Here’s Caleb Ewan’s instant reaction:
To be honest I felt so bad today during the day. I think the heat really got to me and I was suffering so much and was about to tell Max [Monfort] to go up to the front because I was really suffering. We weren’t in an ideal situation with 1km to go. QuickStep came past and I lost a few more positions. I looked at this finish at the start of the day and I played all the scenarios in my head and one of them was if I was too far back. I think if you watch it I really take a run at it and start sprinting before the rest of the guys, and it worked. It’s a dream to be here. It was such a big dream to win one stage and now I’ve won two. I can’t believe it.
Caleb Ewan wins stage 16!
The Australian Caleb Ewan takes it on the line, steaming through to take it from Elia Viviani! Fantastic acceleration over the last 100m to come from eighth to first!
Updated
2km to go: And it’s all over for the fab five. They led for 167km, but they’ve been consumed by the gaggle now.
3km to go: Still a 10sec advantage for the front five, but they have just turned into a headwind.
4km to go: Another minor crash, involving Ben King and Reinhardt Janse von Rensburg of Dimension Data. Neither looks seriously harmed.
8km to go: The fab five are going to be gobbled up any time now. Their advantage has been halved in the space of a couple of minutes, to 10 seconds now.
10km to go: Into the final stages, and 2.5km until they enter Nimes. The peloton can see the front five now, but are still 20sec behind.
13km to go: Apparently Fuglsang injured his shoulder, but there has been no confirmmation from Astana.
15km to go: There are four Jumbo-Visma riders at the front of the peloton. Tony Martin has just had a go, and now dropped back.
17km to go: The same five riders have now been leading the field for more than 150km. They are currently 45sec ahead of the peloton.
21km to go: This is how his race ended, walking slowly away from the action. So little action on this stage, but still two of the GC contenders have fallen, and one has abandoned.
23km to go: And that is now confirmed: Fuglsang, ninth in the GC this morning, has abandoned.
Updated
25km to go: Unlike Thomas earlier, Fuglsang hasn’t just hopped up and remounted. He’s taken off his helmet and is being ushered towards a doctor, so he’s walking, but it looks like his Tour might be over.
27kmm to go: Crash! There’s a rider on the ground, and it’s Jakob Fuglsang! This time a few others were also involved: Cees Bowl is there, and most of the Astana team seem to have stayed behind with Fuglsang.
31km to go: The peloton reaches Arpaillargues-et-Aureillac. Arpaillargues was almost certainly named by someone who was having dental treatment at the time.
Updated
45km to go: There has clearly been a collective decision to make this potentially troublesome and dramatic section as serene as possible. The fab five have stretched their lead back out to about 50sec, and everybody is basically trying to work out how soon they immerse themselves in a body of cool water.
51km to go: There has been no great crosswind-related drama, but the peloton has quickened and the front five’s cushion has deflated to a mere 25ec.
52km to go: The peloton has just turned left, into the crosswind section. Ineos have four riders at the front. Meanwhile, I promise I’ll stop bleating on about these sheep now, but the commentary is very much a classic of its ilk:
55km to go: It is apparently absolutely roasting in the Gard, and very much a day for squirting water through your helmet.
57km to go: The section identified before the start as key, with its potentially intrigue-inducing crosswinds, is about to start. The fab five are still about a minute up the road.
58km to go: And so to Lédignan, which seems an interesting spot. A couple of previous mentions in the Guardian include one report on the 1851 French coup d’état. “A vast number [of people, obviously] assembled at the rendezvous near Nismes, [sic]” we wrote. “When they were about to march upon the town, intelligence reached them that the troops and National Guard were on foot, and prepared to resist them, whereupon the leaders fled and their followers dispersed, after many acts of pillage of property and arms. The same scenes of plunder took place in several of the towns of the district. At Auduze, the authorities were treated with violence, and at Lédignan the barracks of the gendarmerie were burned to the ground.”
Meanwhile in September 1899 when Alfred Dreyfus was found guilty of treason, “the Municipal Council of Lédignan decided to christen a street in their commune, hitherto known as the Rue de la Republique, the Rue Alfred Dreyfus.” This is commendable, though I can find no evidence of such a road still existing.
62km to go: The helicopters film a hilariously bad attempt to make lots of sheep with yellow-dyed wool fill a vaguely shirty shape. The only problem is that when the helicopters arrive none of the sheep are in position, plus their wool isn’t really very yellow, plus they need at least five times as many sheep to fill their shirty shape.
68km to go: The fab five’s lead is dropping fast, and is now but a mere 50sec. Not that it was ever particularly daunting.
71km to go: The leaders go through Anduze, which is apparently known for its zinc smelting. It also has a clock tower that dates to 1588.
73km to go: There has been precisely to change to the race situation since about 180 seconds after the flag was waved. The same five riders lead, with a gap of about 1min 20sec.
84km to go: Helicopter cameras linger lovingly on the Terril de Rochebelle, an odd-looking pimple on a hillside. According to my in-depth research, it is an “ old-fashioned slag heap”.
87km to go: There is a category four climb up the Côte de Saint-Jean-du-Pin upcoming. They’re about 6km from the summit already, and the leading five still/once again lead by 1min 20sec.
99km to go: Into the last 100km. Nearly there, guys! Meanwhile I’ve been researching all the places on the route over the next 30km or so, trying to find things I can be sarcastic about, but there’s literally nothing to say about any of them.
105km to go: “As a serious cyclist, over 11,000 kms this year and two sportives wins, Thomas is my favourite rider,” writes Keith Aitchison, “but only he can do this.”
112km to go: The leading five currently have a lead of 1min 20sec over the peloton, though the gap has been expanding and contracting like an overused accordion.
Updated
115km to go: A snippet of cycling news: the Telegraph is reporting that Mark Cavendish, who was controversially left out of Dimension Data’s team for the Tour, will ride the Adriatica Ionica, which starts on Thursday.
120km to go: “Any theories on why G seems to fall off more than anyone else? Maybe he doesn’t, it just seems that way,” writes someone on Twitter. I can, I’m afraid, offer few insights into Thomas’s propensity to topple. I did speak to him once, mainly about yoghurt.