An amended route saw the peloton leave from Laas, for a 118 kilometre long stage 16 that ended with almost 25 kilometres of climbing up to Santa Cristina Valgardena. It was a fast start to proceedings on the mostly flat or downhill opening part of the stage, as multiple teams and riders looked to make the day’s breakaway. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL were active in trying to make the break, with Kevin Vermaerke following and making several moves that were ultimately brought back.
Eventually a four rider move went clear and a steady pace was set in the peloton, with some teams setting out their stall that they wanted to fight for the stage win from the bunch. The team looked after GC finisher Romain Bardet, with the guys riding well as a unit as they progressed along the flat roads to the climbs in the finale. The gap to those held steady at around one minute and 30 seconds for a while, before a big increase in tempo saw that cut down dramatically. Bardet had a bad moment on the climb as the pace went up, but he was brilliantly supported by Vermaerke and Gijs Leemreize. They initially lost almost 50 seconds on the maglia rosa group but a committed chase over the next 13 kilometres and some exceptional teamwork saw Bardet return to the back of the group, just as they made the turn onto the steepest section of the final climb in the closing two kilometres.
From there, Bardet just battled as much as he could on the steep slopes, fighting all the way to the finish and even passing riders who were in the maglia rosa group. In the end, Bardet limited the losses to one minute and 19 seconds to stage winner Pogacar, but much less to those around him on GC; as the team maintain seventh in the overall standings after the stage.
