The link between the Col de Manse (Cat-2) and La Rochette, its amazing speed and terrifying turns again put the bunch into maximum stress during stage 16 of the 2015 Tour de France. Rubén Plaza (LAM) took a solo win after jumping from a massive, 23-rider breakaway - which got no less than 20 minutes’ advantage at the foot of the last climb - which included a happily recovered Imanol Erviti, 15th over the line just over two minutes behind.

Back in the peloton, strong pace from BMC, Astana and ultimately Tinkoff-Saxo in the approach and start of the Manse climb reduced the group to about ten riders, and acted as launchpad for multiple attacks featuring most notably Contador (TCS), Nibali (AST) - who got a gap over the rest at the line - and even Alejandro Valverde, who led the whole descent to avoid crashes like the one involving Warren Barguil (TGA) and Geraint Thomas (SKY).

Valverde (+4’02”) and Quintana (+3’10”) will thus reach the final rest day in places four and two GC, ready to fight until the very end of a long Alpine journey from Wednesday to Saturday. The only negative sidenote of Monday's racing, a crash by Adriano Malori, resulted in blows and bruises which will not jeopardize his continuity in the race, yet will have an influence on his performance for the next few days.

“We knew there would surely be fireworks between the favourites; it was a climb that really favoured them and one where we had to pay full attention in the descent," Erviti said. "That’s why, and that applies to both myself and my team-mates, we took care of ourselves, rode at the front and not tariled behind. I really hope Nairo and Alejandro can produce some gaps in the Alps; the peloton is struggling and many people suffer, there’s a chance. Obviously, we’ll give everything we’ve got left for yellow; if it’s needed to sacrifice one of the two to get it, we won’t have any doubts.”

“We got through the day unscathed, and that’s something," Quintana said. "Almost every time the race finishes here, there’s a crash on that descent, and we nearly got involved in one today. There are some riders who take their heart out to gain some meters while they haven’t got a chance otherwise, and they take the rest into massive risks. We’ll try to rest a bit tomorrow and think abouth the Alps, always with the yellow dream in mind. We’re ready for them to come, and we’ll keep fighting.

"Of course, we'll try to attack in the Alps but I won't attack on my own, we will try to attack with Alejandro as much as possible. Today was Colombia's national day so it was special. Two years ago it was even more special because I had won on national day. It was not possible on a stage like this but it was still a special day." 

“It was a very dangerous finish, though I wasn’t concerned at all about myself," Valverde said. "It’s true that, due to some riders who take these descents as if they were alone, Geraint Thomas crashed. I didn’t see Froome in danger either, though. The crash prevented our group from catching Nibali, because even though I was first into that corner and didn’t see it, I realized Nairo was losing some meters and stopped a bit. In the end, it didn’t have much sense to sprint: for what? Taking 20th place? Someone tried, but we knew that it was impossible to even take any time. Still, there’s much left in this race, we’re doing well and we hope to continue with this form. We’ll enjoy the rest day as much as we can.”