Pogacar lands early blow on GC - Stage 5 Domestique Debrief

When you’re the world and Olympic champion, and your nickname is ‘aero bullet’ anything less than victory is deemed a failure to deliver on expectation. Once again, when the pressure was on, Remco Evenepoel absolutely confirmed that he is the best time triallist on the planet. 

While it could be argued that he is somewhat prone to crashes when riding in the high-pressured environment of the peloton, Evenepoel’s ability to ride hard against the clock, measure his effort and maintain his composure is second to none when he’s riding as an individual. He took back a chunk of time on all of his rivals yesterday, propelling himself up the standings into second position, and giving himself every opportunity to secure his best-ever result at the race, should he be able to perform in the mountains, too.

Much of the talk after the Critérium du Dauphiné last month centred around Tadej Pogačar’s lacklustre time trial performance. He well and truly laid rest to any concerns surrounding his form against the clock yesterday, putting in the second strongest performance on the day to finish second, just 16 seconds outside the time of the world champion in the discipline. 

This in itself is a serious statement of the form of the Slovenian, particularly bearing in mind that the second time trial is a hillier affair that he’s likely to find even more to his liking. Over and above the second place, the time he put into his long-time GC rival Jonas Vingegaard will give the UAE man a huge confidence boost and a crucial psychological advantage, though there is a long way to go, and many mountains to climb, before Paris.

It was a sight that we are not often used to seeing – Jonas Vingegaard looking uncomfortable and out of sorts in a time trial. Before writing off his form completely, it’s key to note that he’s not a pure specialist in the same vein as Evenepoel, and a flat course such as the one in Caen yesterday doesn’t suit his capabilities; the most memorable time trial performance of his career, in the 2023 Tour, came on an uphill test. Additionally, Vingegaard had a strong headwind to contend with on the way out – conditions which are likely to have a greater impact on a rider of his stature than on Evenepoel. Nonetheless, he lost significant time to his GC rivals, finishing just behind his former teammate Roglič on the day.

While the Dane loses just a single place on GC, his time loss is more significant. Now 1:13 down on Pogačar, it’s not game over by any means, but the deficit will certainly give Visma | Lease a Bike pause, and may push them to race more aggressively in the coming days to try and isolate and tire Pogačar – the only strategy that’s ever really worked for them in the past. Conversely, they may conserve energy and simply wait until the mountains, and hope that Vingegaard can outdo his rival on territory in which he feels most at home.

It’s becoming an all too familiar story. Time trial specialists arrive at major stage races and come oh so close to victory, only to find they are outdone by a generation of GC riders who can do it all. Stefan Küng finally found his way to his first Grand Tour victory at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana after years of trying and just missing out. Edoardo Affini is another such rider. 

Strong enough to win the 2024 European titles, where only the serious specialists go along for the ride, he occupied the hot seat for almost all of the day yesterday, only to be overturned by the might of another specialist – the best that we’ve seen in a generation – in Remco Evenepoel, and a superhuman all-rounder in Tadej Pogačar.

 For the Italian, who may have dreamed of victory with another of his great rivals, countryman Filippo Ganna, out of the race and therefore unable to pose a threat, it is strong result, but another day in which he fails to add to his palmares – one which includes just three victories at WorldTour level, though all of them in team time trials, rather than individual honours. His role as a Rouleur and domestique for Visma | Lease a Bike should not be underestimated, but it would be wonderful to see such a loyal servant able to match Küng and one day take an individual Grand Tour stage victory of his own.

He may have lost control of the youth classification by dint of the winner Evenepoel’s storming performance, but Arkéa-B&B Hotels’ GC leader Kévin Vauquelin put in a very solid performance on home soil to finish an impressive fifth on the stage, and even more remarkably, he moves up to third place on the general classification. It’s a huge bonus for the Breton team who look set to lose their World Tour status – and Vauquelin himself – at the end of the season. While the Norman remains though, he is bringing positive attention to the team ahead of their return to home soil on stage 7.

It was also the first time in almost a quarter of a century that two Frenchman have finished in the top 5 of a Tour de France ITT, as national champion Bruno Armirail of Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale finished in fourth place, just 0:02 behind Affini – more promising signs for the host nation of brighter days to come.