Moral blow from Pogacar to Vingegaard in a time trial that Remco Evenepoel won

The time trial of the 5th stage of the Tour de France 2023 was the first opportunity to draw conclusions about the strengths of the favorites for the general classification beyond the skirmishes of these days. And the conclusions could not have been more forceful: Vingegaard is clearly defeated by Tadej Pogacar while Remco Evenepoel, despite his victory, fails to cut as much as he would need to have a chance in the mountains.

Tadej Pogacar is already the solid leader of the Tour de France 2026

The time trial is the best occasion to establish significant differences for the cyclists who aspire to the general classification, but the blow that Tadej Pogacar has dealt to the Tour de France today puts the race very much in his favor for the upcoming mountain stages.

The time trial started interestingly with the tremendous performance of Iván Romeo, who is gradually confirming the class he possesses by becoming the leader of the stage. The Valladolid rider's stay in the hot seat would not last long as Luke Plapp and Edoardo Affini were beating his intermediate times from behind. However, the Australian deflated in the final part, finishing behind the Movistar rider but not the Italian, who set a tremendously useful time to serve as a reference later for his leader Jonas Vingegaard.

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No one threatened Affini's time until the winner of the stage arrived, who, although he started his participation by measuring his strength, in fact, he could not beat Plapp's times in the first two splits, unleashed all his potential Remco Evenepoel in the last third of the stage, improving by 33 seconds over the Italian.

Before him, another of the favorites for the general classification, Primoz Roglic, continued the horrible year of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, losing 1 minute 19 seconds to Remco Evenepoel, adding to the deficit he already had and now conceding two and a half minutes in the general classification.

On the other hand, Jonas Vingegaard did not have his best day. Although he held his own in the first splits, in the last third, the seconds fell on him like a weight, finishing 1 minute 21 seconds behind, a time almost identical to Roglic's. A loss that would be acceptable compared to Remco Evenepoel, currently the best time trialist in the world, with the permission of Filippo Ganna.

The problem for him is the tremendous time trial that Tadej Pogacar had, who always stayed within striking distance of Evenepoel's times and only managed to concede 16 seconds at the finish. A time that not only allows him to wear the yellow jersey of this Tour de France 2025 but also to establish a difference of more than a minute with his closest rival. On the other hand, Remco Evenepoel, despite gaining some time and winning the stage, cannot be happy. His best chance in the general classification has already passed, and the margin was slim, which, combined with the losses accumulated in the first days, places him more than 40 seconds behind the lead with all the mountains ahead.

Very good performance from the Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin, who rises to third place in the general classification, 59 seconds behind the Slovenian, and who left us with one of the images of the day by overtaking Enric Mas, who had started 2 minutes ahead of him and lost almost 3 minutes in the stage compared to Remco. Another disastrous time trial for the Mallorcan rider who, inexplicably, continues to aim for a place in the top 10 of the general classification, modest aspirations for a cyclist who until recently claimed to be aiming for victory.

The other Spanish rider aiming for a good position in the general classification, Carlos Rodríguez, lost 2 minutes 15 in the stage, putting him more than 4 minutes behind in the general classification in a year where he is unable to recover his form.

The undulating terrain returns in tomorrow's stage through the fields of Normandy in a day that, after the effort of the time trial, is likely to favor a quality breakaway with the favorites seeking to recover as much as possible. In any case, a small climb 4 kilometers from the finish could provide some new skirmishes.

Stage 5 Classification

1. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) 36'42''
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +16''
3. Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) +33''
4. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +35''
5. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +49''
6. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +58''
7. Iván Romeo (Movistar Team) +1'02''
8. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1'14''
9. Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) +1'17''
10. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar Team) +1'18''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 17h22'58''
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +42''
3. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +59''
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'13''
5. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'22''
6. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +1'28''
7. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1'53''
8. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +2'30''
9. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +2'31''
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +2'32''