Stage 16 was the longest day of the Tour de France, running 238km from Carcassonne to Bagneres-de-Luchon [profile] with five climbs, including the hors categorie Port de Bales before the run-in to the finish.
It was predictable that today’s winner would result from a breakaway, and it was none other than Mick Rogers who who rose to the top. For all of Team Tinkoff-Saxo’s woes with Alberto Contador abandoning the race on stage 10, Roger’s win today along with Rafal Majka’s win on stage 14 (and now leading the Mountains Classification), Contador’s domestiques certainly salvaged a successful Tour de France.
It was the race for the podium where most action took place today. Thibaut Pinot took significant time away from direct rivals Tejay van Garderen and Romain Bardet while Vincenzo Nibali comfortably held onto the overall lead.
Read the full race report and results from Stage 15 of the 2014 Tour de France here.
Enjoy the photos from stage 16 courtesy of BrakeThrough Media (follow on Instagram and Twitter) and Cor Vos.
- What you don’t see on television very often are the first 45 minutes of racing where the attacks start at 55km/hr with everyone hoping to make the breakaway move. Today it was more than two hours of fighting before the breakaway was established.
- Jens Keukeleire made the early move today but couldn’t hold on when the pace rose. With Simon Gerrans abandoning before stage 16, Orica-GreenEdge’s hopes for a stage win are dwindling.
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- Romain Bardet came into today’s stage in the white jersey and sitting in third position overall, but Thibaut Pinot (FdJ) put time into him today to knock him out of both positions. Bardet now sits 5th in the GC and 2nd in the Youth Classification.
- Mick Rogers put Thomas Voeckler in serious difficulty on the final HC climb (Port de Bales). He said after the race, “I knew the finish from several years ago. I think it was 2010 and Voeckler won the stage, so I knew he was really motivated. I said to myself on the descent that I was going to take risks. I was desperate for the win and understood the opportunity that was in front of me. Europcar made some errors and I was able to pick up on them very quickly. Was it easy? Absolutely not. There’s no gifts at the Tour and if you win a stage it’s because you were the best.”
- Tejay Van Garderen slipped backwards as the other general classification contenders pressed forwards. He slips one place to sixth overall. He is now over four minutes off a podium place and finds himself on the back foot with two more days in the mountains to go.
- The race for the podium was where the action was behind Rogers and the lead group. In the yellow jersey group, Thibaut Pinot took a significant advantage over direct rivals Tejay van Garderen and Romain Bardet while Vincenzo Nibali comfortably retained the overall lead.
- Jurgen Van Den Broeck comes in with Bauke Mollema and Frank Schleck. Van Den Broeck and Schleck both revealed today that they’ve been suffering from illness.
- Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) takes the Mountains Classification jersey from Joaquim Rodriguez after today’s ride.
- Stefano Feltrin, Oleg Tinkoff, Mick Rogers and Bjarne Riis with good reason to celebrate.
- Tinkoff-Saxo celebrations at the team hotel after the stage.