Evenepoel rockets to Tour time trial victory but Pogacar remains in control

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) scorched to victory in the stage 16 time trial at the Tour de France, but Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) remains on course for a record-equalling fifth overall victory after placing second on the stage.

Pogačar completed the 26.1km course just 28 seconds behind the flying Evenepoel to maintain a lead of 4:32 over the Belgian in the overall standings.

It was a day of mixed emotions for Red Bull, with Evenepoel’s teammate Florian Lipowitz abandoning the Tour with a suspected broken collarbone after crashing heavily in the final part of his effort. He had posted the fourth-best time at the final time check, and his abandon means that Evenepoel is now the lone leader at Red Bull.

Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) remains third overall, 6:51 down, after placing fourth on the stage, but he appears locked in a tight battle with Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) for the white jersey and a podium spot.

Seixas delivered an assured time trial to place fourth on the stage, 1:16 down on Evenepoel, and he is now just 20 seconds behind Del Toro in the overall standings after clawing back five seconds on the Mexican.

Elsewhere, Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) endured a difficult outing, and the Spaniard conceded 1:17 to his teammate Mattias Skjelmose, who finished a surprising third on the stage, 1:04 down on Evenepoel. Ayuso remains fifth overall, but he is now 9:22 down on Pogačar, while Skjelmose has risen to sixth at 10:14

The early pace-setter was Josh Tarling, who even surpassed his Netcompany-Ineos teammate Filippo Ganna on the 26.1km course, but it was always clear that the stage would be decided among the men at the very top of the general classification.

Bruno Armirail (Visma Lease a Bike) had a stint in the hotseat, and he would finish the day with eighth place on the stage. Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) would rue arriving a few seconds later to the start house, an error that cost him at least one place, but he would finish the day with seventh on the stage, 1:47 down.

Evenepoel’s Red Bull teammate Mattia Cattaneo showed the direction of travel by clocking the quickest time before the last wave of starters, and that would suffice to give the Italian sixth on the stage.

The abandon of Lipowitz would see several riders move up in the standings, with Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) up to seventh after a very solid display, while Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) is just eight seconds off him in eighth.

Seixas, meanwhile, again proved that he is coping well with the rigours of three-week racing as he shaded the duel against his white jersey rival Del Toro, a performance that augurs well for his prospects of finishing on the podium of the Tour at his first attempt.

The day belonged to Evenepoel, however, with the Belgian quickest at each of the three checkpoints, but Pogacar managed to keep his gains within reasonable limits.

Pogacar was seven seconds down at the first check after 5km and 15 seconds down at the second atop the Côte de Larringes. Evenepoel and Pogacar more or less broke even on the descent before the Belgian stretched out his advantage to 28 seconds in the flat finale, averaging 48.458km/h.

Evenepoel’s superiority on this terrain brooks no argument and he is now strongly placed to claim a podium place in Paris – but he knows, too, that there is little prospect of wresting yellow away from Pogacar given the terrain to come.