Remco Evenepoel stormed to victory on stage five's time trial at the Tour de France, setting a time that not even Tadej Pogačar could catch, at an average speed of 54km/h.
Evenepoel of Soudal Quick-Step repeated his feat from last year's race, winning the first individual time trial. The Belgian has not lost a TT since the final stage of the 2024 Tour, five in a row, which includes the Olympic and world titles.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Pogačar, however, climbed into the yellow jersey in the first week of the race after ousting Mathieu van der Poel from the race lead. Even better for Pogačar, he put over a minute into his great rival, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
On a flat course around the Norman city of Caen, a 33km race against the clock, Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) set what looked like the fastest time for most of the day until Evenepoel came along. The Italian completed the course in 37:15, but Evenepoel went 33 seconds quicker. Pogačar was 17 seconds off of the winner's time.
In the general classification, Pogačar now leads Evenepoel by 42 seconds, with Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) in third after a valiant ride by the Frenchman. Vingegaard is 1:13 behind Pogačar in fourth.
"You never know because big guys like Edoardo [Affini] can do these courses very well as well," Evenepoel said on television post-stage. "I knew I had a good chance, but the legs still have to be there, everything has to go with the plan. It was pretty good, I didn’t feel like I could go any faster, so I think I’m happy in general with this second stage win for our team.
"I pushed pretty steady, for the uphill more than the downhill. My strongest point was I kept the same pace at the end as the first 10km. It’s what we saw at the intermediates, I was always gaining time. I paced it perfectly, everything was on point.
"Tadej did a very strong TT as well; 17 seconds is pretty close. It's about half a second per kilometre, he made a step forward compared to the Dauphiné. That’s why he’s the guy to beat in this Tour de France. I tried to take as much time as possible to step up in the GC. It’s the same situation as last year after the TT. It’s a big step forwards to the podium, but there’s still a long way to go."
"Today was the first step for me to get a good GC result, but this is not where the Tour ends," he continued. "I know what’s coming up next week and the week after, there’s still a long way to go. The two guys from our team to take stage wins now have, so it’s all relaxed now, and focused on the podium in Paris."
More to follow...
How it happened
A 33km flat time trial around the Norman city of Caen was on the menu for stage five, with the blazing sun and good weather conditions ensuring that this would be a fast day.
The first rider down the start ramp, and also the first to finish, was XDS Astana’s Yevgeniy Fedorov, but the first rider to set a seriously competitive time was Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) in 38 minutes, at an average speed of over 52km/h. This was soon bettered by Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Iván Romeo (Movistar), the first pair to finish under 38 minutes.
The early benchmark was set by Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) who completed the 33km in just 37 minutes, 15 seconds, and would warm the hot seat for most of the day. However, the Italian European TT champ was pushed by French champion Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who finished just two seconds slower than his rival. The pair would occupy the top two spots for the next hour or so of action.
The priority of certain favourites became clear later in the day, with former Belgian champion Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) cruising round as much as he could, despite previously being a TT winner at the Tour.
The first of the true GC favourites to set off was Primoź Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who was half a minute down on the leader at the first intermediate check point. Soon after, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) followed suit, the world and Olympic champion charging down the start ramp.
Meanwhile, Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) set a relatively impressive time, 11th overall, 1:14 down on Affini. Roglič ended up with the 12th best time, losing a minute to the winner.
At the first time check, Evenepoel went faster than the leader at that point at the end, Affini, despite reports of wind conditions changing on the road. However, the Belgian was slower at the second check, but only just.
Early on in their efforts, it was reported that Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was faster than both Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). Vingegaard was seventh fastest at the first time check, while Pogačar was a second behind Evenepoel.
At the third timecheck, Evenepoel was faster than Affini, by 11 seconds, making an uncomfortable wait for the Italian in the hot seat. The only rider who looked like challenging Evenepoel at this point was Pogačar.
Coming into the final 100 metres, Evenepoel had dozens of seconds to play with, with the world champion finishing 33 seconds ahead of Affini.
Pogačar was 30 seconds up on Vingegaard midway through the course, who was slower than Roglič in turn. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), meanwhile, was setting a fierce time too. The Frenchman ended up fourth on the day, 49 seconds behind the fastest time.
By the third and final timing check, Pogačar was 17 seconds behind Evenepoel, who now led, while Vingegaard was almost a minute behind his rival.
The Slovenian ended up finishing 16.68 seconds behind Evenepoel, with Vingegaard 1:21 behind; Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), in the yellow jersey, only lost 1:44, but it was enough to lose the race lead to Pogačar.
Results
Tour de France 2025 stage 5: Caen > Caen, 33km (ITT)
1. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, in 36:42
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +16.68s
3. Edoardo Affini (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +33s
4. Bruno Armirail (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +35s
5. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +49s
6. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +58s
7. Iván Romeo (Esp) Movistar), +1:02
8. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:14
9. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +1:17
10. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar, +1:18
General classification after stage five
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirate-XRG, in 17:22:58
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +42s
3. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +59s
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:13
5. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:22
6. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +1:28
7. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:53
8. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:30
9. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:31
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +2:32
