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Wednesday, July 22, 2026

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Current racing:

July 4 - 26: Tour de France

Upcoming racing:

July 26: Vuelta a Castilla y Leon

Latest completed racing:

Tour de France stage sixteen reports

We posted the race organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner Remco Evenepoel's Team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe:

Remco Evenepoel has secured Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe’s second stage victory in this year’s Tour de France. At the start of the third week of the tour, the Belgian secured victory in the 26.1-kilometre individual time trial from Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains on the French shore of Lake Geneva. However, there was little cause for excessive celebration: Florian Lipowitz was forced to withdraw from the race.

Remco’s wingman crashed in a bend a good six kilometres from the finish and was unable to continue the race. At the final intermediate time check, he had still been on course for a podium finish. Florian was taken to hospital for further examinations.

Meanwhile, Remco completed the 26.1-kilometre course, with 500 metres of elevation gain, in 32 minutes and 19 seconds, averaging 48.45 km/h. No other professional broke the 48-minute mark. Tadej Pogacar, in second place, was almost half a minute slower, whilst Mattias Skjelmose, in third, was more than a minute slower.

Remco Evenepoel riding to victory in Tour stage sixteen. Sirotti photo.

Remco laid the foundations for his 76th professional victory – and his 26th in an individual time trial – on Belgium’s National Day during the first and decisive third of the race, which led straight uphill from the start ramp. By the time he reached the highest point, he had already built up a 14-second lead over his closest rival.
Mattia Cattaneo, a second professional from Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe, also put in a strong performance. The Italian finished sixth on the day. Meanwhile, Remco consolidated his second place in the general classification, a position he had already cemented with his victory on the mountain finish at the Plateau de Solaison before the rest day.

Remco Evenepoel: ‘It was a really great time trial with lots of fans lining the route. My whole family is here; my parents have come just for today. It’s also Belgium’s National Day, which makes it even better. Still, it’s all a bit bittersweet because of Lipo’s crash. Despite the victory, we need to take a moment to process that. I wish him all the best and hope it’s not too serious.’

Klaas Lodewyck, Sports Director: ‘We’re delighted with Remco’s victory, but Lipo’s crash was, of course, a huge blow for the whole team. We hope it isn’t too serious for him. With Remco, we were able to execute everything we’d set out to do from start to finish; we had the race under control at every split time. Especially on the climb. After that, it was all about putting in a good descent and bringing the lead home safely.’

Team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe also issued this statement on Florian Lipowitz's crash:

Florian Lipowitz suffered a broken collarbone in his crash during today’s individual time trial at the Tour de France.

After his outstanding performances and the many memorable moments he delivered over the past two weeks, this marks a bitter and far too early end to his 2026 Tour de France.

The entire team stands firmly behind Florian and will support him every step of the way. Our full focus is now on his recovery.

Here's the Tour stage sixteen report from GC leader Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emiratres-XRG:

Stage 16 of the Tour de France provided the race’s one and only individual time trial, and both Tadej Pogačar and Isaac del Toro delivered assured displays for UAE Team Emirates-XRG. The race leader Pogačar clocked in a searing time to take second place on the day, whilst Del Toro could be happy with fifth.

The results ensure both men defend their leads in the general and young rider classification, respectively, with Pogačar in the Yellow Jersey and Del Toro in white. In the race against the clock, Pogačar was only beaten by the reigning world champion in this discipline, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe).

Nevertheless, the Yellow Jersey limited his losses to the Belgian, and will head into stage 17 with a race lead of over four and a half minutes. Del Toro, meanwhile, remains in third overall, and looks set to battle with Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM for the white jersey.

Tadej Pogacar riding to second in stage sixteen. Sirotti photo

The 26km ITT included 430m of elevation, with the first 10km of the stage raced uphill. After this climb, a technical descent led the riders into a flat final 5km. Pogačar and Del Toro both rode strongly, as did their UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Felix Grossschartner, who placed 13th on the day.

Speaking after the finish, Pogačar noted his disappointment at missing out on the stage win, but praised the performance of the day’s winner, Evenepoel.

Pogačar: “I was a bit disappointed that at the top of the climb, I was around 15 seconds behind Remco, and then I thought, ‘ok, I do not risk until the finish.’ Then in one corner where Lipowitz crashed, in the recon there were some cars from the organisation so I didn’t see that corner like I wanted. I almost crashed also, so I hope Lipowitz is ok and he will recover quickly. It is sad again to see one more GC contender out.

“Obviously, I wanted to go for the win, but Remco is world champion, Olympic champion, European champion, all in the TT, and chapeau to him. He rode a brilliant ride. [This Tour] is not over, it is not over yet, and we have quite the week ahead of us. The gap is good, but you never know what can happen. Let’s go with confidence and morale into the weekend.”

