Remco Evenepoel decreased Tadej Pogačar for 16 seconds on the 5th stage.
Photo: Image/Jan De Meuleneir
There were three radiant faces in the time trial in Caen: Remco Evenepoel, who fully lived up to his gold helmet as a double Olympic champion in the time trial and street races and also won in northern France. Tadej Pogačar, who again expanded his jersey collection as a day second. The Slovenian had had to exchange its tailor -made and aerodynamically optimized world championship jersey before the fifth stage for the tour of the tour. That was not a flutter shirt from the 80s, but Pogačar’s team saw a small disadvantage in terms of air resistance. Nevertheless, the Slovenian drove a strong race against the clock and was able to look forward to his 41st yellow textile in the end. In this ranking, there are only four -time tour winner Chris Froome (58 yellow jerseys) and four five -time overall winners in front of him. The leader is – of course – the Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx with 96 editions.
On Wednesday, however, someone who is still without a jersey on the tour was also happy: Florian Lipowitz. The Swabian was the sixth a splendid time trial. The tedious hours in the wind tunnel to find the optimal position on the bike were therefore worth it. Lipowitz was even a bit amazed at his performance. “It was nothing special from the values, but apparently it was enough for relatively far ahead,” said the 24-year-old at the finish line. This cheerfulness even after maximum exertion is nice, especially since Lipowitz did not make a secret of the setbacks of the past few days: “I did not start the tour so much and therefore doubted me a bit.” He therefore described the time trial in Caen as “bright spot for the coming days”.
Pogačar even takes a Belgian time
A real glimmer of hope was also the performance of Remco Evenepoel. His lead over Pogačar was not as big as when driving time on the Dauphiné tour. In June, Evenepoel had lost almost three seconds per kilometer to the top favorite of the tour on a similarly flat course. “Now it was only half a second a kilometer,” said the Belgian and attested to his rival: “He has improved a lot since then.”
The captain of the Soudal Quick Step team had planned the victory in the time trial. With a similarly outstanding performance as with the Dauphiné, it would even have been possible for Evenepoel to slip into the yellow jersey. But the 39 seconds behind, which he had caught in the division of the peloton on the first stage, proved to be too large. In addition, there was the time credit at Pogačar’s stage victory on the city hill in Rouen.
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However, Evenepoel’s performance showed that there are still drivers who do not automatically drive for second place if Pogačar attaches a start number. Another driver of this format is actually Jonas Vingegaard. In Caen, the Dane lost a surprisingly amount of time – more than a minute on Pogačar – but even his competitor jumped aside for the factual classification. “Jonas is the easiest of us three,” Pogačar referred to Vingegaard, Evenepoel and himself. “He therefore also has a lower force than we others and this plays an important role in such a flat course.”
The second tour favorite stumbles
Vingegaard can at least be happy that his training focus has struck more explosiveness on this tour. On the steep ramps of the fourth stage on Tuesday, he not only stayed on Pogačar. He also saw how he weakened briefly and had to take out the pace. The Dane noticed that because he was so close. “It was my best unanimous burden ever,” he said, then visibly proudly.
This can be assembled on this tour de France. Vingegaard has improved in a crucial aspect. A gap in the flat time trial was realistic, even if two seconds per kilometer are certainly more than hoped for. But the Dane is there. Pogačar even expects Vingegaard’s Team Visma – Lease a Bike to take time before the Pyrenees before the first day before the first day of rest. The Dutch racing team has the strength for this.
Even as a laughing third?
Evenepoel has also put itself in a formidable lurk position. He can hope for a fatigue battle of the two best tour drivers. Officially, he gives a place on the podium as the destination. »Third place and a stage victory are the planning players. We have already ticked off one thing, “said the 25-year-old and added:” One day I would also like to win the tour. It is too early this year. ”But smiling with the“ too early ”revealed that he is ready to take advantage of every weakness of Pogačar and Vingegaard, but also does not want to put too pressure under pressure. Because the press in Evenepoel’s homeland is always looking for the next Belgian cycling sport, which is why the distance between idolatry and damnation is only minimal.
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