Tour de France 2022 LIVE: Stage 16 updates as Tadej Pogacar attacks Jonas Vingegaard

LIVE – Updated at 15:08

The Tour de France gets it’s final week of racing for 2022 started today as the riders travel the hilly route from Carcassonne to Foix. Belgian Jasper Philipsen claimed his maiden victory on the Tour when he won a bunch sprint in the 15th stage on Sunday beating compatriot Wout van Aert and Dane Mads Pedersen, who were second and third respectively.

Yellow jersey holder and GC leader Jonas Vingegaard suffered a bad day following a crash and the loss of teammates Steven Kruijswijk and Primoz Roglic but recovered to make it back into the peloton and still leads Tadej Pogacar by two minutes and 22 seconds. With temperatures rising above 40 degrees Celsius, race organisers had to spray parts of the road with water to cool down the melting tar before the riders passed.

Monday was the final rest day of this year’s race so the riders will be refreshed after a gruelling stretch of the Tour and it is likely that general classification contenders will attempt to save their legs ahead of the bigger mountain stages to come. Stage 16 features four categorised climbs - two at the start and a trickier pair near the end - that is likely to suit skilled climbers like Romain Bardet. Can he triumph as the French riders continue to search for an elusive stage win?

A bigger question, however, is how Vingegaard will fare after his crash and whether defending champion Pogacar feels the time is right to renew his attack for the yellow jersey. This Tour de France has been unpredictable on almost every stage so far and today’s race looks set to be no different.

Follow all the action from Stage 16 of the Tour de France:

39km to go: Repeated attacks from Tadej Pogacar have both been seen off by Jonas Vingegaard but will