There is a 9.4% section after 4km and only the final 2.5km is downhill. The riders have to pace themselves early on to make sure they have the energy to be competitive late in the stage. It's a climbers' stage and Froome won't be far away. Porte looked good today and perhaps Sagan was saving himself for tomorrow. I'll go for Mollema to make the GC standings more interesting with a win. He has half a chance to catch Froome and also the chance to consolidate a podium position if he can find just a little bit extra.
Cabbage is still good for you