Ilan Van Wilder gained two places in the overall standings.
Thonon-les-Bains, the historic capital of Chablais and the town where Jacques Anquetil took one of his early Tour de France stage victories, returned at the Grande Boucle as a finish for the first time in more than four decades. Back in 1981, Sean Kelly won at the end of a hilly road stage, whereas now, the battle for victory had the time trial specialists in the spotlight.
The 26.1km course that got underway from Evian-les-Bains was one of two halves: the only individual stage against the clock of this year’s edition began with a climb, the 9.7km Côte de Larringes, followed by a fast descent with a couple of technical corners and a flattish final part favoring the pure specialists of the discipline.
Bronze medalist at last year’s ITT World Championships, Ilan Van Wilder finished stage 16 as the best Soudal Quick-Step rider after stopping the clock in 35:40 thanks to a 43.9km/h average speed. As a result, Ilan improved his general classification and sits in a solid 11th place, just some 40-odd seconds from the top ten.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
