Jonas Vingegaard obliterates Tadej Pogacar in time trial to take huge step towards Tour de France title

ByFelix Lowe

Updated 18/07/2023 at 17:29 GMT

Short of a big turnaround in the mountains, Jonas Vingegaard will surely win a second Tour de France title after obliterating Tadej Pogacar in the individual time trial on Stage 16. Almost nothing separated the big two in the general classification in the opening two weeks – but at the start of week three, Vingegaard put down the statement performance of the entire race, perhaps his whole career.

In the race of truth, the stopwatch doesn’t lie. And on a day Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) momentarily moved into the hot seat after toppling Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) in the Tour’s only time trial, both men, seconds later, were roundly chastised – nay, humiliated – by defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).

Vingegaard rode out of his yellow skinsuit over the lumpy 22.4km course between Passy and Combloux – the 26-year-old Dane almost symbolically catching his big rival Pogacar after powering up the Cote de Domancy like a man possessed.

A tactical bike change backfired for Pogacar – but even this minor gaffe made very little difference as Vingegaard crossed the line 1’38” quicker than the two-time Tour champion from Slovenia. Three years on, Pogacar must now know how compatriot Primoz Roglic felt on La Planche des Belles Filles.

Giro d'Italia

Pogacar says team sat off on Stage 10 as 'people were complaining we win too much'

00:01:38

|

8 hours ago

Make no mistake – Pogacar hardly put in a dud time trial. After all, he not only beat Belgian national champion Van Aert by well over a minute, he was also just metres away from catching his two-minute man Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) on the home straight.

But Vingegaard was simply that much better: an extra-terrestrial compared to a mere man on the moon. From start to finish, the Jumbo-Visma leader was better in every department and held all the cards at every intermediate check. Sixteen seconds at the 6.1km mark stretched to 31 seconds at the 16.1km and then a whopping 1’05” after the Cote de Domancy, a 2.8km ascent with a punishing average gradient of 8.4%.

With Pogacar a white beacon in his sights, Vingegaard did not let up on the final 3.5km rise to the finish – turning his slender 10-second lead going into the TT to a huge 1’48” with just two more mountain stages between now and Paris.

“My bike computer was showing such high numbers that I thought it wasn’t working,” Vingegaard told French TV after the third – and most emphatic – Tour stage win of his career.

“I was feeling great today – I think it was the best time trial I have ever done,” he added. “I’m really proud with what I did today and I’m really proud about the victory. It’s my first time trial victory in the Tour de France.”

The Tour de France is not over – Vingegaard after stunning time trial win

Still without a stage win in the 110th edition of the Tour, Van Aert took third place at 2’51” with Spain’s Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Britain’s Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) completing the top five and just avoiding a three-minute deficit.

French time trial champion Remi Cavagna (Soudal-QuickStep) – who sat in the winner’s enclosure for well over an hour after what looked to be a solid early effort – ended up in sixth place, 3’06” down.

It was not all doom and gloom for Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates, however, with Britain’s Adam Yates taking seventh place to move above Rodriguez into the provisional third spot on the podium – albeit almost nine minutes down on Vingegaard.

Yates now holds a slender five-second gap over the Spaniard in a new-look GC that saw Austria’s Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroen) move up to tenth at the expense of Frenchman Guillaume Martin (Cofidis).

• Tour de France 2023 Stage 16 recap: Vingegaard eclipses rivals in TT

With Cavagna proving himself to be the best of the earlier runners ahead of Soudal team-mate Kasper Asgreen, Frenchman Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) and Swiss powerhouse Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ), much of the early speculation surrounded the likelihood of showers for the GC favourites and the potential benefits of a bike change ahead of the Cote de Domancy.

In the event, the rain held off – although try telling that to Pogacar, whose second place must have been the most miserable of his life. His UAE team confirmed before the start that he would change bikes for the climb – and they lived up to their word.

But even a switch to a motorbike would not have changed the result – such was Vingegaard’s domination behind.

Pogacar congratulates Vingegaard after stunning time trial

"Today you show the world who's the strongest," came the radio message from the Jumbo-Visma car to Vingegaard as he began to stamp his authority on the race of truth – wiping out Pogacar’s earlier target times at each checkpoint with apparent ease.

It was a message the Dane denied he heard: “When there are so many spectators it can be quite hard to hear what’s said on the radio." Had he envisaged such a dominant display to start the third week of the Tour? “To be honest, no. I think today I even surprised myself with the time trial I did. I didn’t expect to do so well,” he said.

If Vingegaard was strong, even he did not beat the time of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) up the Cote de Domancy, the Italian putting in a special effort to take maximum KOM points on the Cat.2 ascent to move five clear of Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) in the polka dot jersey battle.

The outcome of the Tour now hinges on the remaining two stages in the mountains – neither of which culminating in a summit showdown. Wednesday’s Stage 17 to Courchevel packs 5,100m of climbing into just 166km with the finish coming after a technical downhill off the back of the highest point in the race, the Col de la Loze.

After two stages better suited to the sprinters or breakaway artists, Saturday’s penultimate stage through the Vosges includes six climbs and 3,600m of climbing.

“There’s still a lot of hard stages to come,” Vingegaard said, denying that the Tour was over. “We have to keep fighting in these next stages and I’m looking forward to it.”

At the very least, the large gap between first and second now means Pogacar and his UAE team will be forced onto the front foot in a bid to take the race to Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma.

There are still opportunities for a turnaround, but if Pogacar could only take 10 seconds on his rival before Tuesday’s TT, can the 24-year-old – who is still returning to form following injury – be expected to take two minutes from the yellow jersey between now and Paris?

It would take a devastating performance of the calibre Vingegaard put in on Tuesday – and it would seem only one rider in the peloton is capable of that right now.

- - -

Stream the 2023 Tour de France live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk

Giro d'Italia

Paret-Peintre emulates brother with Stage 10 win as Pogacar cruises in pink

Yesterday at 17:29

Giro d'Italia

Kooij edges electric Stage 9 finish after incredible Pogacar leadout

12/05/2024 at 18:55

Giro d'Italia

How to watch Stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia as first summit finish looms

10/05/2024 at 21:34