An intriguing day today with a summit finish - but this is a fair bit smaller than an Alpe d'Huez or Mont Ventoux. I'm feeling right at home as this is rugby country, as Stage 16 of Le Tour de France takes us from Arles, near the south coast, east along the Mediterranean coastline to the city of Toulon, and more specifically for a summit finish on Mont Faron - a small slice of cycling history. 6.3km averaging 7.8%, this could be ones more for the hybrid climbers (Roche, Spilak, Gesink, Slagter) than the purer puncheurs (Flügel, Froome), but really, we won't know until we get there!
A maximum of 37 KoM points on offer, 16 of which are at the finish. We could see one of our main contenders ( Nerz, Vinhas and Galta) try to gain some advantage over the likely GC riders who may steal it in the Pyrenees ( Spilak and Taaramäe), but I doubt it.
One would suspect the breakaway today will be made up of baroudeurs and possibly some puncheurs if they are allowed looking for a stage win, as many punters have predicted they will be allowed to fight for. Meanwhile back in the GC group Spilak and Gesink in particular could see this smaller climb as a chance for some small gaps, as a buffer to Taaramae and a chance to reclaim time on Sicard respectively before the Pyrenees. It would also be a nice chance for Kangert to make back some time before the Pyrenees where his top 15 hopes will take a beating - but after a rough day on Mont Ventoux he may not be up to that.
High winds today as we go along the Miditerranean coastline, up to 50 km/h so nothing bringing trees over but it could cause some unwanted trouble. Crosswinds for most of the stage but a headwind for most of the way up the climb.
Scratch what I said about Nerz taking a day off, if there's been the slightest whiff of climbing he's been on a constant offensive since the Vosges! It takes a long chase but he and 5 strong companions gain a gap as the firast ands only attempt of the day. Kraftwerk and Festina didn't want them to get away but they outlasted the peloton. They are: Boom (11th KoM, 22pts | 14th Points, 40pts) Vermeltfoort (21st KoM, 14pts) Sergis (19th KoM, 16pts) Shapira Naud (22nd KoM, 14pts) Nerz (32nd GC, 41'32 | 1st KoM, 138pts | 12th Points, 43pts). A strong breakaway with a top climber, and many great puncheurs including the experienced and skilled former yellow jersey, Lars Boom, who has been in great nick over the last two weeks with the prologue win and 4th in Stage 10's time trial.
The rest of the breakaway happy to let Nerz rack up the KoM points it seems, he'll take these 5 points over the Côte de Douard. The gap to the peloton holding still at around three and a half minutes.
Isostar, Festina and Kraftwerk doing most of the work in the peloton and so clearly Flügel may fancy a third stage victory here! Maybe Lecuisinier thinks Mont Faron can provide a platform for himself, but it'll be tough as probably the weakest over shorter hills in the top 5!
The palm trees sure let us know which coast we're on...
Nerz also takes the Cat.3 Col de la Gineste for 6 points as he now has a 72 point lead over Simon Spilak - unless the yellow jersey takes many points on Mont Faron, Nerz should have doubled his tally by the day's end.
2'06 the gap with still 50km left, it looks like one for the peloton!
Nerz repeats the trick over the next climb as Naud is dropped from the breaklaway!
30km to go and Kraftwerk increase the pace as the GC men jostle for contention, and the winds break 12 riders free from the peloton!
Nothing comes of it but the pace stays high, over 40km/h on the climb here, and a wake-up call for Taaramäe and Barguil among others who missed that split! Berg also getting in on the pace-setting action through Destribois.
Up ahead Nerz takes the final intermediate KoM points, 25km left and 2 minutes for this quintet to the peloton!
More and more GC names (plus Flügel) are gathered at the front, everybody is afraid of a split now! No more climbs until Mont Faron though as we head towards Toulon.
I spoke too soon, over the top a sizeable gap is formed as Destribois drags the top men away, Nibali chasing it down and if anyone can on this descent it's the Shark of the Strait! Can you see Sicily from up here?
Sorry, I'm not from Europe.
That gap is eventually closed by Nibali, Kangert and Gallopin, but look how strung out this peloton is, the wind, turns and hills are taking a toll and there will be a lot of tired riders when we get to Mont Faron! 18km to go and just 104 riders left in the peloton. This pace has also shut the gap to just a minute to the breakaway!
Another gap opening here with 15km to go, the likes of Haig, Galta and Slagter left behind by a 22 man group!
And now the peloton is in four pieces, and they may not come back together! The worst hit, back in the third group, are Intxausti (8th GC, 16'28), Roche (18th GC, 26'44) and Vakoc!
