The time trial in Caen showed: in the Tour Pogacar is always at its best

There was no cry for joy, not a high five, not even a smile at Remco Evenepoel when he got into the brakes under a tree gallery in Caen after his time trial. No trace of euphoria for the Belgian, who simply took a bottle of water from his caretaker and then turned his bike on the way to the stage.

In the meantime, the large screens at the finish showed images of Jonas Vingegaard, who seemed to be craving with open mouth to the end of his time trial. His backlog was already fifty seconds at that time, and he still had five kilometers.

It is still early in the Tour – only five days on the road – and the decision will probably only fall in the Alps in two weeks. But the time trial on Wednesday showed for the first time how the relationships are between the three big favorites for the yellow sweater.

In addition to the Tour Leroy, part of the location wall that caused Caen in the Middle Ages to defend the port, the riders were shot away from a yellow start stage, under the guidance of the cheers of the public and screeching of the flying seagulls.

For a moment the riders had to go up, towards the old walls of the castle of the city, but then an almost flat trail over 33 kilometers followed, perfect for the time trial specialists.

Loser

At half past five the first conclusion was: Tadej Pogacar is the best for the time being. He was allowed on stage no less than three times, as a leader in general, mountain and sprint classification. Behind Evenepoel he was the best of the rest on Wednesday in the time trial, only sixteen seconds was the difference. In the battle for the yellow jersey, the Slovenian now has a 42 second lead over the Belgian.

“This is a very nice day,” said Pogacar afterwards. “That I am so little loss in the best time driver in the world, and also grab a lot of time on the rest of the rankers, I am very happy with that.”

Evenepoel is completely back, that is conclusion two. The big favorite for the victory in this time trial, the Olympic and World Time Trial Champion took place with a golden bicycle, golden helmet and rainbow jersey. It immediately became clear that he was flying; He rode the second, third and first in the meantime and he had defeated everyone on the line.

“This was a revenge for my bad start of Saturday,” said Evenepoel, referring to the first stage where he lost 39 seconds due to fan formation. “I was motivated to give something back. And it is always nice to win so early in the Tour, that takes away part of the pressure.” Evenepoel was allowed on the stage twice; As the winner of the day and as a new leader in the youth classification.

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The last and hardest conclusion: Vingegaard was the great loser of the day. The Deen ends behind men like Primoz Roglic and teammate Matteo Jorgenson and lost 1 minute and 21 seconds on Evenepoel and more than a minute on Pogacar. When he filed after the finish, there was a trait of despair around his mouth.

It is, said team leader Grischa Niermann of Visma-Lease a Bike a little later, “a big disappointment” that his leader is already in such a big backlog so early in the Tour. In the morning, the Dutch team had pronounced the time trial as an opportunity to take time on Pogacar.

But Niermann saw the backlog of his leader on Pogacar ‘systematically’ running out during the competition. “I have no explanation for it, because I haven’t spoken to him yet. But I don’t think this was his best time trial ever.”

De Wind played a role by turning direction, from the south to the north, and to increase what in force in the course of the afternoon, but the Dutch team did not want to use it as an excuse. “There was more wind, but that applied to all of us,” said Jorgenson, who himself also disappointed by losing more than a minute on Evenepoel and Pogacar.

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Hungry

In his competitors there was astonishment about the time loss of Vingegaard, especially because the Dane in the Du Dauphiné criterion, an important preparation race on the Tour, had taken time on Pogacar (and had lost less time on Evenepoel). “Maybe this time trial was the worst of the three of him,” said Evenepoel. “He is the lightest of us, so he was at a disadvantage with the wind and kicking in absolute power.”

“I did not expect to take so much time on him,” said Pogacar, who did have an explanation for his own improved performance compared to the Dauphiné. “I shared my time trial completely wrong. I was not hungry enough. So I trained hard on my time trial bike and had promised myself that I would do better.”

At his team UAE Team Emirates-XRG, they had already taken into account that Pogacar would perform better than a few weeks ago. “This is the Tour de France,” said team leader Matxin Fernandez at the start. “Then Tadej is always more focused, more motivated.” Evenepoel was also not surprised. “Pogacar always knows how to perform the best on the largest stage.”

The Slovenian did not calculate rich in the Tour so early. “Tomorrow will be a hectic fight for the rankings, so we have to be careful,” he already looked ahead to a new stage full of steep climbs in the final. Then Vingegaard and his team will start the chase, Niermann announced. “We will have to.”

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