LIVE – Updated at 12:27

The Tour de France has made it through a gruelling three days in the Pyrenees and the riders have enjoyed a well-earned rest day in Montpellier - but hostilities recommence today as the race enters the Alps for the first time.

Tadej Pogacar rampaged through the Pyrenees, winning atop Hautacam on stage 12, then demolishing the field in the time trial on stage 13, and those back-to-back wins have gone some way to ensuring the destiny of the Tour de France title is looking fairly well sewn up.

Now with a rest day in his legs Pogacar’s stranglehold over this Tour is likely to continue as the race returns to his favourite terrain, with the ‘Giant of Provence’ - Mont Ventoux - the star of the show today. It’s the only climb on the menu on a 171.5km run from Montpellier to the summit, setting up an intriguing day’s racing.

But while Pogacar reigns supreme, another star of the peloton Mathieu van der Poel has been forced to withdraw from the Tour de France with pneumonia, leaving the battle for the green jersey wide open.

Follow all the action on stage 16 with our liveblog below:

Tour de France Stage 16 LIVE

Race reaches infamous climb of Mont Ventoux to kickstart final week
Tadej Pogacar has iron grip on yellow jersey and could extend it with win today
Pogacar's domestique Tim Wellens took victory in Carcassonne on stage 15
Stage 16: 171.5km from Montpellier to Mont Ventoux | Live on ITV4 and TNT Sports
Mathieu van der Poel forced to retire with pneumonia

'To win on Mont Ventoux in yellow is really iconic' - Tadej Pogacar

12:27 , Flo Clifford

TNT Sports had a chat with a relaxed-sounding Tadej Pogacar before the start. “I had a good [rest] day, more or less 10 out of 10. Urska [Zigart, his partner and rider for AG Insurance-Soudal] came to our hotel, we ride together, she was on the ride with us with a coffee stop - she trained a bit more than us. Spent a nice afternoon with the closest ones, beautiful day.”

He’s on a swish new bike: “It’s a very nice thing to do from Colnago, to bring down the aero bike to a super low weight [for the stage 13 time trial], this is what I’ve been wishing for for a long time, and today is the day to have this kind of bike.”

Asked about his statement that he wants to win in yellow on Mont Ventoux, he says, “When did I say this?” and laughs.

“Everybody wants to win a stage in the Tour, and today is the Mont Ventoux, it’s a legendary climb and if you can win in the yellow jersey it’s something really iconic, maybe. But we know why we are here, to bring the yellow jersey to Paris.”

(REUTERS)

Roglic at the back

12:19 , Flo Clifford

138km to go: Primoz Roglic at the moment is at the very back of the bunch, literally the last man, with teammate Gianni Moscon for company. Luke Rowe on TNT Sports commentary points out that the day after the rest day can throw up some weird results, but let’s hope the Slovenian is fine and just taking things easy at the back.

It looks like this move is getting brought back: there have been too many counter-attacks, the potential number of escapees has got too big, and it’s all disintegrating as Van Aert chases another move. Meurisse, Haller and Hirschi are just nine seconds clear of the peloton.

UAE keep watch

12:11 , Flo Clifford

142km to go: UAE are controlling things at the front, content to let this small group of riders go, and trying to fan out across the road to stop anyone else getting away. The sheer number of roundabouts they’re having to cross is making that task a bit more difficult.

The leading trio have 20 seconds or so on the lone chaser of Benjamin Thomas, with the peloton nearly 40 seconds back and a few more riders dotted about between them.

(AFP via Getty Images)

Pogacar into the KOM lead?

12:04 , Flo Clifford

Frenchman Lenny Martinez currently owns the KOM jersey after a good shift on Saturday, picking up maximum points over the Col du Tourmalet, Col d’Aspin, and second place over the Col de Peyresourde.

But he only leads by eight points over Tadej Pogacar, and with several more summit finishes - including today’s - in the Slovenian’s sights, Martinez has his work cut out to retain the polka dots.

There are still 176 KOM points available this week, including 20 today at Mont Ventoux.

Here’s how the standings look ahead of stage 16?

Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) 60 pts
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 52 pts
Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) 48 pts
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 39 pts
Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech) 38 pts

(AFP via Getty Images)

Trio up the road

11:58 , Flo Clifford

154km to go: Xander Meurisse - teammate of Mathieu van der Poel, who has been forced to abandon the race - is part of this leading trio, who currently have around 24 seconds on the peloton. He’s accompanied by the Tudor pair of Marco Haller and Marc Hirschi.

