Austrian National Champion Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) won the first Tour de France stage of his career on Tuesday, launching a vicious attack from two breakaway companions at the base of Col de Portet d’Aspet. After 35 kilometres charging solo on wet roads, he finished 42 seconds ahead of his closest five chasers in Saint-Gaudens to secure the second breakaway win of the Tour for his team.
Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) would just edge out Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) for second place. Both sprinters made it across in the second breakaway group of the day to score in the points classification, with Matthews now closing his gap in second place to points leader Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep) from 72 to 37 points, and the Italian champion is another 47 points back in third.
The general classification remained unchanged, as contenders finished more than 12 minutes behind Konrad. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) sprinted to the line with Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), the Ecuadorian taking one place ahead of the yellow jersey in 13th position.
Stage 16 started in Pas de la Case in Andorra, the highest stage start in Tour de France history at 2,080 metres, with 19 kilometres neutralized so that riders could stop take off capes and gloves before the racing across 169 kilometres and four categorised climbs commenced.
Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was the first to attack as rain began to fall, but his group of three was caught mid-way through the stage. Another breakaway took shape with 78km to go they are on first-category Col de la Core and grew to 11 riders. It was from this bunch that Konrad seized his opportunity for his victory.
Watch how stage 16 at the Tour de France unfolded in the video highlights above.
