A seemingly normal stage for Vuelta a España leader Remco Evenepoel (Quick Step-AlphaVinyl) ended in high drama as leading rival Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) made a dramatic late attack, only to crash heavily, while the Belgian himself had a puncture in the finale.
Evenepoel's late puncture occurred almost at the same time that Roglic attacked but, since it came inside the three-kilometre 'safety zone', he was able to continue at his own pace to the line.
During an initial press huddle at the line, Belgian played down the idea that his puncture might not have actually happened, saying "nobody can say anything. I'm not a guy who is going to fake such things."
He also expressed concern for crash victim Roglic, saying "I spoke with him in the dressing rooms and asked if he was OK. I think he was groggy and was going to hospital."
Although he was initially timed at nearly five minutes down, by the time he reached the line, a race communique confirmed that both he and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), also caught up by a race incident late on, were given the same eight-second gap to the winning group containing Roglic.
Given the puncture, Evenepoel had a relatively long wait at the finish until the organisation finally confirmed his ongoing leadership, but he insisted that he had been well positioned and wanted to fight for the win when it happened.
"We were fighting for position, I was sitting not at the front, but also not at the back, just in the middle of the group," Evenepoel said of the short climb where Roglic attacked.
"I felt really good, I also wanted to fight for the stage win, but I had a flat tyre at the back. I felt immediately that the grip was going. I had to change it."
Evenepoel said that it had been fortunate that he had been in the last three kilometres, "and not at five kilometres to go when there was a fast downhill and a lot of roundabouts. I think after my bad luck of previous days, now I get some good luck."
Impromptu interpretations of the yin and yang of bike racing notwithstanding, Evenepoel added that when he punctured, although the team had used the rest day to recon the final 15 kilometres of the stage his stress levels had risen considerably.
Speaking to French language reporters, he added that "I wasn't sure if there was the 3km rule. But in the end, Klaas [Lodewyck, sports director] told me over the radio that there was, so that reassured me and calmed me a little bit."
He also added that he had no idea what Roglic had been doing when he punctured, just that he was getting into position to respond to attacks. His concern had been more that he was afraid of losing the lead because of his uncertainty about the three-kilometer rule and as a result "I panic a little bit before that."
As for Roglic, Evenepoel expressed repeated concern that he hoped the Slovenian was OK. A victim of a very bad crash in Il Lombardia two years ago, he added that "it's never good when you have to leave the race because of an accident."
A hypothetical absence of Roglic from the race would arguably leave it bereft of what was going to be a spectacular showdown between the Belgian and the Slovenian. If Roglic's late attack on stage 16 proved anything, it was that the Jumbo-Visma racer was going to take every chance on offer to try and go for a fourth overall win.
Evenepoel, in any case, continues onwards in his own battle to win his first Grand Tour. After the fraught events of stage 16, Evenepoel expects stage 17, with a second category uphill finish, to be relatively straightforward, before stage 18's uphill finish at El Piornal could prove a tougher challenge.
"I recovered well from the last weekend and I think I can start the last week with confidence. Let's hope we can keep fighting all the way to Madrid."
