2014 Tour de France Stage 16 Live Coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of Stage 16 of the 2014 Tour de France! Our live profile and commentary are below, followed by a preview of the technical aspects of the route.
Course Preview
It's the Tour's longest day, 237.5 kilometres from Carcassonne to the Haute- Garonne and the town at the foot of the Pyrenees. The stage is a breakaway’s dream for any number of reasons: it’s the day after a repose in Carcassonne, the real Pyrenean mountains are still to come, and it’s as lumpy as anything. Four minor category climbs will pass under the wheels until the HC-ranked Port de Bale?s arrives after 204km. It was here that Andy Schleck’s notorious, haplessly resolved mechanical occurred in 2010, causing him to lose the yellow jersey amidst the rumble of ‘chaingate’.
The isolated climb from the north side on the narrow road has some viciously steep sections in the middle and if any adventurers make it over the top with 35-40 seconds over the peloton, the very rapid and technical descent should mean there’s enough slack to allow them to contest the win in the spa town below.
Thomas Voeckler has won twice here, in 2010 and 2012. On the latter occasion he pulled on the polka dot jersey, which he kept all the way to Paris. French riders will probably pack the breakaway and perhaps a worthy successor to Voeckler will take over – FDJ’s Arthur Vichot maybe.
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