Tour de France 2018: Geraint Thomas keeps yellow as Julian Alaphilippe wins chaotic stage 16 after Adam Yates crash

This was a day which had everything, when scripts were ripped up and new plans were written on the hoof, and yet somehow it told us little more than we already know

Geraint Thomas predicted “war” in the Pyrenees and this brutal, chaotic stage from Carcassonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon did its best to live up to the billing. This was a day which had everything, when scripts were ripped up and new plans were written on the hoof, and yet somehow it told us little more than we already know about who will win this Tour de France.

The race was stopped 30km in when police using chemical spray to combat protesting farmers inadvertently hit the peloton, and when it continued it was France’s Julian Alaphilippe who emerged from a long and furious contest to clinch victory, taking advantage of Adam Yates’s fall on the wet final descent.

Yates had the stage win at his mercy, having fought tenaciously in the flatter first half to join up with a mass breakaway and attacked fearlessly in the gruelling second half to get away from the rest in a solo surge. But this was the Pyrenees at its most brutal: on steep roads cracked by the sun and greased by the rain he crashed to ground, and with it went his hopes of victory as the polka-dot jersey of Alaphilippe sped by, to the delight of locals. Gorka Izagirre finished second and Yates eventually came in third, bruised but not quite broken.

Geraint Thomas retained the yellow jersey, as well his advantage over Chris Froome (1min 39 sec) and Tom Dumoulin (1min 50 sec), in a race 10 minutes behind the front group which was initially more complicated to control than Team Sky would have hoped. Without the disqualified Gianni Moscon their domestiques’ workload noticeably increased, but they did enough to smother early attacks and will head into Wednesday’s unique and potentially decisive stage 17 in pole position.

Julian Alaphilippe celebrates victory on the line (Getty)

This was always likely to be a day of drama given it was probably the last opportunity for those teams without a general classification rider or sprinter to win a stage. The result was chaotic with virtually every team looking to get into the breakaway – a word which almost does a disservice to the huge group of 40 or 50 riders which eventually formed, more like a freshly spawned peloton of their own.

Before they got away the race was stopped after local farmers rolled hay bales on to the road. Police used spray to intercept the farmers which accidentally blew into the face of several riders. Race director Christian Prudhomme immediately neutralised the race as riders washed out their eyes and received treatment from their teams. No one abandoned the race, but the gendarme responsible might be sitting out from race duties in future.

Adam Yates in the breakaway on stage 16 (Getty)

When the stage resumed an initial group escaped, but their biggest strength – the experienced Spaniard Alejandro Valverde – was also their Achilles’ heel, with a position in the standings too high for Team Sky to possibly risk letting him go.

Among the huge swathe who then formed a mass breakaway was the Belgian Philippe Gilbert, who made a solo charge to the top of the Col de Portet-d’Aspet but suffered a horrifying crash on the descent, flying over a low wall at high speed. In 1995 the Italian Fabio Casartelli died on the same descent when his head struck the concrete blocks along the roadside; fortunately Gilbert flew over them, with a relatively soft landing on the other side. He was hauled back over the wall and on to his bike, and managed the finish the stage half an hour back.

Yates later took charge of a group of six at the front approaching the tough final climb, the 8.3km Col de Portillon, storming to the summit on his own and racing down the other side. But the roads into Luchon were steep, winding and wet after an afternoon rain shower, and he lost control on a left bend.

He managed to get back on his bike but not before Alaphilippe had gone by to clinch the third grand tour stage of his career. The Frenchman is now in control of his battle with compatriot Warren Barguil to be the king of the mountains, but the fight for the yellow jersey goes on. Wednesday’s extraordinary 65km route begins with a gridded start leading straight into the first of three tough climbs, finishing on the brutal Col du Portet. It is likely to prove decisive.