Attacks everywhere

11:51 , Flo Clifford

160km to go: Plenty of attacks but so far nothing sticking. Julian Alaphilippe has been on the move, seemingly okay after his crash on stage 15. Now his Tudor teammate Marco Haller leads a move.

Flag drop

11:43 , Flo Clifford

After 13km of neutralised start (making an already tough stage even longer) the riders are underway!

171km to the legendary Mont Ventoux. Which rider will write their name into history today?

Plenty of riders try to get up the road early on, including Wout van Aert and Lenny Martinez, but no move has gone clear just yet.

(REUTERS)

Vingegaard willing to sacrifice second place to go for yellow

11:37 , Flo Clifford

Here’s what Jonas Vingegaard had to say on Monday’s rest day: “I do think I can win it. Of course, it looks very hard now, it's a big gap.

“But normally my strength is in the third week. We have to attack.

“I'm also willing to sacrifice second to try to achieve first.”

Visma-Lease a Bike's sports director Grischa Niermann underlined the urgency of the mission.

“It's four minutes - you don't make that up with an attack in the last 500 metres,” Niermann said. “For that to happen, we need to see a weakness in Tadej. So far, he hasn't shown one. But the Tour is over only when we reach Paris.”

(AFP via Getty Images)

Tadej Pogacar out to bury the ghosts of his past in final Tour de France week

11:30 , Flo Clifford

Tadej Pogacar is riding not just for the yellow jersey on the Tour de France, but also to bury the ghosts of his past.

As the 2025 Tour de France heads into its final and most punishing mountain stages, the defending champion is about to tackle climbs where he cracked or struggled before.

The Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze await again - but this time, things feel different.

“I'm almost confident to say the route was designed to scare me,” Pogacar said with a smile on Monday.

“But I always look at it as a race situation. I actually like all of these climbs.”

More from the rest day press conferences:

Van der Poel's exit continues mixed Tour for Alpecin-Deceuninck

11:24 , Flo Clifford

Mathieu van der Poel has been one of the electrifying racers of this Tour, beating Tadej Pogacar in a sprint on stage two to take the yellow jersey, livening up breakaways, and spending 173km up the road on stage nine to get teammate Jonas Rickaert on the podium as most combative rider.

His Tour has been something of an improvised affair; after Jasper Philipsen’s exit on stage three van der Poel was no longer there as key lead-out man for the Belgian sprinter, leaving him freer to stage-hunt and to target the green jersey.

He was third in the standings heading into this final week and with his impressive ability to get into any breakaway - and therefore pick up points at intermediate sprints - had a serious chance of winning it.

Now Jonathan Milan can breathe a sigh of relief, although he’s still got Tadej Pogacar as his closest challenger, and van der Poel will head home to recover after a successful, if abruptly curtailed, Tour.

(AFP via Getty Images)

Mathieu van der Poel forced to abandon Tour de France with pneumonia

11:17 , Flo Clifford

The peloton will be missing a familiar face today, as Mathieu van der Poel has been forced to abandon the Tour de France due to pneumonia.

The 30-year-old had been quiet over the days leading up to the second rest day in mountainous terrain, with Alpecin-Deceuninck confirming that he had been struggling with cold-like symptoms.

He has subsequently been diagnosed with pneumonia and will not start Stage 16 on Tuesday.

Neutralised start

11:10 , Flo Clifford

The riders are rolling out in Montpellier for the neutralised start; it’s a long one today, around half an hour’s riding before Christian Prudhomme will wave the starting flag.

Stage 16 prediction

11:03 , Flo Clifford

The design of the stage means there isn’t much terrain for a real elite breakaway to escape on, and the green jersey of Jonathan Milan is likely targeting the intermediate sprint at Chateauneuf-du-Pape 112km into the stage, so Lidl-Trek and the sprinters’ teams may be on hand to help UAE control proceedings during the flatter section.

All that means that we’re likely to see the whole peloton reach the climb together - and there’s one man who can climb faster and more brilliantly than anyone else.

So it seems foolhardy to bet against race leader and modern Cannibal Tadej Pogacar. The yellow jersey has had a day to rest his legs and is likely to come out firing on all cylinders, and while he has claimed wins on many of the Tour’s most legendary climbs, there are always more to add to that list - including Mont Ventoux.

Tadej Pogacar celebrates after winning stage 13 (AFP via Getty Images)

Stage 16 preview

10:56 , Flo Clifford

Ventoux comes at the very end of today’s stage, 171.5km from the start town of Montpellier - where the riders enjoyed a rest day - and is the only climb on an intriguing parcours. It’s flat all day until the town of Bedoin at the foot of its lunar slopes, meaning the riders have 130km of flat to plan how they’ll attack.