Also reports that Haig (16th GC, 25'25) and Slagter (23rd GC, 31'31) have been dropped by the second group!
Here is the 22-man first group, who have 30 seconds on the 20-strong second group as we enter Toulon: Spilak, Dekker, Gallopin Gesink, Destribois Schelling, Reichenbach Wellens, Jensen Sicard Nibali Keinath Brambilla Lecuisinier Kangert, Karnulin, Kruiswijk Flügel Barguil Taaramäe Bongiorno. A lot of isolated riders here!
Formolo, Galta (Group 2), Haig (Group 3), Intaxausti and Roche (Group 4) the top 20 GC riders dropped. Meanwhile Shapira can't handle the pace of the breakaway anymore.
A great effort from the powerful roleur Oss stitches Group Galta and Group Maillot Jaune together, a painstaking but heroic shift through the streets of Toulon, and just in time for
Mont Faron, which starts with a bang here as Lars Boom attacks! The former World Champion isn't going away easily in his career or today, and he's not been told to help Dekker behind! Just 40 seconds back to the 42-man bunch for this quartet.
Nobody can or nobody will follow the Dutchman as he gets a solid gap after a kilometre of climbing! 5.4km to go, and the gap openiong to a still small but not insignificant 1'10. If the puncheurs and GC men wait to attack for a few more kilometres, he has a real chance!
The domestiques of the favourites come to the front now with 5km left to race, 1'28 the gap between peloton and the Intxausti/Haig group as Shapira is caught.
Flügel has no real help and may not be favoured against Gesink or Spilak, so what I'm wondering is should he go now to get a headstart?
36 seconds between Boom and the chasers, and 33 between the chasers and the pack as the Aegon man eeks out some advantage after the initial gap, a solid ride here and not going over his limit. 4.5km to go for him.
Buchmann surges forward with his leader Rein Taaramae in tow! The German was a no-show in the Czech hill stages but if he can turn this from a potential bogey stage into a no-gap or better stage for T-Mobile, all will be forgiven! This increase in pace already catches the men in no-man's land, and the gap to Boom is coming down too!
Not the best choice of line from Buchmann and he's in fact boxed in here, but here is Aleksandar Flügel on the left hand side of the road making his move! We said it just before, he has to be first to go to get a gap on the GC fight brewing and that's exactly what he's doing. Could this be the sight of his third stage win?
A powerful attack here and Boom's gap evaporates as he's caught by the German! Reichenbach tried to follow but in the end Flügel shook him and the rest of the peloton and is now on the hunt! 3.6km to go.
But as soon as he goes, he's caught by the pace of Rein Taaramae, who is looking to neutralise this climb! Not a bad tactic from the Estonian, if he can avoid gaps to Spilak ahead of the Alps he'll be okay with his position one would think.
There's a split in the peloton due to this pace as Spilak, Sicard, Wellens, Reichenbach, Bongiorno, Gesink, Lecuisinier, Barguil, Keinath, Boom, Formolo and Houle follow the leading duo!
Everyone is exhausted here in the second group, Nibali is towards the front whilst Dekker, Karnulin, Kangert, Brambilla, Schelling and Galta among others are further back - and that's who we can see in the top 20 of this group as we pan back to the front.
Taaramae happy to keep going here minimising the inevitable Spilak attack, as Flügel lays waiting, probably for a lull in pace. Spilak, Sicard, Wellens, Lecuisinier and Gesink look attentive, whilst the others are fighting to hold on!
And indeed Houle, Keinath and Formolo are dropped, just 10 riders left with Taaramae.
A great job here from Taaramae, now just 2km left and in fact he may be gapping all but Flügel, Spilak and Lecuisinier, small gaps are starting to open as those three are out of the saddle to stay with the Estonian champion!
And yes, a split here as Gesink and Sicard are falling behind, and what a stage this could be for Lecuisinier and Taaramae! Gesink surely didn't expect this - this was supposed to be him gaining time on Sicard, but now he's not even made the front move!
Nibali not done fighting yet and he's going so hard he's left the other dropped riders behind, still got some energy left! Dekker has found his way to the front and has Boom to help, but it's not looking so good for our 6th on GC here, he will lose his spot to Barguil and maybe even Wellens at this rate!
The flamme rouge is in sight, as it looks like Lecuisinier may be going for the stage win with an attack here? He disappointed yesterday and following a public rark up from his manager he wants something else from this race! Sicard leads the chasers and nobody except maybe Barguil has anything else to give.
A great performance from Keinath here showing the fight he's known for, working back from being dropped and has now rejoined this group!
