After a rest day on Monday, the Tour de France starts again today (21 July) with the stage 16 time trial from Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains.
The 26.1km course is the only individual time trial of this year’s Tour de France and it combines a climb, a descent and a flat finish along Lake Geneva.
Race director Christian Prudhomme described the course as an “explosive cocktail” that would provide those who lost time in the Vosges the opportunity to regain some of it before the race heads for the Alps.
As the reigning world and Olympic champion, Remco Evenepoel is also the favourite for the stage win. After Jonas Vingegaard abandoned the race on Sunday’s stage 15, Evenepoel will also want to cement his second place in the general classification, where he’s 58 seconds ahead of Isaac Del Toro in third.
Only 25 seconds separates Florian Lipowitz in fifth from Paul Seixas in fourth, so there could be further jostling among the top five.
Whatever happens, Tadej Pogacar will likely remain untroubled in yellow with his lead of five minutes over Evenepoel. The defending champion may have ambitions to extend his total stage wins further to 26, unless he wants to play it safe on the stage’s winding descent.
The stage starts and ends on Lake Geneva.
The stage provides an “explosive cocktail”, according to race director Christian Prudhomme.
The time trial is a big opportunity for Netcompany-Ineos, who have had an underwhelming Tour so far. Filippo Ganna is the most likely to trouble Evenepoel for the stage win, and this will be Brit Josh Tarling’s biggest opportunity for victory.
As usual, the riders will start in reverse order of the general classification. That means Bahrain Victorious’ Kamil Gradek will be the first to roll down the start ramp at 1pm CET (12pm BST).
Tarling will start at 1.25.30pm CET (12.25.30pm BST) and Ganna will start at 1.58.30pm CET (12.58.30pm BST).
It will be several hours before the top riders in the general classification begin their rides. TotalEnergie’s Jordan Jegat is 10th overall and will start at 4.57pm CET (3.57pm BST). Evenepoel will start at 5.13pm CET (4.13pm BST) and Pogačar, the last rider of the day, will begin at 5.15pm CET (4.15pm BST).
Tour de France stage 16 start times and start order