Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) won the fifth stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday, an individual time trial of 33 kilometers in Caen, establishing himself as the best in this discipline at the moment. On this day, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) claimed the yellow jersey and opened up a significant gap over his rivals in the general classification of this “Grande Boucle”.
In Caen, on a flat terrain, the Olympic and world time trial champion showed why he is a bullet against the clock and clocked a time of 36:42 with an average speed of 53.95 km/h, beating “Pogi” by 16 seconds.
He still remains the best against the clock without a doubt. However, Remco Evenepoel still needs to improve in the big mountains and be more explosive, a feeling that could change depending on what he does in the upcoming stages of the Tour, which have not yet passed through the Pyrenees or the Alps.
Pogacar is the new leader of the Tour de France
So far, the Belgian has been the only one capable of gaining time on a Tadej Pogacar who, if he continues like this, has his fourth Tour within reach. Because, behind the unstoppable Evenepoel, he was by far the best.
The Slovenian dressed in the yellow leader’s jersey and now leads the general classification by 42 seconds over Remco. However, the most important thing is that Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma - Lease a Bike), his main rival on paper, is fourth, 1 minute and 13 seconds behind Pogacar. Much further back, in eighth place, is Primoz Roglic (Red Bull - BORA) at 2:30′.
The surprising Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) is third, 59 seconds behind.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who had started the day with the yellow jersey, dropped to sixth place.