Tour de France 2022 Stage 16 LIVE - No change in top three as Hugo Houle lands emotional win in Foix for Canada

It now looks fairly certain that this breakaway - if not together, then certainly in dribs and drabs - will stay out till the finish today. The gap is up to 7'40" (and 11'28" over the ill Marc Soler) and there are some super strong riders in this 29-man move. Picking a winner is a bit like choosing your favourite child: it depends what kind of day they're on, their form, how they've eaten, what the weather is like etc. But you'd think Martinez, Vlasov, Izagirre, Teuns, Madouas, Storer, Powless or Woods would be up for it - Van Aert and McNulty, too, if they didn't have their GC men Vingegaard and Pogacar to consider.

The Spaniard is clearly in a world of pain as he ploughs a lonely furrow off the back of the peloton with the broom wagon closing in... It's not the first time we've seen him in a similar scenario - there was a scene in the Movistar documentary when he was injured and battling to stay in the race - but this one is looking like there's only one outcome: a third DNF for UAE and the pendulum swinging back in favour of Jonas Vingegaard.

The Spaniard is back with the doctor's car once again. He's clearly in a bit of grief and receiving some attention while holding onto the car door. It's not obvious what the problem is - some spray was involved and then the camera pulled away just as the doctor was handed something from one of her attendants in the row of seats behind. We're hearing that he's been vomiting, too. This could possibly be an important moment in this Tour: if Soler abandons today, Pogacar would have just three teammates with him because Brandon McNulty is up the road in the breakaway, which now has 7'20" to play with.

The peloton passes through the intermediate sprint 6'44" down on the leaders so, as things stand, Aleksandr Vlasov is up to fifth place in the virtual standings. Meanwhile, Spain's Marc Soler has been back with the medical car. He's been a bit ill apparently and that's a potential cause for concern for UAE teammate Tadej Pogacar - for should the Catalan climber leave the race, the Slovenian two-time champion would be down to just four teammates.

It looks like it's going to be a cake walk for the green jersey at Lavelanet until Dutchman Nils Eekhoff (Team DSM) kicks clear near the line... It looks like it's perhaps a joke but Eekhoff nevertheless manages to stay out to deny Van Aert maximum points - not that that has any significant impact on the green jersey competition, which the Belgian is running away with. He has more than double the tally of his nearest rally and almost 400 points in total. Eekhoff and Van Aert laught it off afterwards, the Dutchman having pocketed some unexpected prize money for his DSM team.

The pocket-rocket from Australia has had a pretty torrid Tour, compounded with that crash during Friday's stage which could well have provided him a rare opportunity to win a stage in this sprinter-unfriendly Tour. Ewan has a mechanical issue and needs to have someone take a look at his saddle. He'll be hoping to get through the next few days so he can have a shot of glory in Cahors in Stage 19 and then in Paris on Stage 21.

Meanwhile, it's fair to say that the white jersey looks a bit more relaxed today than the man in yellow...

The Frenchman's foray off the front comes to an end on a slight uphill dig. That means we have 29 riders back in the day's breakaway with a gap of 5'55" on the peloton, which has Jumbo and Ineos doing the honours on the front. The next flashpoint - bar any unforeseen drama (which, to be fair, is why we all love watching cycling so much) - is the intermediate sprint at Lavelanet in 15km where Van Aert will no doubt extend his green jersey lead.

Frenchman Alexis Gougeard must like riding solo rather than in a nice strong group where everyone can take a turn on the front... for he's still 45 seconds clear and doing his thing in the heat. Meanwhile, Jumbo-Visma have two domestiques on the front to regulate the pace of the peloton because of the threat of Vlasov up the road in the same break as... two of their domestiques. "It's a strange situation," says Sean Kelly. Quite.

The rangy Russian is the best placed rider in this breakaway: he was 10'32" down in eleventh place this morning and the gap is currently 6'35". That means Vlasov is currently pushing for a place in the virtual top five - although it's early days...

The Frenchman, who has refused to sit up and wait for the rest of the breakaway, goes over the top of the Cat.3 Col de l'Espinas (5.3km at 5%) to pocket the two KOM points available. When the break goes over it's that man Stefan Bisseger once again - again spoiling for his teammate Powless? Neither Powless nor Simon Geschke, the polka dot jersey, are anywhere near the front so they've put their battle on hold. Meanwhile, Quinn Simmons and Michael Matthews have been caught by the pack after giving up their attempt to bridge over.

