A strong ride in the Alps ensured Mark Cavendish didn't allow his points classification rivals to make up much ground on him at the Tour de France today.

Stage 16 from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to Gap saw the peloton fragment, with a number of breaks off the front.

The two men who could still wrestle the green jersey away from Cavendish, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Philippe Gilbert, finished in 14th and 15th respectively to make up a couple of points on the Manxman.

But it was nothing significant and Cavendish has a healthy, 34-point lead over Rojas and is 69 ahead of Gilbert.

Tomorrow's stage from Gap to Pinerolo is another mountainous one, with a category one climb to over 2,000m about two-thirds of the way through, as well as a number of lesser category climbs.