General classification – yellow jersey

Chris Froome (Team Sky) pulled on the yellow jersey for the first time in this year’s race when he attacked over the top of the Col de Peyresourde and descended to stage eight victory.

And the 31-year-old, chasing his third Tour de France win in four years, has held it ever since – though that has not been without its dramas.

Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), whose time Froome was given after the two and Richie Porte crashed on Ventoux, is second, one minute and 47 seconds in arrears.

Last year’s runner-up, Nairo Quintana, is fourth, meanwhile – one second less than three minutes is the difference between him and Froome this time out.

In all, there are eight riders within five minutes of Froome ahead of the final week, with stage finishes on Finhaut-Emosson and Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc, either side of a mountain time trial, among the crucial stages to come.

Froome is well and truly in control, but the last two Grand Tours – Vincenzo Nibali at the 2016 Giro d’Italia, and Fabio Aru at the 2015 Vuelta a Espana – have been won on the final weekend. Never say never.

Tour de France 2016: general classification after stage 16

1) Chris Froome (GBR) – Team Sky – 72.40.38
2) Bauke Mollema (NED) – Trek-Segafredo +1.47
3) Adam Yates (GBR) – Orica-BikeExchange +2.45
4) Nairo Quintana (COL) – Movistar +2.59
5) Alejandro Valverde (ESP) – Movistar +3.17
6) Romain Bardet (FRA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale +4.04
7) Richie Porte (AUS) – BMC Racing +4.27
8) Tejay van Garderen (USA) – BMC Racing +4.47
9) Daniel Martin (IRL) – Etixx-QuickStep +5.03
10) Fabio Aru (ITA) – Astana +5.16

Points classification – green jersey

Peter Sagan’s stage 16 victory in Bern, his third of this year’s race, has all-but guaranteed the Slovakian world champion the green jersey for a fifth consecutive year.

Four-time stage winner Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) had closed the gap to the Tinkoff rider once again, after his latest win on stage 14, but with only one sprint stage remaining this year – on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on stage 21 – Sagan effectively only needs to finish the race to seal the classification.

With Cavendish abandoning the Tour on the second rest day, only Marcel Kittel can technically catch Sagan in the final five stages – but he trails by 177 points with only a maximum 210 still up for grabs.

However, given four of the next five stages are in the mountains, including the stage 18 time trial, it’s realistically only in Paris on the final day when the sprinters will rack up the serious points – by which point Sagan’s green jersey should already be confirmed.

Majka – as he did in 2014 – has benefited from Alberto Contador abandoning the race to enjoy some freedom in the Tinkoff team, and leads by 37 points from De Gendt as it stands.

With 13 categorised climbs remaining, three of which are hors categorie, and two – the HC Finhaut-Emosson and category one Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc – summit finishes, there is still a maximum 175 points on offer.

It means, technically, anybody can still top the classification but Majka and De Gendt have already been in their fair share of breakaways to rack up the points, as has third-placed Daniel Navarro (Cofidis).

Last year’s winner was Chris Froome, but Froome’s biggest performances this year have not come on the mountain-top finishes, and so he is currently 13^th with just 22 points to his name.

Finhaut-Emosson is worth 50 points to the stage winner, and could well be the game changer if the breakaway succeeds, so look out for Majka, De Gendt and even Navarro as they attempt to get up the road.

Tour de France 2016: mountains classification after stage 16

1) Rafal Majka (POL) – Tinkoff – 127pts
2) Thomas de Gendt (BEL) – Lotto-Soudal – 90
3) Daniel Navarro (ESP) – Cofidis – 69
4) Serge Pauwels (BEL) – Dimension Data – 62
5) Tom Dumoulin (NED) – Giant-Alpecin – 58
6) Rui Costa (POR) – Lampre-Merida – 50
7) Stef Clement (NED) – IAM Cycling – 37
8) Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) – Katusha – 28
9) Diego Rosa (ITA) – Astana – 27
10) Winner Anacona (COL) – Movistar – 26

Third-placed Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) has paid the price for losing contact with the bunch on a number of occasions during the second week, while Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep) – who wore the jersey in the first week – is now well out of contention.

Alaphilippe is tipped as one of France’s next big things, but his Tour de France debut was always going to be more about experience – and a shot at a stage win – than a serious tilt at the white jersey over three weeks.

Yates, who almost swapped the white jersey for the maillot jaune when Chris Froome initially lost time on Mont Ventoux, only for the Team Sky man to be reinstated by the race jury, is 3’03” ahead of Meintjes.

However, this is uncharted territory for both men, who had targeted stage wins and experience at their debut Tours last year, so this one could either go down to the wire or be blown apart by one strong performance in the Alps.

Tour de France 2016: youth classification after stage 16

1) Adam Yates (GBR) – Orica-BikeExchange – 72.43.23hrs
2) Louis Meintjes (RSA) – Lampre-Merida +3.03
3) Warren Barguil (FRA) – Giant-Alpecin +16.30
4) Emanuel Buchmann (GER) – Bora-Argon 18 +25.53
5) Wilco Kelderman (NED) – LottoNL-Jumbo +45.38