Remco Evenepoel wins ‘special’ Tour de France individual time-trial

Remco Evenepoel delivered a commanding performance on Tuesday, winning the Tour de France’s 26.1km individual time trial and cutting into Tadej Pogacar’s overall lead in the process.

The Belgian Olympic and world time-trial champion completed the stage 16 route near Lake Geneva in Thonon-Bains 28 seconds faster than Pogacar, the defending Tour champion, who finished second. Mattias Skjelmose of Denmark was third, more than a minute behind the winner at 1 minute 04 seconds.

Evenepoel’s ride trimmed Pogacar’s general classification lead to 4 minutes 32 seconds. It also marked his second straight stage win after taking Sunday’s mountainous 15th stage, and his fourth Tour de France stage victory overall. Three of those wins have come in time trials.

The result had added meaning for Evenepoel, who said the victory felt especially memorable because it came on Belgium’s national holiday and in front of family members who had travelled to support him. He described the atmosphere on the road as lively and said the day had a special significance after reading that it had been some time since a Belgian had won on the national day.

The stage also brought mixed emotions for Evenepoel’s Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team. German rider Florian Lipowitz crashed on a bend and was forced out of the race after appearing to be in contention earlier in the stage. He had been fifth overall before the accident and was later escorted to a medical vehicle with his left arm held close.

Evenepoel said he felt for his teammate and hoped the injury was not serious. Team sporting director Klaas Lodewyck praised Evenepoel’s execution in the time trial while acknowledging the loss of Lipowitz as a major setback.

Pogacar and Isaac del Toro both negotiated the same bend where Lipowitz fell without incident. Del Toro remains third overall, more than two minutes behind Evenepoel, who gained further ground in the standings with the dominant display.

The win was widely viewed as a standout ride on a day when the top contenders were split by small margins early on, before Evenepoel pulled away on the uphill section of the course. According to the monitored public feed, his pace proved too strong for the field from the opening checkpoint onward.

This report is based on a monitored public feed and attributed to Dawn Sport. Source: Dawn Sport - https://www.dawn.com/news/2017390/remco-evenepoel-wins-special-tour-de-france-individual-time-trial