Spaniard Ruben Plaza held off Peter Sagan to win a very difficult Stage 16 of the Tour de France Monday that was marred by a huge crash involving Geraint Thomas.
In the final stage before the Tour moves into the Alps, riders had to tackle numerous small inclines followed by a steep descent, which is notoriously dangerous.
Beginning in Bourg-de-Péage and ending in Gap, the stage challenged the riders' ability to gauge where they needed to be on the roads in order to get through the race without crashing. Plaza was able to pull away from the peloton early to avoid the potential for any crash and out-raced Sagan for the win. Sagan has now finished second in five of the 16 stages.
But the biggest story coming out of the race was Thomas' crash. Frenchman Warren Barguil bumped into Thomas coming around one of the corners during the steep descent, causing Thomas to be pushed off the road and crash into a wooden telephone pole. Amazingly, Thomas was able to simply shake it off and rejoin the race, finishing as if nothing had happened. When he was interviewed after finishing, Thomas was understandably upset with Barguil, echoing what NBC's commentators have said about the Frenchman needing to be more careful.
Team Sky's Chris Froome – leading by 3 minutes, 10 seconds – maintained his hold on the yellow jersey while Columbian Nairo Quintana is in second and American Tejay van Garderen is in third.
Tuesday will be a rest day before Stage 17 commences. The first of four stages in the French Alps, Stage 17 will be a 100-mile race beginning in Digne-les-Bains and finishing in Pra Loup.
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