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news
Tour de France logo on yellow 3x2Tour de France Stage 16: Julian Alaphilippe wins as Adam Yates has late crash
Julian Alaphilippe of Quick Step Floors has won Stage 16 of the Tour de France after Mitchelton-Scott’s Adam Yates, who seemed to be heading for a solo win in Bagneres de Luchon on the first day in the Pyrenees, crashed on the final descent.
Even before Yates’s crash, it had been an incident packed day, with riders including Chris Froome and Team Sky colleague Geraint Thomas, who remains 1 minute 39 seconds ahead of the defending champion in the overall standings.
Early on in the 218-kilometre stage from Carcassonne a number of riders including Froome and Thomas were subject to the after-effects of a police officer pepper-spraying protesting farmers, with many members of the peloton having to seek assistance from race doctors as the stage was briefly suspended.
There was a heart-in-mouth moment for anyone following the action on TV later on as Quick Step Floors rider Philippe Gilbert, who had attacked from a large break to crest the Col de Portet d’Aspet alone, tumbled over the parapet after losing control of his bike as he sought to increase his lead over his pursuers.
That his head-first fall into a ravine happened on the same descent where reigning Olympic champion Fabio Casartelli lost his life when he crashed while riding with Motorola in the 1995 edition only heightened the anxiety of those watching.
Fortunately, former world champion Gilbert was soon back on his bike, giving a thumbs-up to the TV cameras before remounting.
There was still more drama to come. Yates, out of overall contention, attacked on the final climb, the Col du Portillon, crested with 10 kilometres to go.
But his bike slid out from beneath him as he negotiated a bend, leaving the way clear for Alaphilippe – who consolidated his lead in the mountains competition – to take the stage win.
The winner of one of the jerseys has been settled today. Assuming he reaches Paris, Bora-Hansgrohe’s Peter Sagan is mathematically assured of a record equalling sixth points jersey to tie him with Erik Zabel.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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14 comments
My winter bike has disc brakes. It doesn't make me ride quicker or take any chances that i wouldn't take on my summer bike which has rim brakes.
It does help in the wet when numpties pull out in front of you or i get to close to the wheel in front and have to brake quickly, which is usually down to me not paying attention. rather than risk taking.
Each to their own though, for some they will take more risks due to the stopping capability of discs whereas, like me, others just ride the way they normally do.
They crashed, they were using rim brakes. No riders on disc equipped machines crashed in the same way.
Whether that fact has any bearing is utter speculation. Seems like an odd argument for pursuing an anti disc brake hobby horse though.
Keeps getting it right, this Alaphilippe fella...
04071E37-B100-47FE-ACC2-16A8C99021CA.jpeg
That little handshake with Yates oozed class. But I think it was just an apology for calling him Simon.
Massive respect for Alaphilippe not only for the way he rode the stage, but also for slowing down after Yates' crash to allow him to catch back up. Such an exciting rider to watch.
A real shame for Yates. Mrs Srchar isn't massively into pro cycling, however when I told her that there was a British bloke who was a few minutes away from winning his first tour stage, she was genuinely disappointed for the poor bloke when he overcooked the hairpin.
Gilbert would appear to be very lucky indeed, given what he landed on.
Just goes to show when you're under pressure/fatigued or even momentarily distracted you can make errors in judgement that have massive ramifications.
What both incidents showed was that disc brakes wouldn't have made a jot of difference to either Yates or Gilbert's crashes even if they had them. Gilbert was all about totally getting the wrong line and Yates simply tried to overcorrect as he thought he was going to get too close to the right side of the road, tyre grip both limiting factors plus not enough time to correct initial error.
Glad both are okay but a lot were massively concerned for Gilbert given the nature of the crash and locality of his incident.
Not sure anyone's said that discs would have prevented the crashes?
Who said they would? Oh, wait, you're just going off on a rant based upon your own predujices. My bad.
Rant, what the fuck are you on about?
Simply making a point and giving an example regarding something that so many seem to be ignoring/oblivious about when stating how disc brakes would make cycling/racing safer on the road when this is yet another example as to why they won't.
In fact with discs their proponents state that you can go quicker into and out of bends because of the confidence discs apparently give over rim brakes, thus in both crashes Yates and Gilbert may well have had a worse ending as they would be going faster into the corner and have even less time to correct/brake.
That you ignore that fact is exposed all too often, you and others simply don't want to see that the flaw/downside is the perceived advantage and how that effects the thinking and that as always the limiting factors regarding braking are tyre grip, rider skill and amount of tarmac left.
These were prime examples as to why discs won't/don't make that better, or is discussing all things cycling off the agenda when you don't agree with it despite the evidence?
I kept an eye on the live footage today thinking for sure, there would be some drama in the GC. I’m finishing early tomorrow just to watch the whole short stage from start to finish, it’s the perfect route for someone to go for it, i’ll be annoyed if ends like it did today.
Gutted for Adam Yates, was just getting the edge of my seat!
Thought Alaphilippe would need knee sliders the way he was getting it leant into those turns. Scary stuff.
Bit of a disappointment that nobody made any moves for the yellow though. Not many chances left.
Why spend all that money on wind tunnel testing then give Adam Yates those stupid fucking sunglasses?
Watched the Tour pass at my nearest home-point - Mas d'Azil - bizarrely surrounded by Welsh Thomas supporters with Dragon flags and daffodil heads - had to explain all this to surrounding French fan. Glad to see no anti-Sky protests. Alaphilippe certainly starting to look like the best French all-round rider for a long time - delighted as I've been saying this to Bardet supporters for the last 2 years ...
Alaphillipe has been great, as well as looking like a musketeer, his confidence and self belief without appearing arrogant is great to watch, he seems to know what he's capable of and is willing to wait and even risk not winning if so be it, luckily for him he doesn't get marked quite as much as Sagan yet (or the riders he's with aren't able to). The fact he was willing to wait for Yates after his crash until his DS told him to get a move on shows the type of rider he is.