This is ominous... Welshman Geraint Thomas is receiving some attention with the medical car - it looks like he's having his back rubbed with some cream. Perhaps he's got an insect sting or something? Of course, it could be simply that he forgot to apply suncream today... He doesn't seem in any mortal danger so it's bound to be okay. And Tadej Pogacar was also off the back with his team car, too.

I guess it depends what their target is today. If it's the stage win then Dani Martinez is quite a good pick for the breakaway - but it would have been a real signal of intent for Ineos had they got either Pidcock or Yates in this breakaway. As they are both in the top 10, that would have been asking some early questions of Jumbo-Visma and UAE. But perhaps they're keeping their powder dry for the Port de Lers and Mur de Peguere later on. Here's Geraint Thomas speaking at the start of today's stage...

Having one rider in the breakaway - especially with both Ineos and UAE represented - makes sense, but two? It's confusing tactics from the teammates of the yellow jersey here. Wout van Aert is just the kind of person you'd love having up the road because he can do a good job later on. But why Nathan van Hooydonck with him? The Dutchman's presence would be better felt, surely, in the main pack where he can help Vingegaard on the flat roads ahead of the two big climbs later today. As such, the Dane only has Christophe Laporte, Sepp Kuss and Tiesj Benoot with him - his team being reduced to just six men on Sunday.

Just two escapees up the road now ahead of the main break after the American Matteo Jorgenson decided to drop back and join his teammate Gorka Izagirre in the breakaway. Burgaudeau and Gougeard now have 50 seconds on the others, with the Matthews-Simmons-Zimmermann chasing trio at 3'30" and the peloton at 5'45". Oh, look - and now there's just one clear after Burgaudeau decides to drop back, too. Poor old Alexis Gougeard continues to plough a lonely furrow - but to what end? He's certainly not going to end the French stage drought this way...

And here are the 26 riders in the breakaway: Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Wout van Aert and Nathan van Hooydonck (both Jumbo-Visma), Dani Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers), Aleksandr Vlasov and Felix Grossschartner (both Bora-Hansgrohe), Mikkel Honore (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Damiano Caruso and Dylan Teuns (both Bahrain Victorious), Olivier Le Gac, Valentin Madouas and Michael Storer (all Groupama-FDJ), Nils Eekhoff (Team DSM), Simone Velasco (Astana-Qazaqstan), Stefan Bisseger and Neilson Powless (both EF Education-EasyPost), Maxime Bouet and Lukasz Owsian (Arkea-Samsic), Philippe Gilbert and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Tony Gallopin (Trek-Segafredo), Hugo Houle and Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech), and Cyril Barthe (B&B Hotels-KTM).

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) and Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) have zipped clear of the break after the climb and they have quickly established a lead of one minute over the 25 chasers. Simmons, Matthews and Zimmermann have come together but are three minutes back, while the peloton is already five minutes down.

There's quite a battle for the solitary KOM point over the top of the Cat.4 Cote de Saint-Hilaire (1.5km at 6.6%) with the current polka dot jersey Simon Geschke launching early but not definitively. As he fades, it's left to Switzerland's Stefan Bisseger to surge clear and take the point in what was clearly a tactical manoeuvre to help his EF teammate Neilson Powless, who is currently third in the KOM standings, nine points behind Geschke. Incidentally, there are now a maximum 110pts left in this Tour with the German on 46pts, Louis Meintjes on 39pts, Powless on 37pts, Jonas Vingegaard on 36pts, and both Giulio Ciccone and Pierre Latour on 35pts.

Winner in Mende on Saturday, Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) is trying to bridge over to the leaders but he's left this too late, surely. Behind, Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) and Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) are doing their best to catch Matthews - probably in the hope that, as a strong trio, they'd stand a better chance at joining the escapees, who already have over two minutes on the pack. If Simmons looks a bit different todat that's because the flame-haired American has only gone and shaved off his bushy beard on the rest day. The heat clearly got too much for him...

And we have some big names here including (of course) Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Dani Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), the polka dot jersey Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Bahrain Victorious duo Damiano Caruso and Dylan Teuns.

Danish veteran Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-PremierTech) will not continue this Tour because of a broken rib sustained in that fall which ended Steven Kruijswick's race on Sunday. We have three positive Covid tests - Max Walscheid (Cofidis), Aurelien Paret-Peintre and Mikael Cherel (both Ag2R-Citroen) - while Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) has pulled out with a sustained cold that is apparently not Covid, but could well be.

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) put in the first attack today but it came to nothing. Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) then started a move which looks more promising...

Christian Prudhomme waves his flag from the sunroof of his Skoda - and the third and final week of this Tour is under way. No attacks at first but it's another hot day and there's a blustery side-tailwind and so potential for some early splits if you're not paying attention.