Tour de France 2025 - Stage 16: another ideal itinerary for Pogacar?
by Cydias Aujard | by Cydias Aujard
A legendary stage in the making!
This Tuesday 22 July, the peloton takes to the road again for the Tour de France after a well-deserved rest day. Between mountain stages and demanding time trials, the riders have been working hard over the last few days.
And the battle continues on stage 16! You're going to need good legs to perform well in this race. From Montpellier to the famous Mont Ventoux, 172 kilometres await the riders, with a positive altitude difference of 2950 metres. Although the majority of the route is flat, the stage becomes much tougher in the final kilometres, with the finish at the top of Mont Ventoux.
There are 15.7 kilometres to climb to the summit, with an average gradient of 8.8%. You're going to have to be very strong, but above all in good shape, after 15 stages that have not been easy for the Tour riders.
Pogacar: untouchable leader, but still an attacking force?
In itself, Pogacar doesn't need to win this 16th stage or attack to win this 2025 Tour de France. The undisputed leader, the yellow jersey has a 4"13 advantage over Vingegaard, the Slovenian's main rival and runner-up.
As we've seen since the start of this Tour, the step is too high for the other favourites in the general classification to do anything. However, riders like Vingegaard have tried to attack Pogacar and hurt him, but to no avail. The leader of this Tour de France 2025 looks too easy, almost never worried, and is heading straight for his 4th title here.
Although the 26-year-old's performances are open to question, he doesn't seem to want to give up and could well go for another win at the summit of Mont Ventoux. His form is there, his ambition is there and the course suits him well.
A breakaway is likely to form fairly quickly on this stage, either in the Hérault or the Gard, but you're going to have to be strong enough to take on this formidable climb, a pass classified as a non-category climb. Primoz Roglic, Lenny Martinez, Thymen Arensman and Ben O'Connor are all likely to be at the front, battling it out for the polka dot jersey, a place in the top 10 or even stage victory.
But Pogacar, who never seems to have had enough and who saw his team-mate Tim Wellens shine on the last stage, is likely to go hard on Mont Ventoux to go for a 5th stage victory. If there is a battle between the overall leaders, he will have to contend with Jonas Vingegaard and Florian Lipowitz. So, will Pogacar do some serious damage again? Find out later this afternoon!
