Michael Matthews wins windy stage 16 Sprint
Quick-Step Floors Marcel Kittel loses points and Dan Martin loses time
Stage 16 was windy as predicted. Not far into the stage Michael Matthews and Team Sunweb pushed the pace and managed to get a 1 minute gap on Marcel Kittel. They kept pushing and the gap went up to over 2 minutes.
Quick-Step floors went to the aid of their sprinter but to no avail, the gap grew and Quick-Step eventually gave up.
The big loser was Dan Martin. With 10 kms to go, Team Sky came to the front of the peloton and pushed the pace in the heavy crosswinds.
Dan Martin was dropped and without any team mates he lost over 50 seconds.
Meanwhile Michael Matthews took all 50 green jersey points and is now only 29 points behind Marcel Kittel. He looks to take over the Green Jersey in the following alpine stages.
In the sprint to the line he edged out Degenkolb who clashed with Matthews as the riders rolled back to thier team buses, accusing him of veering towards him on in the sprint for the line. "He grabbed me by the neck. The officials saw that. I don't know what they're going to do about it? It was not very sportsmanlike." Degenkolb gesticulated at Matthews as the pair crossed the line, appearing to indicate that he felt he had pushed him dangerously close to the barriers.
Matthews disagreed: "From my perspective I didn't do anything wrong, I started my sprint and sprinted in a straight line. I don't know what's wrong with him, but that's up to him. If I had done anything wrong the race officials would have told me."
Tomorrow's stage is seriously tough, through the Isere, Savoie and Haute-Alpes regions, over the infamous passes Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Télégraphe and Col du Galibier to finish downhill in Serre Chevalier, totalling 183 kilometres. Who ever crests the Col du Galibier first will win 5,000 euros and be in a good position to win the stage, as it's all downhill to Serre Chevalier.
2017 Tour de France Stage 16 Top 10
1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 3:38:15
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
3 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
5 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
6 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-Scott
7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
8 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal
9 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
10 Romain Hardy (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept
2017 Tour de France GC after Stage 16
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 68:18:36
2 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:18
3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:23
4 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:29
5 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky 0:01:17
6 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:02:02
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:03
8 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:00
9 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:06:05
10 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:06:16
VIDEO : 2017 Tour de France Stage 16 Highlights
VIDEO : 2017 Tour de France Stage 16 Finish