UAE Team Emirates-XRG take second and fifth in the stage 16 ITT, with Pogačar and Isaac del Toro, respectively, as Pogačar continues to defend Yellow
Tadej Pogačar demonstrated his ability against the clock at the Tour de France
Stage 16 of the Tour de France provided the race’s one and only individual time trial, and both Tadej Pogačar and Isaac del Toro delivered assured displays for UAE Team Emirates-XRG. The race leader Pogačar clocked in a searing time to take second place on the day, whilst Del Toro could be happy with fifth.
The results ensure both men defend their leads in the general and young rider classification, respectively, with Pogačar in the Yellow Jersey and Del Toro in white. In the race against the clock, Pogačar was only beaten by the reigning world champion in this discipline, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe).
Nevertheless, the Yellow Jersey limited his losses to the Belgian, and will head into stage 17 with a race lead of over four and a half minutes. Del Toro, meanwhile, remains in third overall, and looks set to battle with Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM for the white jersey.
The 26km ITT included 430m of elevation, with the first 10km of the stage raced uphill. After this climb, a technical descent led the riders into a flat final 5km. Pogačar and Del Toro both rode strongly, as did their UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Felix Großschartner, who placed 13th on the day.
Speaking after the finish, Pogačar noted his disappointment at missing out on the stage win, but praised the performance of the day’s winner, Evenepoel.
Pogačar: “I was a bit disappointed that at the top of the climb, I was around 15 seconds behind Remco, and then I thought, ‘ok, I do not risk until the finish.’ Then in one corner where Lipowitz crashed, in the recon there were some cars from the organisation so I didn’t see that corner like I wanted. I almost crashed also, so I hope Lipowitz is ok and he will recover quickly. It is sad again to see one more GC contender out.”
“Obviously, I wanted to go for the win, but Remco is world champion, Olympic champion, European champion, all in the TT, and chapeau to him. He rode a brilliant ride. [This Tour] is not over, it is not over yet, and we have quite the week ahead of us. The gap is good, but you never know what can happen. Let’s go with confidence and morale into the weekend.”
Tour de France 2026 stage 16 results:
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) 32:19
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 28″
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +1:04
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1:21
Tour de France 2026 general classification after stage 16:
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 56:14:18
- Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +4:32
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +6:51
