Remco Evenepoel rode a brilliant time trial to win stage 16 of the Tour de France on a bittersweet day for his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe squad, as co-leader Florian Lipowitz crashed out of the race.
Lipowitz, who finished third last year and won the best young rider classification, had been in fifth place going into stage 16.
The German misjudged a corner with 6.4km to go on the course and was sent sprawling across the road, before being helped off the course into an ambulance.
Three-time TT world champion and pre-stage favourite Evenepoel safely negotiated the same corner on his way to victory in 32:19.33.
It made for back-to-back stage wins for the reigning Olympic champion, after he won a first ever Tour de France road stage on Sunday on Plateau de Solaison.
“It’s amazing, it was a very nice TT, a lot of people on the side of the road, my whole family from both sides, my wife is here with her parents and siblings as well,” Evenepoel said. “I read this morning it’s been a while since a Belgian won on our national day so I’m proud to be the one. It’s unbelievable to take two victories in a row.
“I’ve just been told my teammate Lipowitz crashed, that’s very unfortunate… how do you call it, a bittersweet pill to swallow with this victory. I wish him all the best and hope he’s not too bad. I will really miss him for the last week.”
Evenepoel finished 28 seconds quicker than the next-fastest finisher, yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar, whose lead over the Belgian – second in the overall standings – was cut to four minutes and 32 seconds.
Pogacar nearly slid out on the same corner which put paid to Lipowitz’s Tour in a nervy moment but managed to stay upright.
Still, the Slovenian appears fully in control of this race, barring accident or injury in the last week, and Evenepoel conceded as much. He said: “Honestly not [thinking about winning the Tour], I’m just focused on my own spot. If Tadej is on his way to win a fifth Tour de France, I think it’s just amazing that I can be a bit close to him, it’s an honour to race with him. For me it’s a big step forward that I can be around him and learn from him.”
Lidl-Trek’s Mattias Skjelmose produced the time trial of his life to come third home in 33:23.64 but Evenepoel was head and shoulders above the rest of the field, a minute and four seconds quicker than the Dane in his 26th victory against the clock.
After Monday’s second and final rest day a difficult final week of the Tour began with the only individual time trial of this edition.
The 26.1km course, on the shores of Lake Geneva, was most suited to the general classification contenders, with the climbing beginning straight out of the gate in Evian-les-Bains and heading towards the category two Cote de Larringes, a 9.7km ascent averaging at 4.3 per cent. The riders then tackled a tricky, technical descent and flat finish in Thonon-les-Bains.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Bruno Armirail set the quickest time of the earlier starters, beating the Netcompany-Ineos duo of Josh Tarling and Filippo Ganna, while their teammate Thymen Arensman was unlucky to be late to the start gate.
Without that strange mishap the Dutchman would likely have finished quicker than Armirail; as it was he came home a fraction shy of five seconds off his time.
Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe’s Matteo Cattaneo displaced Armirail in the hot seat with a time of 34:01.28 and held the virtual lead until the top 10 began to arrive in Thonon-Les-Bains, ultimately finishing sixth.
In the battle for the best young rider’s white jersey, and third place on the podium, French wunderkind Paul Seixas stole five seconds over Isaac del Toro, finishing fourth with his rival fifth on the day. Seixas now sits 20 seconds down on the Mexican in fourth overall.
Britain’s Tom Pidcock finished 12th on the day after a strong ride in a discipline which he does not excel in, two minutes and seven seconds off Evenepoel, and is up to eighth in the standings after Lipowitz’s withdrawal.
