Tour de France stage 16 LIVE – Will Tadej Pogačar win again on Mont Ventoux?

For now, the riders are tucked in the slipstream of the red race director’s car.

When the flag drops, in around 10km of steady riding, the stage will official start and the first attacks will probably come.

Cruelly, the rides face a neutralised ride of 13.2km to the official start outside of the city.

C’est parti!

The mayor waves the flag and the riders roll out of Montpellier.

As usual, all the jersey wearers line-up on the front of the start grid. There is time for a final smile and selfie but now it’s race time.

1 minute to the depart!

The riders are lined up for the start of stage 16.

We’ve been carefully studying the weather for the stage.

It’s between 25 and 28 °C in Montpellier and sunny, with little wind.

The wind is expected to increase as the riders near and then cross the Rhône valley.

Temperatures at the 1910 m altitude finish should be between 18 and 23 °C.

Next up and last up on the sign-on stage is Tadej Pogačar, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates.

He seems happy and healthy after admitting he had been suffering with a slight cold.

“It’s a legendary climb, there’s no shelter on the tip, so that means the legs will do the talking.,” he said of Mont Ventoux.

Alasdair Fotheringham and Matilda Price are on the road to Mont Ventoux as we speak and will provide the best on the ground news and analysis from thew stage.

You can follow all the action in our Tour de France live coverage throughout the day, but for a live video broadcast, there are also plenty of options.

Click here for all the details on how to watch Tour de France stage 16 online, on TV, and wherever you are in the world.

Montpellier is a stage town for the 33rd time and has hosted 30 Tour de France finishes, most of them won by sprinters.

Recent victories have gone to Robbie McEwen in 2005, Robbie Hunter, who became the first African stage winner there in 2007, Mark Cavendish in 2011 and André Greipel in 2013.

During the race’s last visit in 2016, green jersey Peter Sagan broke away from the peloton with 12km to go and was followed by race leader Chris Froome, who subsequently consolidated his hold on first place in the overall classification.