Lennard Kämna wins stage 16 from the breakaway

Kämna solo'd clear of his breakaway companion on the penultimate climb to win atop Villard-de-Lans

Lennard Kämna won stage 16 of the Tour de France from the breakaway, soloing clear of a his breakaway companions on the day’s penultimate climb and holding on to get the win atop the climb to Villard-de-Lans.

2019 Giro d’Italia winner Richard Carapaz came across the line, second, with Sébastien Reichenbach third.

Race leader Primoz Roglic and the rest of the top GC contenders finished more than 10 minutes down.

The German, took his first pro victory last month at the Critérium du Dauphiné, dropped Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) over the top of the Montée de Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte, the Colombian trailing in over a minute down with the combativity prize as a consolation.

Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) was third ahead of the 23-strong breakaway, in that group was Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) who moved into second place in the mountain classification, level on points with Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale).

Lennard Kamna said afterwards, "I feel great. It was an absolutely awesome day for me. It was a fight from the beginning on and I knew I had to make it to the finish alone. When I saw that Carapaz was dropping the speed, I thought now it's the time to go and went all in to the end. It's a big relief also for the team and for me. I can almost not imagine it. The step I made this year is huge and I'm so blessed to win today."

How It Happened

A 15-rider group finally made the escape after 30km of racing. Eventually the group swelled as Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) and others bridge across from the peloton to the break to make 23 riders, which then resulted in attack from Rolland with just under 100km left on the Col de Porte, taking the maximum KoM points at the summit. 

Rolland attacked again on the Côte de Revel to become joint leader in the mountains classification with Benoit Cosneyfroy (AG2R La Mondiale) with two climbs left to tackle. 

Approaching the top of the climb and Carapaz launched a stinging attack with Alaphilippe, Kamna and Reichenbach all able to follow, but Alaphilippe blew and was dropped.

Reichenbach lost contact under Carapaz’s pace, but Kämna was then strong enough to launch his own attack on the climb and break free of the Giro d’Italia champion.

Kämna only continued to extend his advantage on the final climb to the line, crossing the line to take his second career win,  1-27 ahead of Carapaz in second. 

VIDEO: 2020 Tour de France Stage 16 Highlights

2020 Tour de France Stage 16 Top 10

1 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 4:12:52
2 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:27
3 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:56
4 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:02:34
5 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team 0:02:35
6 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:02:37
7 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:02:41
8 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb 0:02:47
9 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:02:51
10 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:54

2020 Tour de France GC after Stage 16

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 70:06:47
2 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:40
3 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Pro Cycling 0:01:34
4 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:01:45
5 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:03
6 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:13
7 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:02:16
8 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:15
9 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:05:19
10 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:05:43