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Is there any hope for Tadej Pocagar’s GC rivals heading into the final week? The Slovenian leads the overall race by a commanding margin of 3min 09sec, so it seems not. On the plus side for Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and the other GC hopefuls, Pogacar revealed he ate a chocolate brownie on yesterday’s rest day. That’s about it when it comes to chinks in the armour of the 25-year-old who already has three grand tour wins on his palmarès.
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There is plenty of scope for drama today, however. This flat 188.6km route between Gruissan and Nîmes looks nailed on to finish in a bunch sprint, but crosswinds are also expected to be a factor – so we’re likely to see a fierce battle to form the day’s breakaway. Who knows, if it’s blowing a gale out there, we might even see splits in the peloton that will have an impact on GC.
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Route analysis, preview chat from riders and more coming up. Allez!
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Stage start time: 12.05pm BST
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Important Events
At Eurosport, Matt Stevens asks Mark Cavendish about competing for a time cut on Sunday.
“On that last climb I had to push myself,” Cavendish said. “I did it on a schedule… I had a schedule of what I could do on the climb each day… Groupetto You would think that riding like this we would make up time in the valley, but in the valley we have a headwind and the guys at the front have their bikes and we don’t, so the draft they get out of there is phenomenal.
“So we were a bit behind our goal… We were a bit in danger on the last climb, we had to give it our all… [Alexey] Every 500 metres Lutsenko would grab a bidon and pour water on my back to keep me cool so I could keep going.
“It’s OK. It’s not the first time I’ve suffered in the Tour de France. I tried to finish it. I just didn’t want to wear myself out. We wore ourselves out, we had rest days, that’s how it goes.”
consulting Official withdrawal pageBut Pedersen gave up.
William Fotheringham’s Stage 16 Preview
William Fotheringham
A final sprint stage on a mostly flat route. “Les grosses cuisses” are unlikely to try to get away here, but if the wind picks up the race could split up, as it has in past races here. That could favour big Danish Mads Pedersen or little Frenchman Brian Coquard. Either could have a shot at the points-earner’s green jersey, given the large number of stages where the pure sprinters will struggle to score.
Jeremy Whittle
French radio He described Harry Kane as “the Raymond Poulidor of world football.” Poulidor has been on the Tour de France podium eight times but never won, and this time Tadej Pogacar did not have to face the usual rest-day questions about his reliability that come with wearing the race leader’s yellow jersey.
Eurosport’s expert opinion There will be confusion at first.
Robbie McEwen said: “I’ve raced in this area many times during my career and there’s never been a calm day. Even on the ‘calm’ days, the wind is really strong.”
“thanks so much. You guys are legends. Absolute legends.”
Mark Cavendish said that to his teammates after they helped him meet the time limit in Sunday’s mountain stage.
They would have done some short spins yesterday to keep the feet moving… and at this stage today they will be ready to throw everything at it.
🇫🇷 Video: Retour
Yesterday was a very tough day but in the end we survived! The final week is coming!
This is our stage 15 story. It’s worth watching ⬇️#TDF2024 #Astana Kazakhstan Team pic.twitter.com/NcICKwsw65
— Astana Kazakhstan Team (@AstanaQazTeam) July 15, 2024
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I can confidently say thatWith no regular sprint finish in Paris on Sunday, this is Mark Cavendish’s last chance to win a stage at the Tour and possibly his final chance for victory in his incredible, record-breaking career. The Isle of Man fought hard to make the time cut before the rest day, but all that incredible effort would have been geared towards today’s race. Don’t bet against him.
Jasper Philipsen The favourite to win today’s stage is clear. Binnia Guillemay, Wout van Aert, Dylan Groenewegen, Mark Cavendish and Arnaud de Lee will all be in the mix. Will we see a classic final battle between the fast riders as the sprinters pull together a small group?
preamble
Going into the final week, is there any hope for Tadej Pokagal’s rivals for the GC? Not likely, as the Slovenian leads the GC by a commanding 3 minutes 9 seconds. On the plus side for Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and the other GC contenders, Pokagal admitted that he had eaten a chocolate brownie on his rest day yesterday. That’s the only weakness for the 25-year-old, who already has three Grand Tour wins to his name.
But today promises to be a dramatic one. The flat 188.6km course between Gruissan and Nîmes is set to end in a mass sprint, but with crosswinds likely to play a role, there will likely be a fierce battle to form the breakaway group for the day. If the wind blows hard enough, it could split the group and have an impact on the overall classification.
Expect route analysis, preview chats from riders and more. Allright!
Stage start time: 12:05pm BST
