Early after the start, Colombian Juan Felipe Osorio and Spaniard Angel Madrazo from Burgos took off, 4 riders could still make the jump with Spaniard Jesús Ezquerra (3rd rider from Burgos-BH), Australian Robert Stannard (Mitchelton-Scott), Frenchman Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), and my countryman Kobe Goossens. Julen Amezqueta and Willie Smit also tried to connect, but that did not work. They took a maximum lead of 5’20 and Osorio had to drop out at the Puerto El Portillo. After the descent, an acceleration of Team Ineos in the peloton reduced the lead to two minutes, on the Puerto El Robledo (1st cat) only Cavagna and Stannard remained upfront, the peloton followed in barely twenty seconds. Movistar took over the helm in the peloton and Cavangna tried solo at the front. The Frenchman was very strong and was only caught at 2 km from the finish. In the sprint, the Dane Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Pro Cycling) was the fastest, ahead of Primoz Roglic and Rui Costa. Costa was put back in the result for an illegal move in the sprint, Dion Smith moved up one place to 3rd. Dan Martin safely in the bunch (22nd) at the same time, Sam Bennett about 15 minutes after the winner and lives another day, one day closer to Madrid for his last chance for a stage win. Stage 16 result: 1 Magnus Cort EF1 4:04:35
2 Primož Roglic TJV s/t
3 Dion Smith MTS s/t
4 Alejandro Valverde MOV s/t
5 Richard Carapaz IGD s/t
6 Felix Großschartner BOH s/t
7 Dorian Godon ALM s/t
8 Michael Valgren NTT s/t
9 Jasha Sütterlin SUN s/t
10 Aleksander Vlasov AST s/t
(GC after stage 16) 1 Primož Roglic TJV 64:20:31
2 Richard Carapaz IGD +45″
3 Hugh Carthy EF1 +53″
4 Daniel Martin ISN +1:48″
5 Enric Mas MOV +3:29″
6 Wout Poels TBM +6:21″
7 Felix Großschartner BOH +7:20″
8 Alejandro Valverde MOV +8:45″
9 Aleksander Vlasov AST +8:54″
10 David De La Cruz UAD +9:29“
