Tour de France | Bright spots in the first time trial of the Tour

There were three beaming faces at the time trial in Caen: Remco Evenepoel, who fully lived up to his gold helmet as a double Olympic champion in the time trial and road race, also winning in northern France. Tadej Pogačar, who once again expanded his jersey collection by finishing second on the day. The Slovenian had to swap his tailor-made and aerodynamically optimized world champion jersey for the Tour's mountains jersey before the fifth stage. While it wasn't a fluttering jersey from the 80s, Pogačar's team did recognize it as a slight disadvantage in terms of aerodynamic drag. Nevertheless, the Slovenian rode a strong race against the clock and was ultimately able to celebrate his 41st yellow jersey. Only four-time Tour winner Chris Froome (58 yellow jerseys) and four five-time overall winners are ahead of him in this ranking. The leader is – of course – Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx with 96 editions.

On Wednesday, someone who is still without a classification jersey in the Tour was also able to celebrate: Florian Lipowitz . The Swabian put in a magnificent time trial, finishing sixth. The arduous hours in the wind tunnel to find the optimal position on the bike were therefore worthwhile. Lipowitz was even a little astonished by his performance. "In terms of the values, it wasn't anything special, but apparently it was enough to put me relatively far up front," said the 24-year-old at the finish. This cheerfulness, even after maximum exertion, is nice, especially since Lipowitz made no secret of the setbacks of the past few days: "I didn't start the Tour so strongly and that's why I doubted myself a bit." He therefore described the time trial in Caen as "a ray of hope for the coming days too."

A Belgian even takes time away from Pogačar

Remco Evenepoel's performance also offered a real glimmer of hope. His lead over Pogačar wasn't as large as it had been in the time trial at the Tour of the Dauphiné . In June, Evenepoel had taken almost three seconds per kilometer off the Tour's top favorite on a similarly flat course. "Now it was only half a second per kilometer," the Belgian summed up, praising his rival: "He's improved a lot since then."

The captain of Team Soudal Quick Step had firmly planned for victory in the time trial. With a similarly outstanding performance as in the Dauphiné, Evenepoel could have even slipped into the yellow jersey himself. But the 39-second deficit he had incurred when the peloton split on the first stage proved too much of a burden. Added to that was the time bonus from Pogačar's stage win on the city hill in Rouen.

Evenepoel's performance, however, showed that there are still riders who don't automatically compete for second place if Pogačar pins on a starting number . Another rider of this caliber is Jonas Vingegaard. The Dane lost a surprising amount of time in Caen—more than a minute to Pogačar—but even his rival jumped in to help him put things in perspective. "Jonas is the lightest of the three of us," Pogačar said, referring to Vingegaard, Evenepoel, and himself. "He therefore has lower maximum strength than the rest of us, and on such a flat course, that plays an important role."

The second Tour favorite stumbles

Vingegaard can at least be pleased that his training focus on more explosiveness paid off in this Tour. On the steep climbs of Tuesday's fourth stage, he not only stayed close to Pogačar, but he also saw Pogačar briefly weaken and have to slow down. The Dane noticed this because he was so close. "It was my best unanimous effort ever," he said afterward, visibly proud.

They can build on that for this Tour de France . Vingegaard has improved in one crucial aspect. A gap in the flat time trial was realistic, even if two seconds per kilometer is certainly more than hoped. But the Dane is there. Pogačar even expects attacks from Vingegaard's team, Visma – Lease a Bike, on the coming stages before the first rest day next Tuesday, in order to make up time before the Pyrenees. The Dutch racing team has the strength to do so.

Evenepoel as the third laughing party?

Evenepoel has also put himself in a formidable position. He can hope for a battle of attrition between the two best tour riders. His official goal is a podium finish. "Third place and a stage win are the planned goals. We've already ticked one off," said the 25-year-old, adding: "One day I'd like to win the Tour too. It's still too early this year." The chuckle at the "too early" revealed that he's willing to exploit every weakness of Pogačar and Vingegaard, but also doesn't want to put himself under too much pressure. The press in Evenepoel's home country, in particular, is always on the lookout for the next Belgian cycling icon, which is why the gap between idolization and condemnation is minimal.