Its place in Tour mythology is partially down to how rarely it features in the route: the race last had a planned summit finish here in 2016, but that stage was curtailed as a result of expected 100km/h winds, with the finish relocated to Chalet-Reynard, 6km down the mountain.

Thomas de Gendt took the win then; the previous time out, in the 2013 Tour, Chris Froome infamously ran up part of the Giant on his way to victory. Hopefully today the only drama will be of the racing kind.

The first day back after a rest day can throw up some strange results, with some riders slow to get back into the groove. Today’s racing may have an extra edge to it as the top-10 look to shore up their positions and take advantage of any slumps by their rivals.

Movers and shakers on GC

10:51 , Flo Clifford

There wasn’t any significant move in the general classification on Sunday’s stage 15, but Ineos Grenadiers’ Carlos Rodriguez enjoyed back-to-back days in the break and leapfrogged Ben Healy, who was back in the peloton, into ninth place overall.

Tadej Pogacar - 'Beyond happiness'

10:45 , Flo Clifford

And here’s what teammate Tadej Pogacar had to say: “I’m more happy for him than when I win - beyond happiness.”

ITV4 then asked him about his over-four minute lead heading into the third week.

“Normally the Tour second week is easier mountains, more for breakaways, the third week is always hardest. But this week was one of the hardest second weeks of the Tours that I’ve ridden,” he said, with the interview interjecting, “because of you!” at which he laughs.

“We still have big, big mountains to come. There’s still seven days or something to Paris and we need to fight until the end.”

(REUTERS)

'I was so happy I forgot to celebrate' - Tim Wellens

10:39 , Flo Clifford

Here’s what Tim Wellens had to say at the end of his brilliant solo victory on stage 15.

“It is a very special victory. Everybody knows the Tour de France but not many people win in the Tour de France so it was very beautiful.

“I felt super good today. On the last climb of the day I felt really good. I knew the others felt really good but I knew I had to go solo. At the top of the climb I found my moment and I felt I had the legs to keep it to the end.

“I knew I had to enjoy the moment and kept riding until the end so I had a big gap to enjoy it and maybe put my bike in the air after the finish - but I was so happy I forgot to do it!”

(REUTERS)

General classification after stage 15

10:32 , Flo Clifford

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) in 54:20:44
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma - Lease a Bike) +4:13
Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe) +7:53
Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) +9:18
Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea - B&B Hotels) +10:21
Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe) +10:34
Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +12:00
Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +12:33
Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +18:26
Ben Healy (EF Education - EasyPost) +18:41

(AFP via Getty Images)

Stage 15 results

10:25 , Flo Clifford

Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) in 3:34:09
Victor Campenaerts (Visma - Lease a Bike) +1:28
Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) +1:36
Wout van Aert (UAE Team Emirates - XRG)
Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers)
Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe)
Paul Penhoet (Groupama FDJ)
Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies)
Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost)
Valentin Madouas (Groupama FDJ), all at same time

(REUTERS)

Stage 15 report

10:19 , Flo Clifford

Tim Wellens had time to high-five fans inside the final kilometre as he soloed to victory on stage 15 of the Tour de France into Carcassonne with his team-mate Tadej Pogacar retaining the yellow jersey.

Wellens, 34, completed his set of Grand Tour stage victories, attacking from a reduced four-man breakaway with 44 kilometres remaining of the 169km stage from Muret.

The Belgian national champion quickly opened a sizeable gap before the long downhill run into the medieval city, where his margin of victory over compatriot Victor Campenaerts was 1:28.

Stage 16 start time

10:12 , Flo Clifford

Another earlier start today with an early finish too: 12.10pm local time for the neutralised start, 11.10am BST, with an expected arrival time of 4.45pm local time (3.45pm BST).

Stage 16 route map and profile

10:08 , Flo Clifford

Tour de France 2025 – stage 16 map (letour)

Tour de France 2025 – stage 16 profile (letour)

Stage 16 preview

10:04 , Flo Clifford

Isolated in the landscape, towering over the Rhone valley and on the periphery of the Alps proper, Mont Ventoux is something of an outlier among the Tour’s formidable ascents - but that makes it no less beastly.

15.7km long at an average gradient of 8.8%, reaching 1,910m above sea level, it has long been established in the annals of Tour history and plenty of riders will fancy writing their names into the history books with victory on its summit today.