Tour de France 2025 Stage 16

July 22, 2025 The riders and staff had a 160KM transfer across the South of France to Montpellier for the start of the third week. Stage 16 is very similar to the one that was run in 2016 when Thomas De Gendt won the wind-shortened stage to Chalet Renard, the same year Chris Froome was forced to run before getting a spare bike. The 171KM hockey stick route arches slightly North but predominately East out of Montpellier, across the Rhône river and to the intermediate sprint after 112KM of racing in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, one of the most iconic AOC's in the world of wine. The race continues East through Provence on flat roads to Bédoin where the mighty Mont Ventoux begins. The infamous Ventoux is classified as 15.6KM in length and averages 8.8%. The first 10KM of the climb are through the woods until they reach Chalet Renard. A left turn takes the riders out of the woods and through the baron moonscape for the final 6KM, passed the memorial to Tom Simpson, up to the top for a commanding view over the Vaucluse. A neutral zone of over 12KM got the riders safely out of the center of Montpellier and into the vineyards for KM0. The speed was quick right from the start with half the peloton interested in getting up the road. After about 15KM of racing, Marco Haller and Marc Hirschi of Tudor Pro Cycling broke clear with Xandro Meurisse of Alpecin-Deceuninck. The bunch was strung out through Quissac but a few kilometers later, they slowed down and the gap extended to 45 seconds. The attacking continued for the next 35KM but it all stopped with 120KM to go when UAE-XRG put men on the front and started to control. The gap went out to 90 but attacking started again. Jayco AlUla kicked things off and Movistar were insistent in pushing on. Nils Politt of UAE-XRG was getting visibly frustrated and cancelled all of the moves by jumping on each one. The 90 second gap evaporated and the three leaders were caught with 99KM to go. A group of over 30 riders split off a few kilometers later and it seemed, finally, that everyone was content with the situation. UAE-XRG took up the chase and had the break around 3 minutes with 80KM to go as the riders made their way through the quintessential sites of Provence; vineyards, lavender fields, and villages full of stone houses with swimming pools filled with crystal clear blue water. Tudor Pro Cycling had numbers in the break and decided to split the group to get in moving a bit quicker. With 65KM to go, they formed a new group with Julian Alaphilippe and Matteo Trentin of Tudor Pro Cycling, Simone Velasco of XDS-Astana, Jonas Abrahamsen of Uno-X Mobility, Thymen Arensman of Ineos, Fred Wright of Bahrain Victorious, Pascal Eenkhoorn of Soudal Quickstep, and Enric Mas of Movistar. Eenkhoorn dropped away to give his climbing teammates, Ilan Van Wilder and Valentin Paret-Peintre, support in the chase group which left seven in the front. At the intermediate sprint in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Abrahamsen beat Velasco to take the points. The chase group was 25 seconds behind with the peloton 4 minutes 40 seconds back. Wright wasn't working in the front and dropped back to the second group, like Eenkhoorn, in support of his teammate Santiago Buitrago. The remaining six leaders had nearly 2 minutes on the chase group and 6 minute 20 seconds on the peloton with 34KM to go with just 13KM to Bédoin. The six leaders arrived in Bédoin with 21.5KM to go with a 95 second lead over the large chase group and almost 7 minutes to the peloton which gave them hope that a member of the break could make it to the finish. Crowds were thick through Bédoin and they were unlikely to relent for the next 20KM. Trentin sacrificed himself for Alaphilippe and waived goodbye to the break at 18.5KM to go. Gravity caught up with Abrahamsen with 17KM to go and then Velasco was dropped 2KM later. Arensman set the pace at the front and kept things quick but Mas attacked and got a good gap with 14KM to go. In the chase group, Valentin Paret-Peintre was the first to attack and a group of Ben Healy of EF-Education EasyPost, Michael Woods of Israel-Premier Tech, and Sanitago Buitrago of Bahrain Victorious bridged up. With 11KM to go, Mas had 30 seconds on Alaphilippe and Arensman and 1 minute 25 seconds on the newly formed Healy group. Healy dragged the group up to Alaphilippe and Arensman and put in a dig a kilometer later that only Buitrago and Paret-Peintre could follow. Mas took the left turn at Chalet Renard with Healy, Buitrago, and Paret-Peintre at 40 seconds. Healy lifted the pace again which spit Buitrago out the back with 5KM to go. Mas was finally caught under 4KM to go and the trio still had 2 minutes 40 seconds on the GC favorites group behind. They started to play for a moment but Healy got back to business and put in another attack that dropped Mas but not Paret-Peintre. Mas paced his way back on but this time it was Paret-Peintre that attacked. Healy wound him in and hit the Frenchman immediately with a counter attack but they were matched watt for watt. Mas came back once again, and this time Buitrago was with him to make four riders at the front with 1,800M to go. A few flurries put Mas out the back and the remaining three riders watched each other closely. Ilan Van Wilder of Soudal Quickstep, who was in the original break with Paret-Peintre, came out of nowhere and joined the front of the race. He immediately started to pace the group to set up Paret-Peintre. He led until 250M to go when Healy accelerated with Paret-Peintre on the wheel. Healy took the final corner at 150M but the road was steep and the tiny frame of Paret-Peintre danced up the final ramp to take the win. Buitrago pedaled in for third on the day with Mas in fourth. In the peloton, the bunch started their drag racing into Bédoin to get position through the tight village streets. Visma-Lease a Bike had numbers and led the bunch, now only about 25 riders, to the start of the Ventoux. Sepp Kuss did a big shift and cut the group down to 10 riders with 10KM to go. Carlos Rodríguez of Ineos was the first attacker with about 9KM to go but a few moments later, Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike put in a big move that quickly brough Rodríguez back. Tadej Pogačar of UAE-XRG was able to follow but the rest of the GC riders exploded behind. Tiesj Benoot dropped back from the early break and was there to pace Vingegaard after the Dane's initial acceleration. Benoot did a good 800M and Vingegaard went again but Pogačar had the answer. Victor Campenaerts was the next rider that Visma-Lease a Bike had placed in the break that fell back to pace Vingegaard. Campenaerts rode for 2KM through the strong head wind from Chalet Renard to 4KM to go where Vingegaard made another attempt to shake Pogačar off the wheel. Pogačar had him matched though and Vingegaard slowed his effort and looked around. Vingegaard rode a slightly easier pace until 1.6KM to go when Pogačar made his first attack. Vingegaard followed and countered but with the head wind, it was difficult to make a gap. The pair rode in together until 250M to go when Pogačar started the sprint for the line. Again, Vingegaard was on the wheel until right before the finish, dropping for 2 seconds on the line. Pogačar took fifth place on the stage, 43 seconds behind the winner, Paret-Peintre. There was so much happening between the break and the fight for Yellow that the cameras struggled to keep up with the race for the GC top 10. Primož Roglič and Florian Lipowitz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were best of the rest, finishing 1 minute 8 seconds behind Pogačar. Oscar Onley of Picnic-PostNL finished a further 38 seconds behind. He still sits fourth but Roglič is closing in, 38 seconds behind in fifth place having moved Kévin Vauquelin of Arkéa-B&B Hotels into sixth place overall after a difficult day on the Ventoux.