Remco Evenepoel delivered a commanding ride to win stage five of the Tour de France, a 33km individual time trial around Caen. The Belgian time-trial world and Olympic champion averaged a blistering 54km/h to outpace his rivals, asserting his dominance in a discipline where he continues to shine. His victory was marked by precision and perfect pacing, allowing him to cross the finish line 16 seconds ahead of Tadej Pogacar.
Evenepoel’s performance not only earned him the stage win but also significantly boosted his position in the general classification, moving up to second place overall. He expressed satisfaction with his ride, noting that everything went according to plan. Though he acknowledged that it’s still early to target overall victory in the Tour, he emphasized the importance of steadily gaining ground and putting himself in podium contention.
While Evenepoel stole the stage, Pogacar emerged as the major winner in the broader race for the yellow jersey. The Slovenian rider delivered a solid time trial of his own, enough to claim the overall race lead from Mathieu van der Poel. With his closest general classification rival, Jonas Vingegaard, finishing down in 13th and losing over a minute, Pogacar now leads the Tour with a 42-second advantage over Evenepoel.
Italy’s Edoardo Affini rounded out the top three in the time trial, finishing 33 seconds behind Evenepoel. French rider Kevin Vauquelin also impressed, taking fifth on the stage and climbing to third overall in the general classification. His rise is particularly significant, as he now holds a narrow 14-second buffer over Vingegaard.
The defending champion, Vingegaard, appeared to struggle on the demanding course and will have ground to make up in the coming stages. His teammate Matteo Jorgenson now sits fifth overall, while Van der Poel dropped to sixth after an 18th-place finish in the time trial.
Pogacar’s performance places him in a unique position historically. He now wears not just the yellow jersey of the overall leader, but also the green jersey for points classification and the polka-dot jersey as the best climber. It marks the first time a rider has led in all three classifications at this stage of the race since the legendary Eddy Merckx in 1970.
Behind the leaders, Joao Almeida sits seventh in the general standings, just ahead of Primoz Roglic. Florian Lipowitz and Mattias Skjelmose round out the top ten, with margins between the riders still close enough to promise an exciting battle in the coming days.
Stage six of the Tour is set to challenge the peloton with a hilly 201.5km ride from Bayeux to Vire Normandie. The stage includes six categorised climbs and could present an opportunity for breakaway specialists or a reshuffle in the standings depending on the tactics deployed by the teams.
As the Tour heads into more varied terrain, both the yellow jersey contenders and the chasing pack will be looking to either defend their positions or claw back valuable seconds in what is shaping up to be a gripping edition of the race.
