Mathieu van der Poel lost his yellow sweater in the Tour de France at Tadej Pogacar. In the time trial around Caen, the Slovenian was almost a minute and a half faster than the Dutchman and took the lead in the rankings.
Van der Poel rode with his 38.25 To an eighteenth place. The former world champion said yesterday after the fourth stage that it would be difficult to stay the leader in the general classification. He stood at the same time as Pogacar and only had an eight -second lead on Vingegaard.
Although Van der Poel gave everything that was in him on the almost flat course, it turned out not enough to stay close to the classification men.
Remco Evenepoel won the time trial. The world and Olympic time trial champion took 36 minutes and 42 seconds, good for an average of 54 kilometers per hour.
Tomorrow stage
On Thursday, Van der Poel will have a new chance of success. Then a spicy stage from Bayeux to Vire Normandie is waiting with lots of hills and a short, spicy climb to the finish.