Event of the Day: Stage 16 of the 2018 Tour de France
Our event of the day is Stage 16 of the Tour de France. With a day’s rest in their legs, riders will endure a 218-kilometre stage, the second longest of the entire tour. The peloton will go from the Medieval French town of Carcassonne, and finish with a 10-kilometre descent in to Bagnères-de-Luchon. Riders will journey through the Pyrenees for the first time on the tour. The stage also features two category one climbs. There are just six stages remaining before the tour finishes on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Sunday. Everything seems to be coming together nicely for Team Sky. Geraint Thomas currently holds the yellow jersey after consecutive wins on stages 11 and 12. Teammate Chris Froome is one minute 39 seconds behind in second place. A potential rivalry between the pair has been played down in recent days. Both have stated a win for Team Sky is all that matters, regardless of which one of them crosses the line at the Champs-Élysées in yellow. Froome has had a previous bitter rivalry with former teammate Bradley Wiggins when the duo were at the height of their road racing powers between 2012 and 2014.
However, Froome has gone on to win four Tour de France titles since then. His encouragement and support of long-term Welsh teammate Thomas has been refreshing to see this year. Team Sky general manager Dave Brailsford will be delighted with how his two stars have handled themselves. This is all the more impressive considering the abuse they have received and scrutiny that they have been under after recent doping accusations. Aiming to crash Team Sky’s party are Tom Dumoulin, Primož Roglič and Romain Bardet. Dumoulin in particular is a real danger. He is hot on the heels of Chris Froome, sitting just 11 seconds behind the British rider. The Dutchman is the world time trial champion. With the penultimate stage being a 31-kilometre time trial, he will be a threat until the very end. A tantalising few days of cycling lies in wait as the direction of the yellow jersey is decided.
Honourable mentions around the globe go to Day 2 of the German Open in Hamburg on the ATP World Tour. French Open finalist and top seed Dominic Thiem is in action against world number 117 Corentin Moutet. There’s an all French tie as three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist Richard Gasquet faces fellow countrymanBenoît Paire. Further tennis action can be found in Atlanta and Gstaad, where the Atlanta Open and Swiss Open enter their second day. Meanwhile on the WTA World Tour, the Moscow Open resumes and Day 2 of the Jiangxi International Women’s Tennis Open continues in Nanchang. County Championship fixtures enter their third day across England. Division One leaders Surrey scored a massive 592, leaving Nottingham a daunting task after they were all out for 210 on Day 1 at Trent Bridge. Elsewhere in the UK, it’s the third day of action at the Women’s Hockey World Cup at Lee Valley, with Japan playing New Zealand and Australia against Belgium. The second round of Champions League qualification gets underway with multiple fixtures across Europe. Notably FC Basel, who reached the last 16 last season, travel to PAOK Salonika in Greece. In MLB action, the Philadelphia Phillies face the LA Dodgers in the second match of a three-game series.