Tour de France 2018: Julian Alaphilippe wins stage 16 after Adam Yates crashes
- From the section Cycling
Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe won an eventful stage 16 of the Tour de France after Britain's Adam Yates crashed late on while leading.
Yates crested the final climb alone but fell on the descent 7km before the finish in Bagneres-de-Luchon.
Alaphilippe was applying the pressure behind and swung past to claim his second victory of this year's Tour.
Geraint Thomas kept the yellow jersey and leads fellow Briton and team-mate Chris Froome by one minute 39 seconds.
The race was delayed 29km into the 218km stage from Carcassonne after a protest by French farmers.
Hay bales were thrown across the road before police appeared to use a spray on protesters, which then blew into the peloton, forcing riders, including Team Sky's Thomas and Froome, to stop and douse their eyes with water.
The race was delayed for 15 minutes while riders received medical attention, before a large group broke clear after the resumption, from which Alaphilippe attacked throughout, also extending his lead in the polka dot jersey mountains classification.
Even before Yates' crash, Quick-Step Floors rider Alaphilippe looked on course to catch the 25-year-old, whose front wheel slipped from under him as he hit a wet patch in the road before he got up to finish third.
"I've taken more risks on more technical descents before and never had any problems, but you never know what is coming round these corners," Mitchelton-Scott rider Yates told ITV4.
"I've no bad injuries, just bad morale - it's pretty devastating to come that close to winning a stage of the Tour and not win."
More to follow.
