Tadej Pogačar wins stage 5 of the Tour de France
Tadej Pogačar wins stage 5 of the Tour de France
Tadej Pogačar nabbed his fourth career Tour de France stage victory on Wednesday’s stage 5 time trial, setting a mark of 32:00 on the 27.2 km course and bolstering his GC prospects in the process. Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) set the day’s second fastest time, with Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) in third.
The mostly flat TT from Changé to Laval Espace Mayenne saw Mikkel Bjerg (UAE-Team Emirates) spend over two hours in the hot seat after setting a strong early mark of 33:01. It was Mattia Cattaneo (Deceuninck-QuickStep) who finally overtook the provisional lead with a time of 32:55, but then Küng moved into the hot seat with a time of 32:19.
That time stood against the challenges of several TT specialists but it would not withstand the effort of the reigning Tour champ. Pogačar set the fastest time at both checks and then powered to the new fastest stage time. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) would follow with solid rides but came up short of besting Pogačar.
Pogačar’s excellent performance moved him up to second overall behind van der Poel and will set him up well for GC picture moving forward. As for the rest of the GC field, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) was seventh on the day, 44 seconds back, losing time on Pogačar but perhaps taking away some reassurance of his form considering the injuries he sustained in a crash on stage 3. Geraint Thomas, who dislocated his shoulder on stage 3, did not fare quite so well, losing 1:18 to Pogačar, while his Ineos Grenadiers teammate Richard Carapaz finished 1:44 down.
Tour de France (2.UWT) Changé → Laval Espace Mayenne
POGAČAR Tadej
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
CAVENDISH Mark
SCHELLING Ide
POGAČAR Tadej
Team Jumbo-Visma