Cardiff head coach Corniel van Zyl believes Halfpenny’s achievements, including scoring 801 points while winning101 Wales caps and being a highly respected three-time Lions tourist, are invaluable attributes.

Van Zyl said: “It is clear and evident from last year’s work that all of our kickers improved. He is so professional and diligent in everything he does, so now moving into a full-time role I am excited to see the impact he will have.

“He will work with all of our kickers from goal-kicking and touch-kicking etcetera to our scrum-halves and their technique, but he will also work within the academy, which will be really beneficial for his growth and development as a coach.

“He has a great future as a coach and we are looking forward to welcoming him back to the Arms Park following another great experience with the national squad.”

Remco Evenepoel made it back-to-back stage wins at the Tour de France with a superb victory in the stage 16 time trial, finishing 28 seconds in front of the yellow jersey of Tadej Pogačar. Mattias Skjelmose produced a superb ride to come third.

Evenepoel is a three-time world champion against the clock and demonstrated every facet of this most specialist of disciplines on a technical course on the banks of Lake Geneva. He was the fastest rider at all three checkpoints on the 26.1km course.

But it was not a perfect day for Evenepoel’s Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe team, with co-leader Florian Lipowitz crashing out on a tricky right-hand corner in the run-in to Thonon-les-Bains. The German, who finished third at last year’s Tour, slammed into a kerb and abandoned the race a few minutes later.

In the battle for the white jersey, Paul Seixas pulled back five seconds on Isaac Del Toro, with the Mexican now just 20 seconds ahead of the French teenager with five stages remaining.

Jacob Whitehead and Duncan Alexander break down the key moments of the day.

🤩 A victory that had the Belgian fans over the moon at the finish line!

🤩 Une victoire pour le plus grand bonheur des supporters belges à l’arrivée !#TDF2026 | @Continental_fr pic.twitter.com/X0lmqrTZaU

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 21, 2026

Stage 16 top 10

1. Remco Evenepoel | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe (32:19.33)
2. Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates XRG (+28.36s)
3. Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl Trek (+1:04.31)
4. Paul Seixas | Decathlon CMA CGM (+1:16.54)
5. Isaac Del Toro | UAE Team Emirates XRG (+1:21.35)
6. Mattia Catteneo | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe (+1:41.95)
7. Thymen Arensman | Netcompany INEOS (+1:46.92)
8. Bruno Armirail | Visma-Lease a Bike (+1:55.40)
9. Pablo Castrillo | Movistar (+1:59.80)
10. Josh Tarling | Netcompany INEOS (+2:02.07)

Evenepoel was well-supported in Tuesday’s stage (Jeff PACHOUD / AFP via Getty Images)

Evenepoel wins second successive stage to increase podium advantage

If Pogacar is perhaps the greatest all-round rider that road cycling has seen, with a nod to Eddy Merckx, then Evenepoel is its greatest ever time triallist.

His margin of victory over Pogacar — 28 seconds — was not the gulf that saw him suffer the ignominy of being overtaken by Evenepoel at last year’s world championships, but the Belgian still underscored his status as the dominant force in this discipline.

“I have no shame coming second behind Remco,” said Pogacar. “I can’t be disappointed with the result. I had the legs but he was just faster. He’s the greatest-ever in the time trial.”

On a 25km course that featured an equal mix of ascending, descending, and a flat finale — “a true test of time trialling”, one team boss said — Evenepoel was six seconds ahead by the first checkpoint at the summit of the climb just outside Thonon-les-Bains.

His margin only increased at every subsequent timecheck, securing his place in second place on the podium — though he now trails Pogacar by four minutes and 32 seconds, Evenepoel now leads Isaac del Toro in third by well over two minutes. Friday and Saturday’s ascents of Alpe d’Huez will dictate if the 26-year-old achieves his best Tour finish.

Evenepoel races towards his second stage win in a row (Jeff Pachoud / AFP via Getty Images)

“It’s amazing,” said Evenepoel. “It was a very nice TT, a lot of people on the side of the road, my whole family from both sides being here, my parents came just today, my wife is here with her parents and the siblings as well, and also on the Belgian national day it’s pretty special. I read this morning, it has been a while since Belgium won on national day, so I’m proud to be the one.”

“I think it was a really good execution,” said his director sportif Klaas Lodewyck. “From start to finish, he had good control. Also, with split times, we added a first split time ourselves. So we had the climb well under control, and then it was all about taking a proper descent and bringing it home safe, let’s say.”

Jacob Whitehead

Lipowitz crashes out in turbulent afternoon for Red Bull

One rider that could not do that was Evenepoel’s Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe teammate Lipowitz, who has abandoned the race with a suspected broken collarbone.

The 25-year-old German’s front wheel slid out on a high-speed right-hander in the closing kilometre, with Lipowitz landing heavily on his right side and seemingly hitting his head on the kerb.

He subsequently walked into an ambulance, cradling his right arm in a sling, before being taken to hospital. His Red Bull team did not have an immediate update on his condition. Lipowitz had been sitting fifth on GC, less than a minute off the podium.

“It’s really sad to see him like this,” said Lodewyk.  “It’s mixed emotions, let’s say, over the moon with the win from Remco, but the loss of Lipo was a big blow.”

“It’s a bittersweet pill for us to swallow,” said Evenepoel, whose co-leadership of the team with Lipowitz had caused tension in the Tour. “I was not up to date during my race on the finish line as well, but then the guys on the finish line said that Lipo had crashed and was out.

“He’s been riding super solid and the third week would have suited him well,” added Pogacar, who nearly crashed on the same corner. “Also for (Red Bull) they would have been able to ride with two men hard. He’s a good kid and I’m sad to see him lose the Tour, especially in the time-trial, it’s s**t to crash. I hope he can recover.”

