Tour de France: Evenepoel unstoppable in stage 5 TT as Pogacar grabs yellow
Remco Evenepoel lives up to his billing by winning the stage 5 time trial in Caen, but Tadej Pogačar takes the yellow jersey and puts time into Jonas Vingegaard in the fight for overall victory.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) claimed time trial victory on stage 5 of the Tour de France in Caen, but the day’s big winner was Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who moved into the yellow jersey and struck a hefty blow against eternal rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike).
The wind rose considerably for the later starters, and Evenepoel gauged his effort accordingly on the out-and-back course. He came through in second place at the first two time checks before turning on the afterburners with the wind at his back in the final section. The world and Olympic time trial champion clocked an average speed of 54kph to claim the second Tour stage win of his career.
On the eve of the time trial, Evenepoel had spoken optimistically of doing enough to take the yellow jersey, but it was apparent early he had a touch too much to do. Pogačar duly delivered an assured time trial to take second place on the stage, just 16 seconds down on the Belgian, which was more than enough for him to divest Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) of the yellow jersey.
By contrast, it was a torrid afternoon for Vingegaard, who was already visibly struggling in the opening kilometres of his effort. The Dane was 20 seconds down on Evenepoel after 8km, and that gap mushroomed to 42 seconds by the midpoint. He finished the time trial in 13th place, 1:21 down on Evenepoel and 1:05 behind Pogačar.
In the overall standings, Pogačar leads Evenepoel by 42 seconds, while Vingegaard is now 1:13 down in fourth place. The Tour is still long, of course, and the duel will continue - but the pendulum has swung sharply in Pogačar's favour in Normandy.
“You never know because big guys like Edoardo can do these courses very well. I knew I had a good chance, but the legs still have to be there,” Evenepoel said. “In the end I think it was pretty good. I didn’t feel like I could go any faster. I’m happy with the result.”
It was another disappointing afternoon for Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who finished 12th at 1:19. The surprise of the day was provided by Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), who produced a spirited display to take fifth on the stage, and he now lies third overall at 59 seconds.
How it unfolded
The day began promisingly for Visma | Lease a Bike, who had European time trial champion Edoardo Affini in the hot seat for much of the day after he set a fine time on the flat and fast 33km course. The Italian’s effort was enough to see him finish the stage in third place, just 33 seconds behind Evenepoel and his times surely provided a useful reference for Vingegaard later in the afternoon.
Other impressive early performers included Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R), who finished the day fourth at 35 seconds, but the story of the day was always going to be told by the later starters.
Roglic’s subdued outing confirmed the direction of travel of his Tour to date, and the Slovenian is now already 2:30 down on his compatriot Pogačar in the overall standings. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) rode to 11th on the stage he is now fifth overall at 1:22.
All eyes, however, were on Evenepoel, who had set himself the target of capturing the yellow jersey. He had left himself with too much to do after starting the day 58 seconds down on Pogačar, but the world champion still produced a hugely impressive display here.
His determination was clear from the way he sprinted off the start ramp, and although he trailed Luke Plapp (Jayco-Alula) at the first time checks into the headwind, he did more than enough to keep himself in the hunt for stage victory. The so-called ‘Aero Bullet’ took flight once he hit the final tailwind section and the identity of the stage winner was never in doubt from there.
Pogačar had struggled in the time trial at the Critérium du Dauphiné, and Evenepoel and Vingegaard would both have hoped to gain significant time here. It was quickly apparent, however, that this was a very different Pogačar.
He certainly wasn’t hindered by having to wear the race organisation’s polka-dot skinsuit. He was only a second behind Evenepoel after 8km. That gap went out to 12 seconds by the second check and 17 by the third, but Pogačar finished quickly to limit his losses to just half a second per kilometre to Evenepoel.
Vingegaard, by contrast, looked ragged from the outset and the clock confirmed that doleful impression. He was 20 seconds behind Evenepoel after 8km, 42 seconds down after 16km and 1:05 down after 24km. The losses continued all the way to the line, as he came home 1:22 down, which translated to almost 2.5 seconds per kilometre.
A simple jour sans or the sign of a deeper malaise? Either way, the path to Tour victory against this iteration of Pogačar has narrowed and steepened.
