Following the second rest day of the race, the 2025 Tour de France continued Tuesday with stage 16 – – a 169.3-kilometer ride on a route from Montpellier to Mont Ventoux. Following a long stretch in relatively flat terrain, much would likely be decided on the legendary climb where Tommy Simpson tragically passed away in 1967 after pushing himself beyond his own limits.

Jonas Vingegaard and the rest of Team Visma-Lease a Bike had used the second rest day to announce intentions to attack Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) on all fronts on The Bald Mountain, known for its lack of vegetation beyond the tree line and its limestone summit where winds dominate the climate. Unfortunately for the Visma team, Pogacar was leading the general classification by more than four minutes and had previously explained his dream of winning in the yellow on Mont Ventoux, as the Slovenian rider had a passion for creating memorable and historic results. Florian Lipowitz was third in the GC for Team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, while Britain’s Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) was fourth and Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin fifth for Arkea B & B Hotels.

Stage 16 almost started at high noon, and the riders left scenic Montpellier and its medieval historic center in hot weather conditions. It did not take long before attacks were launched. Wout van Aert was the first rider to attempt a breakaway, and the Belgian rider was followed by Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek on a mission to protect his green points classification jersey. Lenny Martinez tried his luck and the Frenchman from Bahrain-Victorious certainly liked the idea of winning a stage on Mont Ventoux in the polka-dot jersey.

Riders continued launching breakaway attempts from the front on the peloton while being observed by the Pic Saint Loup mountain ridge, though the riders had no time to appreciate its famous wolf-eared shape. Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Xandro Meurisse opened a small gap with a Tudor Pro Cycling Team duo featuring Marco Haller and Marc Hirschi. Perhaps Meurisse was on a mission to honor his team captain Mathieu van der Poel who had sadly been forced to abandon the race due to illness after some very noteworthy and memorable performances in this year’s Tour.

The Meurisse-led front trio had an advantage of just ten seconds with 140 kilometers remaining while additional riders, such as Magnus Cort, Benjamin Thomas, Julian Alaphilippe and Wout van Aert, were trying to make the leap, though riders from UAE Team Emirates were monitoring the action very closely and shutting down any unwished attempts that King Tadej did not approve of.

Tim Wellens, Victor Campenaerts and Ben Healy launched a counterattack, but got reeled in. Meanwhile, the front trio fought on and increased its advantage to more than half a minute. It appeared Wellens had been on a mission to signal a stop to further breakaway attempts. Pogacar wanted the stage win on a brand-new aero Colnago bike he had received for the planned occasion.

Movistar tried to launch an attack with a Jayco-Alula rider and a very aggressive Nils Politt of UAE Team Emirates yelled at them while signaling for them to stop. The team was behaving very dominantly and wouldn’t even allow for the usual breakaways in a mountain stage. Perhaps the team was sadly starting to suffer from megalomania tendencies after having been so successful in the first two weeks of the Tour? Meanwhile, Victor Campenaerts and other riders from Visma-Lease a Bike were lurking shortly behind while scanning the zone for any attacking opportunities.

The animated racing in the front part of the main peloton had resulted in a very high speed, which caused the front trio to get reeled in with approximately one hundred kilometers to the summit of Mont Ventoux. The stage win was highly sought after and Van Aert, Campenaerts and other riders tried to split the peloton while UAE Team Emirates was no longer visible near the front and had spent much energy.

Intense racing was taking place under the old sycamore trees and twenty-four riders had formed a large front group while being chased by a smaller group, which wanted to join the breakaway fun. Eventually the sycamore-induced shade would fade and make way for hot and even more challenging racing conditions under sunny skies.

The breakaway situation got reshuffled while the riders were close to the ancient Roman aqueduct of Pont du Gard. New connections were being formed in the Tour peloton and several riders from various teams were showing dedicated initiative at the front.

A thirty-four-rider front group had fought its way to a lead of two minutes over the main peloton with 88 kilometers remaining. Alpecin-Deceuninck riders Jonas Rickaert and Emiel Verstrynge were trying to make the leap to the front group but were forty-eight seconds back. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) had also escaped from the main peloton and was joining forces with Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) to make it to the front group before the intermediate sprint in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, where points and fine French wines could be won. Perhaps the prizes weren’t held in high regard as Milan and Girmay were caught shortly later.

With Richaert and Verstrynge chasing further back, the 34-man front breakaway group was 02:45 minutes ahead of the peloton and featured riders such as Pavel Sivakov (UAE), Marc Soler (UAE), Tiesj Benoot (Team Visma), Victor Campenaerts (Team Visma), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), Fred Wright (Bahrain), Thymen Arensman (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling), Marc Hirschi (Tudor), Enric Mas (Movistar), Gregor Muhlberger (Movistar), Alex Aranburu (Cofidis Team), Mathieu Burgaudeau (Team TotalEnergies), and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility).

The front group crossed the Rhone River and approached Chateauneuf-du-Pape, where the intermediate sprint would be contested. The points for the points competition would be earned by riders in the breakaway, so it would help Milan maintain his lead and the green jersey.

A split occurred in the front group five kilometers from the intermediate sprint as seven riders formed a new attacking group while animated by Matteo Trentin for Tudor Pro Cycling teammate Julian Alaphilippe. The group also featured Wright, Mas, Simone Velasco, Jonas Abrahamsen, Arensman and Pascal Eekhoorn.

