A stunning victory in today’s mountain time-trial removed all doubt of Jonas Vingegaard’s (Jumbo-Visma) ability to defend his title in this year’s Tour de France, after the Dutch rider crushed his main rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), stopping the clock at the top of the Côte de Domancy with a 1:38 advantage over the Slovenian rider.
While most riders decided to ride a time trial bike, some like Pogačar, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek) and Stefan Küng (Groupama FDJ) opted to switch to a road bike.
Using his standard road bike for the whole 22-kilometer stage, Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost) recorded the fastest time for the mountain sector until his polka dot-wearing rival Ciccone bettered his time.
From there, French TT champion Rémi Cavagna (Soudal Quick-Step) set the next benchmark of 35:42.
Cavagna sat in the hot-seat for around an hour before Van Aert muscled up the climb on his TT bike to dethrone the Frenchman from the top of the leaderboard with a time that was 15 seconds faster.
The big moment of the day came when Pogačar rolled down the start ramp, followed just two minutes later by the yellow skinsuited Vingegaard, bettering his rival by 16 seconds at the first check, with the gap only increasing from there.
By the base of the Domancy, Vingegaard was more than 30 seconds faster than Pogačar, continuing to eat into his foe and blowing one of the closest French Grand Tours in decades apart.
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