Here's the Tour stage sixteen report from third-place Mattias Skjelmose's Team Lidl-Trek:

Mattias Skjelmose produced one of the best time trials of his life to take the third spot on Stage 16 of the Tour de France, a 26km hilly individual time trial. The Dane crossed the line in 33’23”, posting the provisional fastest time at the finish in Thonon-les-Bains, on the shores of Lac Leman. However, Skjelmose would later be knocked off the top spot by the eventual stage winner, Remco Evenepoel – the world champion in this discipline. Several minutes later, the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogačar also bested the Dane’s time, though it remains as an incredibly impressive performance against the clock.

Mattias Skjelmose after winning the 2025 Amstel Gold Race. Sirotti photo

Speaking at the finish line, Skjelmose said “I’m super happy. We wanted to put a statement today… and I think that’s what we did. We made a bet about starting crazy hard, harder than I actually thought I could and today was just one of those days where I could keep going.

“Juan is still the main guy for us. He’s still in front in GC, as far as I’m concerned. I’m super sad to hear that Florian [Lipowitz] crashed however, that also means that Juan moved one spot up in GC. That means one spot closer to the podium. That is still our goal. I still believe we can do it.

“I spoke with my coach, and we said that sometimes you need to make a bet. The bet was just go as hard as possible to the top and then hope you can hold it on the way back. Like I said, I went harder than I thought was possible. It paid off in the end. I would say 9 out of 10 times it doesn’t, but today I just had one of those days where I almost didn’t feel the change. We’ve seen in the Grand Tours I’ve done, that I have a tendency to get better every day.”

Heading into the final week, Lidl-Trek occupy 5th (Juan Ayuso) and 6th (Skjelmose) places in the general classification, and with Mads Pedersen leading the points classification.

Here's the Tour report from Team Netcompany INEOS:

Thymen Arensman clocked the seventh fastest time in the stage 16 time trial to lead the Netcompany INEOS change at the Tour de France. Josh Tarling joined his teammate in the top-10 times with 10th place.

Joshua Tarling riding to tenth place in the stage. Photo: ASO/Thomas Maheux

Arensman battled back from a delayed start to set a strong and consistent effort over the second-category Cote de Larringes and down to the finish in Thonon-les-Bains.

Tarling had spent a long period sat on the hot seat after setting the fastest time of the early runners across the 26.1-kilometre course. Filippo Ganna finished one place further back in 11th.

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe) claimed victory on the day by 28 seconds over race leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates - XRG).

Bruno Armirail's Team Visma | Lease a Bike posted this Tour report:

Bruno Armirail delivered an impressive performance to finish eighth in the individual time trial at the Tour de France. The 32-year-old Frenchman from Team Visma | Lease a Bike even spent some time in the leader's hot seat. Stage victory ultimately went to Remco Evenepoel.

One day after the second rest day, the riders lined up for a race against the clock near the French-Swiss border. A 26-kilometer individual time trial between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains was on the schedule. The toughest part of the course came early on, with the climb of the Côte de Larringes. From there, the route was largely downhill all the way to the finish.

Joshua Tarling's early benchmark time was bettered by Armirail. As a result, the three-time French national time trial champion from Team Visma | Lease a Bike took his place in the hot seat for a while. Armirail eventually finished eighth, nearly two minutes behind world champion Evenepoel. Matteo Jorgenson crossed the line in fourteenth place.

Bruno Armirail time-trialing in the 2022 Critérium du Dauphiné. Sirotti photo

"I'm happy with this performance," Armirail reflected afterward. "Deep down, I was hoping for a top-five finish, but considering the level of competition, eighth place is definitely a solid result. The climb shortly after the start made it incredibly demanding, but I posted a strong intermediate time at the top. Finishing in the top ten alongside so many big names is something I'm really pleased with. Our focus now quickly shifts to the days ahead. There are still some great stages to come where we want to show ourselves again as a team."

And here's the Tour report from Ilan Van Wilder's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Thonon-les-Bains, the historic capital of Chablais and the town where Jacques Anquetil took one of his early Tour de France stage victories, returned at the Grande Boucle as a finish for the first time in more than four decades. Back in 1981, Sean Kelly won at the end of a hilly road stage, whereas now, the battle for victory had the time trial specialists in the spotlight.

The 26.1 km course that got underway from Evian-les-Bains was one of two halves: the only individual stage against the clock of this year’s edition began with a climb, the 9.7km Côte de Larringes, followed by a fast descent with a couple of technical corners and a flattish final part favoring the pure specialists of the discipline.

Ilan Van Wilder time trialing in the 2025 Tour of Switzerland. Sirotti photo

Bronze medalist at last year’s ITT World Championships, Ilan Van Wilder finished stage 16 as the best Soudal Quick-Step rider after stopping the clock in 35:40 thanks to a 43.9km/h average speed. As a result, Ilan improved his general classification and sits in a solid 11th place, just some 40-odd seconds from the top ten.

Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

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