Peter Sagan wins photo finish in Berne at the Tour de France

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) won the sprint to the finish line in Berne, Switzerland, by a miniscule margin over Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) in stage 16 of the Tour de France. 

Tony Martin and Julian Alaphilippe committed to a brave breakaway early on Stage 16. Martin and Alaphilippe formed a strong duo on the last Classics-esque stage of the Tour. The Etixx-Quick Step teammates held a lead of more than six minutes before the midway point of the 206-kilometer stage to Berne, Switzerland.

The peloton took its toll, whittling away the gap. With under 25 kilometers to go, Alaphilippe sat up and was subsumed. Martin, the yellow jersey bearer on two stages last year before a crash forced him to abandon, held out but he too was overtaken after he made sure to take the only categorized climb of the day.

Inside 20 kilometers Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) made a solo effort, getting almost 20 seconds on the peloton before being hauled in just after the 5K banner. After a technical cobbles stretch, a big bunch formed up to the line, and Sagan took Kristoff’s wheel then shot around the Norwegian rider.

Tour de France 2016 – stage 16 results (Moirans-en-Montagne – Berne):

1 Peter Sagan (Tinkoff)

4:26:02

2 Alexander Kristoff (Katusha)

,,

3 Sondre Holst Enger (IAM)

,,

4 John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin)

,,

5 Michael Matthews (Orica-BikeExchange)

,,

6 Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo)

,,

7 Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNl-Jumbo)

,,

8 Maximiliano Richeze (Etixx – Quick-Step)

,,

9 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data)

,,

10 Greg Van Avermaet (BMC)

,,

 

General classification after stage 16:

1 Christopher Froome (Sky)

72:40:38

2 Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo)

+01’47”

3 Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange)

+02’45”

4 Nairo Quintana (Movistar)

+02’59”

5 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

+03’17”

6 Romain Bardet (AG2R)

+04’04”

7 Richie Porte (BMC)

+04’27”

8 Tejay Van Garderen (BMC)

+04’47”

9 Daniel Martin (Etixx – Quick-Step)

+05’03”

10 Fabio Aru (Astana)

+05’16”