Slovenian Tadej Pogacar emerged as the overwhelming Tour de France favourite when he destroyed the field by winning the fifth stage, a 27.2-km individual time trial, on Wednesday.
The defending champion clocked a best time of 32 minutes between Change and Laval to beat Swiss Stefan Kueng, the European champion in the solo effort against the clock, by 18 seconds.
Dutch Mathieu van der Poel took fifth place to retain the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
Pogacar’s performance is a massive blow to his rivals for the title. Last year’s runner-up Primoz Roglic finished 44 seconds off the pace.
