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By Belga
A protest came to interrupt the race momentarily at kilometer 29. After the incidents, Damien Howson gave up, suffering from a small fracture in his right hand
After a second day of rest in Carcbadonne, the Tour de France regains its rights for a final week of racing. Tuesday, the 16th stage leads the pack, the 149 riders still in the race, Bagneres-de-Luchon on a course of 218 kilometers with 5 pbades in the program. The Great Loop approaches the Pyrenees
The crossing of Aude and Ariège in the east-west direction will lead to Portet d'Aspet, 62.5 kilometers from the finish. In the descent, the race will pbad in front of the stele reminding the fatal fall of the Italian Fabio Casartelli in 1995 and will attack the Menté pbad (1st category), an ascent of 6.9 kilometers to 8.1%, to 1.349 m altitude
A short incursion into Spain, in the Aran Valley, will finally lead to the Portillon, the last difficulty of the day (8.3 km to 7.1%). The summit, at an altitude of 1,292 m, located 10 kilometers from the line, precedes a "sinuous and complicated" descent, according to the words of race director Thierry Gouvenou
The Britishman Geraint Thomas (Sky) is still a jersey yellow, but he lost a teammate Sunday with the exclusion of the Italian Gianni Moscon, guilty of a bad gesture "particularly serious" against a competitor.
The Col du Portillon "decisive" in his ascent and descent
"Positioned at the end of the stage, the Col du Portillon could be decisive both in its ascent and in its descent to Bagnères-de-Luchon," predicted on his side Christian Prudhomme, the boss of the Tour [19659005] Luchon (2,600 inhabitants), city-stage since 1910 when the Tour attacked for the first time in the Pyrenees, receives the race for the 59th time. Thomas Voeckler (2012), Australian Michael Rogers (2014) and Briton Chris Froome (2016) are the last three winners in the spa town dear to Edmond Rostand, the author of Cyrano. The last Belgian to have won at Luchon was Eddy Merckx in 1972.
Wednesday and Friday will offer two more big mountain stages before a 31-kilometer individual time trial on Saturday in Espelette to decide the outcome of this Grande Boucle if it will not be done already in the high mountains
The start of the 16th stage was given at 11:30 (real departure at 11:40) in Carcbadonne. Arrival is scheduled at 5:20 pm (average forecast of 38 km / h)
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