Tour de France 2022 Stage 16 LIVE updates: Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar resume battle for yellow jersey

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106KM TO GO: GAP GROWS AGAIN FOR 29 LEADERS

The peloton passes through the intermediate sprint 6’44” down on the leaders so, as things stand, Aleksandr Vlasov is up to fifth place in the virtual standings. Meanwhile, Spain’s Marc Soler has been back with the medical car. He’s been a bit ill apparently and that’s a potential cause for concern for UAE teammate Tadej Pogacar – for should the Catalan climber leave the race, the Slovenian two-time champion would be down to just four teammates.

111KM TO GO: NILS SAYS EEKHOFF TO VAN AERT AT INTERMEDIATE SPRINT

It looks like it’s going to be a cake walk for the green jersey at Lavelanet until Dutchman Nils Eekhoff (Team DSM) kicks clear near the line… It looks like it’s perhaps a joke but Eekhoff nevertheless manages to stay out to deny Van Aert maximum points – not that that has any significant impact on the green jersey competition, which the Belgian is running away with. He has more than double the tally of his nearest rally and almost 400 points in total. Eekhoff and Van Aert laught it off afterwards, the Dutchman having pocketed some unexpected prize money for his DSM team.

120KM TO GO: MECHANICAL FOR CALEB EWAN

The pocket-rocket from Australia has had a pretty torrid Tour, compounded with that crash during Friday’s stage which could well have provided him a rare opportunity to win a stage in this sprinter-unfriendly Tour. Ewan has a mechanical issue and needs to have someone take a look at his saddle. He’ll be hoping to get through the next few days so he can have a shot of glory in Cahors in Stage 19 and then in Paris on Stage 21.

Meanwhile, it’s fair to say that the white jersey looks a bit more relaxed today than the man in yellow…

134KM TO GO: GOUGEARD STILL CLEAR, JUMBO STILL CONFOUND

Frenchman Alexis Gougeard must like riding solo rather than in a nice strong group where everyone can take a turn on the front… for he’s still 45 seconds clear and doing his thing in the heat. Meanwhile, Jumbo-Visma have two domestiques on the front to regulate the pace of the peloton because of the threat of Vlasov up the road in the same break as… two of their domestiques. “It’s a strange situation,” says Sean Kelly. Quite.

146KM TO GO: INEOS WITH POWER IN NUMBERS

I guess it depends what their target is today. If it’s the stage win then Dani Martinez is quite a good pick for the breakaway – but it would have been a real signal of intent for Ineos had they got either Pidcock or Yates in this breakaway.

As they are both in the top 10, that would have been asking some early questions of Jumbo-Visma and UAE. But perhaps they’re keeping their powder dry for the Port de Lers and Mur de Peguere later on. Here’s Geraint Thomas speaking at the start of today’s stage…

STAGE 16 UNDER WAY! 178.5KM TO GO…

Christian Prudhomme waves his flag from the sunroof of his Skoda – and the third and final week of this Tour is under way. No attacks at first but it’s another hot day and there’s a blustery side-tailwind and so potential for some early splits if you’re not paying attention.

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We will bring you live updates very shortly from Stage 16 of the Tour de France as racing resumes following a much-needed rest day.

‘I will attack and hope’

“I think I need to reduce all of the gap until the time trial,” Pogacar said. “As we saw, Jonas is really good on that trial as well.

“I know the parcours, I’ve done it. I’ve attempted the time trial twice and have a time in my mind, but I would not bet on the last time trial that I can gain, I don’t know, 30 seconds or two minutes.

“So, I will try to give everything before the time trial to have as small a gap as possible. You cannot bet everything on the last TT.”

Pogacar added: “I’m pretty confident that my legs will be fine and that I can try an attacking race from far out and from not that far [to the finish line].

“I’ll try everything. There’s still three super hard days, and I hope for the best.”

Stage 16 profile

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