Jacob Whitehead

What today meant for the podium

Seixas continues to pass every test that his debut Tour throws at him, with the 19-year-old finishing among the top time triallists in the world after securing fourth position, one minute and 16 seconds behind Evenepoel.

In the thrilling battle for the white jersey awarded to the best young rider, as well as third-place on the podium, Seixas gained five seconds on Del Toro, who he now trails by just 20 seconds as the race enters the Alps.

As a junior world time trial champion, Seixas’ pedigree in this discipline was well known — but it is still shocking that he is performing this well in such a test of pure power as a teenager.

“In terms of what makes Paul special, ultimately time trial is about a combination of physiology and aerodynamics and Paul excels on both of those points,” Paul Barratt, Decathlon CMA CGM’s time trial guru, told The Athletic.

“He’s got a very low drag value and he’s got very high physiology numbers for time trial and things like critical power and aerobic work capacity. Having said that, he’s worked very, very hard on both of those points.

“Obviously, people see his Strava stuff from what he does in training. But then from an aero point of view, we generally use three methods to develop and optimize aerodynamics. So that’s wind tunnel, track testing, and field testing. So there’s three ways — in the last 12 months, Paul has done all three, all of which to optimise both his position and his equipment. So he works hard and commits time and effort to that and to getting that down.”

Seixas clawed back five seconds on Isaac Del Toro (Loic VENANCE / AFP via Getty Images)

Elsewhere, while Lidl-Trek’s Skjelmose produced the best time trial of his career to finish third on the stage, his teammate Juan Ayuso had a poor day, considering his pedigree.

Finishing behind far smaller riders such as Tom Pidcock, over a minute down on the other podium contenders, Ayuso is now almost three minutes off third, and less than a minute ahead of Skjelmose.

Traditionally, the 23-year-old Spaniard has had at least one bad day each Grand Tour — he will have to hope that his came on Tuesday, rather than the even more unforgiving slopes of Alpe d’Huez . Having ridden defensively, this could finally be the trigger for Ayuso to go on the attack.

Jacob Whitehead

Dogs, fans and clock-watching in time trial comedy of errors

The list of rules to follow at a Tour de France time trial is not huge. Things it does include: keep your dog close (maybe even leave the family hound at home), be aware that the riders will be travelling even faster than usual, and, if you are lucky enough to be employed as a professional cyclist, do make sure you turn up on time.

That made Tuesday a mixed bag of a stage.

Firstly, an eager dog was witnessed on course as Kamil Gradek — the Lanterne Rouge and thus the first rider down the start ramp — headed towards Thonon-les-Bains, although fortunately the WorldTour-loving animal had the sense to duck back into the crowd before the Bahrain-Victorious rider got close.

⚠️ Please keep your dogs on leash! ⚠️

⚠️ Tenez vos animaux en laisse ! ⚠️#TDF2026 pic.twitter.com/cctP3wNnH1

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 21, 2026

Next, Josh Tarling (who put in the best early time of the day) came around a corner, only to find a group of fans crossing from one side of the road to the other. Tarling didn’t panic and kept to the racing line as he swept past them. And that’s to his credit, because in a time trial it’s easy to lose focus, as Huub Artz found out, the Dutch champion complaining that getting past another rider’s team car had impacted him on the technical descent that made up the middle part of today’s stage — one which noted descender Pidcock called “scary”.

And then when it came to timekeeping, Thymen Arensman went full Pedro Delgado 1989 (when, famously, the Tour’s defending champion turned up nearly three minutes late for the opening prologue time trial and ruined his yellow jersey defence before the race had even got going). To be fair, Arensman was only 10 or 11 seconds late, but he crossed the line only 4.97 seconds behind then-leader Mattia Cattaneo. That meant Arensman finished seventh rather than sixth — a minor blow for someone who won two stages at last year’s race.

Duncan Alexander

General classification after stage 16

1. Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates – XRG (56:14:18)
2. Remco Evenepoel | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe (+4m 32s)
3. Isaac Del Toro | UAE Team Emirates – XRG (+6m 51s)
4. Paul Seixas | Decathlon CMA CGM Team (+7m 11s)
5. Juan Ayuso | Lidl Trek (+9m 22s)
6. Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl Trek (+10m 14s)
7. Lenny Martinez | Bahrain – Victorious (+12m 50s)
8. Tom Pidcock | Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling (+12m 58s)
9. Jordan Jegat | TotalEnergies (+22m 50s)
10. Yannis Voisard | Tudor Pro Cycling (+24m 18s)

Who’s wearing the jerseys after stage 16?

What’s coming up tomorrow?

Stage 17 – Wednesday, July 22: Chambery to Voiron, 175km, hilly

A classic final week transition stage, which should ensure a furious battle to get in the breakaway. A flatter second half will tempt the sprinters too, if they have any energy left.

Ben Stokes defied severe cramp to grab the headlines once again with a typically gutsy century on his return to competitive action for the first time since retiring from Test cricket three weeks ago. He helped Durham beat Derbyshire in the One-Day Cup.

The all-rounder was playing his first List A game for his county for nearly 12 years and displayed all his hallmark grit as he battled repeated bouts of cramp – collapsing in pain as he reached his fifty – to drag his side to their target of 257 with a superb knock of 108 not out.

Earlier Stokes went wicketless in bowling nine overs as Derbyshire’s Martin Andersson’s well-measured century formed the backbone of the Falcons’ 256-9.

Ben Aitchison’s two early wickets pegged Durham back but Stokes got good support from Will Rhodes (45), Colin Ackermann and Ollie Robinson, as he hobbled past three figures to complete a stunning domestic return and seal a five-wicket win.

More to follow.