Following the path of Mark Cavendish, the last u26 rider to win at least one stage in each Grand Tour (in 2010), Caleb Ewan won in Nîmes after Toulouse like the Briton in 2008. The Australian outsprinted Elia Viviani and Dylan Groenewegen despite suffering the heat of southern France. Julian Alaphilippe retained the yellow jersey.
Bak, Rossetto, Gougeard, Wisniowski and Ourselin in the lead
163 riders took the start of stage 16. Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) was a non-starter due to back pain. Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis) attacked in the first kilometre of racing. They were reinforced by Lukas Wisniowski (CCC), Lars Bak (Dimension Data) and Paul Ourselin (Total Direct Energie) with 169km yet to be covered. Defending champion Geraint Thomas (Ineos) crashed by himself in the middle of the pack at Cavillargues (km 49) after the maximum time difference of 2’15’’ was recorded at km 41. The pace of the peloton was set mostly by three teams and three riders: Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates), Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) and Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Soudal). Bak was first at the intermediate sprint at Vallérargues with 112km to go. The oldest rider of the peloton also crested the côte de Saint-Jean-du-Pin, 81km before the end, in first position.
Jakob Fuglsang crashes out
53km before the end, the risk of splits in the peloton because of the wind blowing from the right hand side forced the teams of the GC riders to speed up and the time gap went down to 25’’ before going back up again. However, it didn’t exceed 50’’ as the same teams – mostly Jumbo-Visma – kept the situation under control. With 28km remaining, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) crashed in the peloton and pulled out. He was ninth in the overall ranking.
Caleb Ewan, the fastest
With 20km to go, Gougeard, Wisniowski, Ourselin, Rossetto and Bak had 30’’ lead. Gougeard who initiated the move and kept it alive as long as possible was awarded the prize of most aggressive rider. The breakaway came to an end 2.5km before the finish. Deceuninck-Quick Step perfectly led Elia Viviani out but Caleb Ewan came from behind to pip the Italian on the line and become the first sprinter to win two stage of the Tour de France this year – Julian Alaphilippe and Simon Yates have also won two stages. The Australian was already the first Tour de France debutant to have collected five stage podiums in the first fifteen stages since Peter Sagan in 2012. He was also the youngest rider to have won at least one stage in every Grand Tour since Italy’s Nino Defilippis in 1956. After taking two stages in the Giro d’Italia this year, he has proven at the age of 25 that he’s now one of most consistent sprinters in the world.
