Villard-de-Lans (France) (AFP)
The German Lennard Kämna (Bora) won the 16th stage of the Tour de France alone on Tuesday, which arrived on the heights of Villard-de-Lans, in the Vercors.
The favorite peloton, with the Slovenian yellow jersey Primoz Roglic, was more than a quarter of an hour behind when Kämna crossed the finish line.
Kämna, stage winner at the recent Dauphiné, was the strongest up front despite the quality of his opponents.
Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, winner of the last Giro, took second place, almost a minute and a half behind, ahead of Swiss champion Sébastien Reichenbach, third at more than two minutes.
At Puy Mary, last Friday, the young German rider (24) had only come close to victory.
He was beaten in the last few hundred meters by Colombian Dani Martinez.
The victory of the stage was played this time between the members of the breakaway river of 23 riders formed in several stages in the first half of the race.
The French Quentin Pacher, who took the lead of the group 35 kilometers from the finish, came forward, at the foot of the climb to Saint-Nizier de Moucherotte, with a lead of around 13 minutes on the peloton.
Approaching the summit, less than 21 kilometers from the finish, Kämna took over Carapaz, the more offensive on the climb.
He then widened the gap on the Vercors plateau and brought the Bora team their first success since the start from Nice, the first also by a German rider since John Degenkolb during the 2018 Tour.
© 2020 AFP