It won't be stage win number three for the valiant Flügel, that earlier attack costing him here as he's dropped just before the flamme rouge!
Oooh and is that Simon Spilak cracking? Surely not! Taaramäe keeps the pace, and these two can't attack and are really digging in just to stay with him, what a stage this is turning out to be for Rein Taaramäe! From neutralising the GC fight, to electrifying it and this could be an unlikely way to pinch yellow before the Pyrenees!
Onto the easier slopes now and it looks like Rein Taaramae has neutralised Spilak, but now he wants more, he wants a second consecutive stage win and he wants some time bonuses to take his gap down to under a minute!
He's absolutely racing away and may even gap Spilak here, what a finish from
Rein Taaramae, absolutely stunning! The Estonian wasn't fancied on this kind of punchy finish but he continues his Ventoux form and for the second day in a row has gapped the yellow jersey! Now, let's count them in...
Lecuisinier stops the clock at 13 seconds and beats Simon Spilak in the sprint, that's another 12 bonuses lost and Rein Taaramae has taken a quarter of the gap back on a day he was expected to lose time if anything!
A good day for Lecuisinier but he and his team will be sorely dissapointed with the stage win slipping away, as the chances of a podium go up slightly, but still look very distant. He'll still be around four minutes behind Robert Gesink going into the Pyrenees - not impossible, but it'd require some heroic riding. However if he maintains this form, who knows? A bitter day for Simon Spilak here, a sour taste in the mouth being left behind by Taaramae on such a suiting finish, and one that will linger on the startline of Stage 18 in Pau. Just 40 seconds the gap now.
Also confirmation here that Taaramae will be the green jersey on behalf of Simon Spilak tomorrow, and for Stage 18 unless Grosu wins tomorrow (which is a very small unless!).
Barguil continues to look very very good here in this Tour de France, leading in this small group 30 seconds down as Sicard and Gesink stay even today - a win for the Frenchman, really. Barguil should make his sixth place more comfortable by up to 3 minutes here, and is now in no man's land between the top 5 and those scrapping to stay alive in the top 10. He's been in super form since we entered France and must be sorely regretting the time losses early on and in the time trials that are preventing him from being on even footing - in fact if you discount those first week and stage 10 losses, he'd be beating Robert Gesink! Of course, Le Tour is about more than the mountains, and so that's a bit like saying Tottenham won the calendar year of 2018. Who cares?
Keinath continues his fighting run of form, recovering from a fairly dissapointing day yesterday by staying with this group most of the way and even attacking Bongiorno and Flügel here, finishing just 47 seconds behind Taaramae, and this should see the German back in the top 10! A sad day for Flügel cracking at the end but he attacked as needed and was a victim of the tough mountain stages not being his thing recently. A great stage for Bongiorno too, looks like he could be the next man to enter the conveyor belt that is 15th place!
Wellens will be not too dissapointed with 1'17 lost on a day like this, some gaps to Barguil (who looks out of reach) and Keinath notwithstanding. He should move to 8th on GC here with Intxausti losing big time potentially. A decent ride from Reichenbach too but not strong enough to fight for stage placings.
Another fighting performance but one that the rider in question will be a little less happy with is Nibali in 12th, who stops the clock about 90 seconds after Wellens, and probably a minute ahead of Dekker and the rest, which should please him at least as he could overtake Schelling and Intxausti and move back into the top 10, despite losing time and position to Keinath.
Formolo dropped and passed by his countryman but holds on for a nice little + 2'51 finish, over a minute ahead of the peloton.
Dekker stops the clock over a minute behind Nibali and nearly three behind Wellens, and so with Intxausti in fact conceding minutes here he'll stay 7th but now with just 34 seconds to Tim Wellens! He also snatches 10 seconds on the main peloton with the likes of Schelling, Kangert and Galta.
Haig and Intxausti with the most lost here, at least three and up to 7 minutes to every rival they have for their positions, caught short in the wind and shorter on the climb, they will be absolutely furious here. Intxausti after looking so good recently especially, the comeback to 6th or 7th was on and now he's booted down to 11th. Meanwhile Haig loses his spots to the very good Bongiorno plus the Gazelle duo of Karnulin and Formolo and is now 19th on GC.
Simon Spilak can "enjoy" a fifth straight day with a yellow podium, but for a second straight today the enjoyment will be tinged with a little anger and a little fear as Rein Taaramae has just taken two thirds of his gap from Bastille Day away in just two days. Can he recover in time for Stage 18 as everyone's mettle is tested on the legendary Tourmalet? He has two nights and one flat stage to do so. I can't wait. Until next time, that's bye for now.
