Michael Matthews (Sunweb) took a well-deserved win on stage 16 of the Tour de France, edging out Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) in a reduced bunch sprint in Romans-sur-Isère. The win marked Matthews second stage of the race and saw him claw back 50 points on Marcel Kittel (QuickStep Floors) in the green jersey competition.
The stage was marked by the constant threat of crosswinds but the lead group only split inside the final 15 kilometres with Team Sky putting the hammer down. Their surge in pace put Daniel Martin (Quick-Step Floors), Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) and Louis Meintjes (UAE Emirates) to the sword. Martin and Meintjes both lost thirty seconds on the yellow jersey group, while Contador conceded well over a minute to see his top 10 chances take a further hit. Chris Froome had a relatively calm day and leads the race by 18 seconds from Fabio Aru (Astana) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) in third, a further five seconds adrift.
Rigoberto Urán remains in fourth with Mikel Landa back up to fifth after Martin missed the key split. The Irishman now sits seventh, 2:03 off yellow with Meintjes one place further down the standings, a full six minutes down on Froome.
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The stage, however, belonged to Matthews and his Sunweb team who served up one of the best examples of teamwork and sacrifice witnessed at this year's Tour de France. Their masterpiece began early as they dictated the race in the early stages – seeing off Kittel on the first climb of the day before neutralising early breaks and positioning Matthews in the first group. The Australian pulled back 20 points by winning the intermediate sprint with KOM leader Warren Barguil instrumental in pulling the peloton along.
When the lead group eventually did split in the frantic crosswinds Sunweb kept their numbers near the front with Matthews gunning for his second win in less than a week. With Kittel dispatched with early in the stage and Nacer Bouhanni's (Cofidis) reserves depleted after a long chase, the Australian had to be happy to be facing fewer rivals, but Degenkolb, Boasson Hagen and André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) would be no pushovers, especially given that all three are still searching for their first stage wins this year.
In the technical finale Matthews was brought to the front by Nikias Ardnt, just as Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet began to lead out with 300 metres to go. The BMC rider's tactics were clear – hit the front through the tight corners and hold out for as long as possible – but with Boasson Hagen, Matthews, and Degenkolb all hovering it was always going to be a tough ask.
How it unfolded
Crosswinds
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