Alaphilippe whizzes to stage win as Thomas retains yellow

Julian Alaphilippe’s descending skills made the difference as the Frenchman claimed his second victory in the Tour de France to take the 16th stage on Tuesday.

The Quick-Step Floors rider whizzed past Adam Yates 6km from the line after the Briton had hit the asphalt in a left-hand curve in the final descent.

Spain’s Gorka Izagirre took second place and Yates finished third, 15sec behind.

The stage was briefly interrupted with 187km to go by a farmers’ protest. Police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, with some riders being affected. Among them was world champion Peter Sagan and Briton Geraint Thomas, who retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after an otherwise comfortable 218km mountain ride from Carcassonne.

Thomas still leads his Team Sky mate Chris Froome by 1min 39sec and Dutchman Tom Dumoulin by 1:50 going into Wednesday’s 17th stage, a brutal 65km up-and-down trek from Bagneres-de-Luchon to SaintLary-Soulan.

Downhills were tricky on Tuesday and Philippe Gilbert went spectacularly over a low stone wall in the descent from the Col du Portet d’Aspet. The Belgian got back on his bike after disappearing in the ravine for a couple of minutes.

It was in the same descent that Italian Fabio Casartelli crashed and died in the 1995 Tour de France.