Le Tour 2016 – Stage 20

Megève to Morzine-Avoriaz

Distance: 146.5 kilometers.

The last mountain and truly competitive stage of the Tour. Four climbs and a long downhill finish. The climbs are the Cat 2 Col des Aravis, the Cat 1 Col de la Colombière, the Cat 1 Col de la Ramaz, and the HC Col de Joux Plane. After cresting the Col de Joux Plane there is a breakneck twisting flight to the bottom on bikes geared for hard, slow climbs to the top. A little rain and all bets are off.

At the end of the stage the Jersey wearers are all breathing easier. Froome maintained a lead of over 4 minutes on the challengers; Bardet and Quintana are still on the podium; Sagan and Majka of Tinkoff won the Green and Polka Dots, respectively; in spite of the dire possibilities of the Alps it was a whimper, not a bang.

Christopher Froome ( GBR – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 86h 21′ 40″
Peter Sagan ( SVK – TNK – 032 ) [Green] 440 points
Rafal Majka ( POL – TNK – 037 ) [Polka Dot] 209 points
Adam Yates ( GBR – OBE – 209 ) 4 [White]

Team: Movistar Team ( MOV – 011-019 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Ion Izaguirre ( ESP – MOV – 017 )
Combative: Jarlinson Pantano ( COL – IAM – 079 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GBR – SKY – 001 )
2 Romain Bardet ( FRA – ALM – 041 ) + 04′ 05″
3 Nairo Quintana ( COL – MOV – 011 ) + 04′ 21″
4 Adam Yates ( GBR – OBE – 209 ) + 04′ 42″
5 Richie Porte ( AUS – BMC – 091 ) + 05′ 17″
6 Alejandro Valverde ( ESP – MOV – 012 ) + 06′ 16″
7 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( ESP – KAT – 141 ) + 06′ 58″
8 Louis Meintjes ( RSA – LAM – 157 ) + 06′ 58″
9 Daniel Martin ( IRL – EQS – 184 ) + 07′ 04″
10 Roman Kreuziger ( CZE – TNK – 036 ) + 07′ 11″

The Rest of the Top 30:

11 Bauke Mollema ( NED – TFS – 061 ) + 13′ 13″
12 Sergio Luis Henao ( COL – SKY – 002 ) + 18′ 51″
13 Fabio Aru ( ITA – AST – 021 ) + 19′ 20″
14 Sébastien Reichenbach ( SUI – FDL – 126 ) + 24′ 59″
15 Geraint Thomas ( GBR – SKY – 009 ) + 28′ 31″
16 Pierre Rolland ( FRA – CDT – 081 ) + 30′ 42″
17 Mikel Nieve ( ESP – SKY – 005 ) + 38′ 30″
18 Stef Clement ( NED – IAM – 072 ) + 38′ 57″
19 Jarlinson Pantano ( COL – IAM – 079 ) + 38′ 59″
20 Alexis Vuillermoz ( FRA – ALM – 049 ) + 42′ 28″
21 Emanuel Buchmann ( GER – BOA – 131 ) + 47′ 40″
22 Damiano Caruso ( ITA – BMC – 094 ) + 48′ 23″
23 Warren Barguil ( FRA – TGA – 111 ) + 52′ 14″
24 Haimar Zubeldia ( ESP – TFS – 069 ) + 53′ 06″
25 Ilnur Zakarin ( RUS – KAT – 149 ) + 56′ 33″
26 Tanel Kangert ( EST – AST – 025 ) + 01H 03′ 59″
27 Rafal Majka ( POL – TNK – 037 ) + 01H 04′ 25″
28 Wouter Poels ( NED – SKY – 006 ) + 01H 06′ 57″
29 Tejay Van Garderen ( USA – BMC – 099 ) + 01H 12′ 06″
30 Vincenzo Nibali ( ITA – AST – 022 ) + 01H 19′ 59″

Note: Wikipedia has a simple article on the Mountain classification used on the Tour. The basic fact is that climbs fall into five types, with the four numbered types decreasing in difficulty as the numbers get larger, and then there is the Hors Catégorie, literally “without category”, which generally makes you look for an elevator or Sherpas.

Go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Le Tour” for all of the posts related to the race on this site.