Jonas Vinzigard took control of the race on Tuesday after a fierce run in the Tour de France’s hilly time trial, winning a stage and less than a week away from the finish line in Paris. His 14-mile time was 1:38 faster than rival Tadej Pogacar, extending his 10-second overall lead to 1:48, a potentially decisive gap.
Slovenia’s Pogacar spent two weeks whittling away the opening lead in Denmark’s Vinge Goal, using his ferocious acceleration in carefully timed bursts to blast up the steepest mountain climbs and save seconds. robbed. The result was the biggest head-to-head confrontation on tour in years.
But on Tuesday’s Stage 16, quick acceleration and tactical sensitivity were less important. It was a time trial in which each rider ran individually over a short but hilly course from Passy to Combloux in the Alps.
Instead, it was all about maintaining speed on flats, downhills and most importantly uphill sections. Pogacar barely underperformed. He comfortably set the second best time of the day. But Vingiguard was far superior.
“Today is the best of mankind,” said Wout van Aert, who finished third. We were unable to catch Vinzigor or Pogacar on Tuesday.
This year’s Tour de France is an unusual event with only one time trial. Time trials are often called “truth races”. There are no teammates to set the pace or overshadow rivals, just riders, bikes and watches.
Pogacar started penultimate and Vangegor was substituted two minutes later.
The first time-check at mile 4.5, past the relatively easy part of the track, showed Vinzigard to be 16 seconds ahead. The second check increased it to 31 seconds. The lead was 1:05 at the third check.
That was when Pogacar tossed the final dice and opted to switch bikes for the final climb. He jumped off his time trial his bike with an aerodynamically optimized disc rear wheel and rode a more climbable standard road his bike with spokes on both wheels . Pogacar’s UAE team decided that the seconds lost by changing bikes could be compensated for by the time gained on the climb.
But Vinzigard didn’t seem to hesitate to stick with his time trial bike, and the gap only widened.
“I felt great today,” he said. “I think it was the best time trial I’ve ever had.” I think I surprised myself today. ”
Pogacar was philosophical, but undaunted. “There’s a big gap now,” he said. “I expected it to be yellow today.”
“It’s never over,” he added. “Especially if it rains tomorrow, I can promise you it’s going to be interesting. There are two more really difficult stages, but I think they’re the most difficult stages of this tour.” The final ceremony stage ends in Paris.
The odds for the overall win changed significantly during Tuesday’s stage, with the odds for the two riders turning almost even, 10-1 in favor of Vinzigard over Pogacar.
“It’s not easy to cut two minutes,” admitted Pogacar. “But I’ll try.”
