Ion Izagirre (Movistar) won the final mountain stage of the 2016 Tour de France, attacking on the descent of the Col de Joux Plane to take the biggest win of his career. He outdistanced Jarlinson Pantano (IAM Cycling) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) after the trio had formed as a group just before the summit of the climb.
Chris Froome and his Team Sky teammates, haunted by his crash the previous stage, took the descent more carefully and crossed the line over four minutes later. Froome is just one processional stage from Paris away from winning his third Tour de France title.
Froome will ride into Paris with a 4:05 lead over second place Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in third at 4:21.
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Despite the heavy rain and the four categorised climbs before the wet descent into Morzine the race leader was put under little pressure with his team once again shepherding him towards safety. The day was dominated by riders further down the classification trying to move up with Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff) starting the day in 12th overall and successfully infiltrating the day’s early break that contained over 30 riders and his teammate Peter Sagan.
The day’s break decided the points of each of the four climbs with Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) particularly aggressive.
Behind the break Astana set the pace in a bid to set up Fabio Aru for one final assault with the final climb of the Joux Plane acting as the final battleground for this year’s Tour. As the race hit the final climb, the break splintered with Pantano and Julian Alaphilippe riding clear of what was left of Kreuziger’s group.
Tour de France stage 20 highlights video
How it unfolded
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