Villard-de-Lans (France) (AFP)

Lennard Kämna won Tuesday the 16th stage of the Tour de France on the heights of Villard-de-Lans, taking advantage of the neutralization between favorites which saw the Slovenian Primoz Roglic keep the yellow jersey before the main alpine stages.

On the eve of the queen stage at the Col de la Loze, the candidates for the final podium remained together.

But Tadej Pogacar, the young Slovenian who occupies second place, took care to test the yellow jersey, his compatriot Primoz Roglic, in the last two kilometers.

Almost 17 minutes after the arrival of the winner!

Up front, Kämna, with spectacular progress this year, was the strongest despite the quality of his opponents (Carapaz, Alaphilippe, Barguil, Benoot, Sivakov, etc.).

His last "victim"?

Nothing less than the winner of the last Giro, the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, who believed he was able to bring some comfort to the Ineos team, the big loser of this Tour.

And to replace his leader, the Colombian Egan Bernal, very late on arrival at Villard-de-Lans, to the point of leaving doubt about the rest of his Tour 2020.

- Maneuvered Carapaz -

Kämna maneuvered masterfully behind Carapaz, the most offensive in the climb to Saint-Nizier-de-Moucherotte.

Swiss champion Sébastien Reichenbach and Julian Alaphilippe were taken down by the Ecuadorian but the German came back to take the lead as the summit approached, less than 21 kilometers from the finish.

"I was in the wheel of Carapaz, I saw that his legs did not turn so well," said the winner of the day.

"I preferred to let go before the summit because I thought I would be able to distance him a little more then on the flat. I did not want to take the risk of a new sprint, to avoid the same mishap as in Puy Mary".

Last Friday, the young German (24) had indeed come close to victory.

But he was beaten by the Colombian Dani Martinez in the 13th stage ending on the slopes of the Auvergne volcano.

Kämna brought the Bora team its first success since leaving Nice, the first also by a German rider since John Degenkolb in 2018.

"I think that in the future I will be able to play the general standings", estimated the German, who observed a hiatus of several months in his career in 2018 before relaunching himself.

"A welcome reset," he commented.

- Roglic way La Palice -

For Roglic, apart from the acceleration of Pogacar in the final, the day passed without concern.

The yellow jersey especially evoked after the arrival the next day, the queen stage which ends Wednesday at 2304 meters above sea level - the highest point of this Tour - at the Loze pass, above Méribel .

"The last 5 kilometers are just insanely difficult," said the Slovenian about the old mountain track, which has been paved since last year and has many slope breaks.

"Tadej (Pogacar) is my closest rival. I have to watch him at all times," added Roglic, who has a 40-second overall lead over his runner-up.

Knowing that the bonus allocated to the winner amounts to 10 seconds (6 seconds in the second, 4 seconds in the third), the fight promises to be fierce between the two Slovenes, the strongest of this Tour so far.

Especially in the perspective of the time trial of La Planche des Belles Filles, scheduled for Saturday in the Vosges, in eastern France.

Pragmatic, the yellow jersey has also answered, with the obvious, to a question about this safety mattress: "It's better to have 40 seconds more but on the other hand, it's never enough. . "

To conclude: "I am happy with the current situation."

© 2020 AFP