Stage 16 TDF 2022 Blog: Maple Leaf Stage
First priority, let’s get some gripes aired.
Lennard Kamna was the top choice in my Stage 16 poll, with 48% of the votes, and he abandoned before the race began. Some people are so inconsiderate.
Others who did not start today: Mikael Cherel, Max Walscheid, and Aurélien Paret-Peintre.
The GC teams let a large breakaway go. Aleksandr Vlasov was the best-placed breakaway participant on GC.
Behind, the GC battle started up on the climb of the Port de Lers. TP attacked a couple of kilometres from the top, but JV marked him. TP attacked again; no problem for JV. Then TP attacked over the summit, hoping to get a gap and descend rapidly. Cool beans for JV.
In the breakaway, on the Mur de Péguere, Hugo Houle, a Canadian rider for Team Israel Premier Tech, had a lead of 30s over Matteo Jorgenson and Mike Woods (another Canadian on the Israeli team).
Sepp Kuss was looking after JV on the Mur. Rafal Majka rode on the front until he ran out of steam then snapped his chain. Kuss took over. Nairo was still there, and moved up to 4th place on GC today.
Over the top of the climb, each of the leaders had a domestique waiting for them:
- Dani Martinez for Geraint Thomas
- Wout van Aert for JV
- Brandon McNulty for TP
Houle won the stage, and dedicated it to his brother, who was killed by a driver some years ago.
Vlasov gained over 4 minutes on GC.
Wout van Aert led out JV, who crossed the line before TP.
Things can change of course, but JV looks unruffled, and in better form than TP. On the rest day, ITV pundits Lizzie, Pete and Dan all plumped for TP as the likely winner. Weird. Too much time riding bicycles fast must impair your judgement.