Abrahamsen won the intermediate sprint closely followed by Velasco and the eight-rider front group with a lead of 28 seconds over the larger chase group. The main peloton was almost five minutes behind the front men with sixty kilometers remaining. UAE Team Emirates riders were spearheading the main peloton followed by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in support of Florian Lipowitz and Primoz Roglic.

The seven-man front group had a lead of 01:38 minutes over the large chase group when forty kilometers remained. The main peloton was six minutes behind, and stage 16 was approaching its finale. 

Matteo Trentin got dropped in the uphill stretch leading up to the legendary Mont Ventoux. It was expected the heavy Italian could not offer any support for Alaphilippe in the uphill sections. Arensman, Alaphilippe, Mas, and Velasco pressed on in a new four-man front group, while Abrahamsen was chasing eight seconds behind. Healy and the rest of a large chase group were 01:34 minutes behind, while the Visma-headed main peloton was no less than 06:27 minutes back.

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe was the first rider to enter Mont Ventoux. Velasco got dropped and Alaphilippe fought on with Arensman and Mas.

Enric Mas left Alaphilippe and Arensman behind and had fought his way to a lead of 22 seconds with 12.7-kilometers to the summit and finish line. Arensman and Alaphilippe were in the first chase group while other chasers were now dropping off the radar. Valentin Paret-Peintre had attacked from the larger chase group further back and was now 01:20 minutes behind Mas, while Ilan van Wilder, Ben Healy, Santiago Buitrago, Ewen Costiou, and Michael Woods were chasing.

Enric Mas of Team Movistar and Spain continued to increase his advantage in the following kilometers and was forty seconds ahead of Arensman and Alaphilippe when ten kilometers remained.

The Healy chase group featured Paret-Peintre, who had been reeled in after his solo attempt, Buitrago, Woods, and Healy himself. The group was 01:23 minutes behind. Further back a GC favorites group was spearheaded by Sepp Kuss, in support of Jonas Vingegaard, but followed by a smiling Tadej Pogacar who appeared to be enjoying the climb together with teammate Pavel Sivakov. The eleven riders were more than five minutes behind.

With Mas 01:09 minutes further up the road, Healy, Paret-Peintre, Woods and Buitrago caught Alaphilippe and then Arensman.

Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies) attacked from the GC favorites group, but Pogacar and Vingegaard did not respond. Jonas Vingegaard attacked solo, and Pogacar immediately responded. The Visma man in the red helmet appeared unable to drop Pogacar. 

Tiesj Benoot joined Vingegaard and set a fast speed up Mont Ventoux with Pogacar on Vingegaard’s rear wheel.

Mas was still solo in front of the stage with 6.5 kilometers to the finish line. Healy was 45 seconds behind with Paret-Peintre and Buitrago.

Denmark’s Vingegaard attacked again, but Pogacar stuck to his rear wheel and looked ready to counterattack in his yellow skinsuit. Further up the road Healy and Paret-Peintre had dropped Buitrago.

Campenaerts was waiting for Vingegaard and delivered a strong pulling effort for Denmark’s Vingegaard on the climb, but Pogacar was still not suffering on the mythical mountain.

Healy and Paret-Peintre caught Mas with four kilometers to the summit of Mont Ventoux. The Irishman pressed on and was delivering a remarkable performance, which was a joy to watch.

Vingegaard attacked as he and Pogacar passed Arensman. Pogacar responded well and the attack did not cause any changes. Valentin Paret-Peintre attacked Healy further up the road and the riders in the duo were both hoping for a memorable stage win. But Vingegaard and Pogacar were just two minutes behind with 2.5 kilometers left and they certainly wanted the stage victory as well, though only one could win.

Buitrago and Mas caught Paret-Peintre and Healy with less than two kilometers to the summit finish line of The Bald Mountain.

Pogacar attacked Vingegaard with 1.5 kilometers left and Vingegaard responded. Vingegaard countered, but Pogacar stuck to his wheel.

While Mas got dropped from the front group with 700 meters left, Paret-Peintre teammate Van Wilder joined from behind and it was now Healy vs Buitrago vs the Paret-Peintre and Van Wilder teammates. Vingegaard and Pogacar were 43 seconds behind and were cancelling out each other.

Ben Healy launched an attack in the final meters and Valentin Paret-Peintre responded. Valentin Paret-Peintre proved the strongest man and won stage 16 ahead of Healy. Santiago Buitrago completed the stage podium four seconds later, while Ilan van Wilder finished fourth, fourteen seconds back. Tadej Pogacar finished fifth - just ahead of Jonas Vingegaard. Enric Mas was seventh, Julian Alaphilippe eighth, Primoz Roglic ninth, while Florian Lipowitz completed the stage top ten.

Tadej Pogacar remains general classification leader following today’s stage. Jonas Vingegaard is 04:15 minutes behind in second place, while Florian Lipowitz is in third place, now 09:03 behind the leader. Oscar Onley is fourth in the GC, Primoz Roglic is fifth, Kevin Vauquelin is sixth, while Felix Gall is seventh. Tobias Halland Johannessen is eighth, Ben Healy climbed to ninth, while Carlos Rodriguez completes the GC top ten.

The Tour de France will continue Wednesday with stage 17 - a 160.4-kilometer ride in hilly terrain on a route from Bollene to Valence. Two Category 4 climbs will have to be conquered, and breakaway optimists will likely aim for a stage victory.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Tour de France.