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 Tuesday on the heights of Villard-de-Lans, in the Vercors.

The candidates for the podium remained grouped on the eve of the unprecedented arrival at the Col de la Loze, in the queen stage of the Tour.

Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo) was only tested by his runner-up and compatriot Tadej Pogacar in the last 2 kilometers.

The first peloton, with Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez as scout, reached the finish line approaching 17 minutes behind the winner.

Up front, Kämna, stage winner on the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, was the strongest despite the quality of his opponents.

Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, winner of the 2019 Giro, took second place, nearly a minute and a half behind, ahead of Swiss champion Sébastien Reichenbach, third within two minutes.

Warren Barguil finished sixth, Julian Alaphilippe tenth.

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.

Quentin Pacher, who took the lead of the group 35 kilometers from the finish, came forward, at the foot of the Saint-Nizier de Moucherotte climb, with an advance of around 13 minutes over the pack.

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 its first success since the start from Nice, the first also by a German rider since John Degenkolb in 2018.

Defaulting Sunday in the Grand Colombier, the outgoing winner of the Tour, the Colombian Egan Bernal, was stalled in the main climb of the day.

Before the start of La Tour-du-Pin, the whole peloton had learned that the entire "race bubble", runners and team management, had been "negative" during the last wave of Covid detection tests .

On Wednesday, the Tour reaches its highest point, 2304 meters above sea level, at the conclusion of the 17th stage of 170 kilometers which starts from Grenoble.

The final takes an old mountain track, paved since last year and presenting on the last 7 kilometers many breaks in slope.

© 2020 AFP