Tour de France 2018 stage 16 preview: Mountainous route from Carcassonne to Bagnères which suits Chris Froome

The day holds this year’s only jaunt outside France – a 20km climb of the Col du Portillion in Spain – but it is what lies on the other side which could prove most important

After Monday’s rest day, the Tour de France’s final week begins in Carcassonne, heading south towards the Pyrenees and finishing 218km and five categorised climbs later in Bagnères-de-Luchon.

The day holds this year’s only jaunt outside France – a 20km climb of the Col du Portillion in Spain – but it is what lies on the other side which could prove most important.

The route for stage 16 of the Tour de France (letour.fr)

Geraint Thomas said on Monday that Team Sky had been to assess the steep drop down into the finish, the kind of fast descent on which races can be won and season’s can be ended, and where finding the line between risk and reward at the end of six hours of racing is far from easy.

It is the type of stage which is likely to invite a breakaway leaving Team Sky to control the main pack, who are now without their Italian domestique Gianni Moscon after his disqualification for punching a fellow rider on Sunday.

Thomas’s job is a relatively straightforward one – to not let any of his main GC rivals gain time on him – but Chris Froome’s is more complex. Will he be allowed to launch a major attack if he’s feeling good when the race enters Spain, to regain some of the time he lost in the Alps?

With such demanding days ahead, including what many believe could be the decisive stage –Wednesday’s finish on the brutal Col de Portet – Team Sky would ideally like to hold something back here, and that is exactly why their rivals must go on the attack.