Jon Izagirre bridged two fantastic climbers in Vincenzo Nibali and Jarlinson Pantano up the Col de Joux Plane and had the steely reserve to out-descend both riders on a rainy and dangerous descent, winning Stage 20 of the 2016 Tour de France. Chris Froome sealed his third yellow jersey after a careful ride behind his Sky teammates.
Tour de France standings 2016: Chris Froome wins yellow jersey, Jon Izagirre wins Stage 20
Jon Izagirre won the last breakaway of the 2016 Tour de France with the best descent of the last three weeks. Chris Froome rode cautiously and sealed his third yellow jersey.
The last day of general classification racing was also one of the hardest. Unlike Stage 19, however, riders were cautious in the treacherous conditions. Chris Froome was well protected by Team Sky, and there were few attacks from the top 10 GC riders a day after Romain Bardet blew up the standings. The yellow jersey group remained relatively intact until the descent from the summit of Joux Plane.
There were a few exceptions. Fabio Aru, who rode well Friday, plummeted out of the top 10 of the general classification after finishing 17 minutes, 38 seconds back of Izagirre. Astana drove the pace of the peloton early, seemingly to keep Aru in position to move up the standings once again, but the Italian cracked somewhere up the slopes of the Col de Joux-Plane.
Conversely, Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha, riding his last Tour ever, was a big a winner, moving up to seventh on the general classification after a savvy descent to finish eighth on the stage.
Early attacks led to a big breakaway of 30 riders, driven dutifully by the 2016 green jersey winner Peter Sagan. When his legs finally gave out on the lower slopes of Col de la Ramaz, the break splintered. At the base of the day’s final climb, two riders were in the lead: Jarlinson Pantano and Julian Alaphilippe. The chase contained nine riders: Izagirre, Sergio Henao, Vincenzo Nibali, Wilco Kelderman, Thomas de Gendt, Pierre Rolland, Ilnur Zakarin, Rui Costa and, most interestingly, Roman Kreuziger.
Kreuziger entered the stage in 12th place, 9 minutes, 45 seconds out of first and 5 minutes, 18 seconds out of a podium place. At one point, he was the virtual second place rider on the general classification with no reaction from the peloton, Nairo Quintana and Movistar most notably. Ultimately, Kreuziger finished sixth at 1 minute, 44 seconds behind Izagirre to jump to 10th on the general classification, bumping Bauke Mollema.
Up the final climb, Alaphilippe made an aggressive move to leave Pantano with 17 kilometers to go but couldn’t shake the man voted as the No. 3 most aggressive rider of the Tour. Vincenzo Nibali bridged the duo from the nine-man chase, then slung past with three kilometers to the summit of Col de Joux Plane. Nibali, a prodigious descender, knew he would be in prime position to win the stage if he could summit the final climb by himself.
He couldn’t quite get away, however. Pantano caught Nibali, and Izagirre surged out of the chase to bridge, with Alaphilippe chasing close behind. The road to the finish in Mozine, already fast and dangerous, was also soaked as the riders descended beneath pouring rain. Izagirre handled the roads brilliantly, never wobbling around several difficult bends against two ace descenders.
Stage 20 was seemingly set for more fireworks, but the rain, tired legs and prior day’s crashes took some of the bite out of the competition. The general classification was mostly content to survive the day, knowing that they’ll be making a trip to Paris on Sunday and soon celebrating three weeks of exhausting work.
Tour de France Stage 20 top 10
1. Jon Izagirre - 4h 06’45”
2. Jarlinson Pantano + 19”
3. Vincenzo Nibali + 42”
4. Julian Alaphilippe + 49”
5. Rui Costa + 1’43”
6. Roman Kreuziger + 1’44”
7. Wilco Kelderman + 49”
8. Joaquim Rodriguez + 3’24”
9. Daniel Martin + 4’12”
10. Romain Bardet + 4’12”
Tour de France general classification top 10 after Stage 20
1. Chris Froome
2. Romain Bardet + 4’05”
3. Nairo Quintana + 4’21”
4. Adam Yates + 4’42”
5. Richie Porte + 5’17”
6. Alejandro Valverde + 6’16”
7. Joaquim Rodriguez + 6’58”
8. Louis Meintjes + 6’58”
9. Daniel Martin + 7’04”
10. Roman Kreuziger + 7’11”
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