Tour de France

Time trial to Evenepoel, Pogacar still in yellow

Remco Evenepoel

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World champion Remco Evenepoel has won the first individual time trial of the 111th Tour de France. The young Belgian star took victory on Friday on the 25.3-kilometre course from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin ahead of Tadej Pogacar, who successfully defended the overall yellow jersey. Evenepoel crossed the finish line twelve seconds ahead of the Slovenian and is second overall, 33 seconds behind Pogacar.

Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, last year's great time trial triumphant, was 37 seconds slower than Evenepoel in fourth place on the seventh stage and therefore lost further time in the overall standings. In third place overall, he is 1:15 minutes behind the Giro winner.

"I can see that I've improved in the time trial. That gives me a lot of confidence. Last year I lost almost 1:40 minutes, this time I gained time on Jonas and Primoz (Roglic). That's very good for me," said Pogacar after his second place.

Pogacar was able to cope with the small gap to the Belgian specialist, as Evenepoel is not his main opponent. The Belgian also admitted this honestly. "Tadej is almost unattainable," said Evenepoel, who won a Tour stage for the first time, and added: "We weren't thinking about the time gaps in the overall standings, it was about winning the stage. We accomplished that mission."

Gall loses ground
East Tyrolean Felix Gall (Decathlon) lost ground in the overall standings and dropped back to 18th place, now 6:06 minutes behind. The day before he had been twelfth with a plus of 3:03 minutes. Gall finished 50th on the day (+2:57 min.). Marco Haller (Red Bull) and Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar) finished outside the top 100.

The breakaway riders can hope for their chances on Saturday. On the eighth stage over 183.4 km between Semur-en-Auxois and Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, there are two third-category climbs and three fourth-category climbs to tackle. However, if the sprinter teams get serious in the final third of the stage, there could be another mass finish.

7th stage, individual time trial (25 km) Nuits-Saint-Georges - Gevrey-Chambertin: 1. Remco Evenepoel (BEL) Soudal 28:52 min - 2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE +12 sec - 3. Primoz Roglic (SLO) Red Bull +34 - 4. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Visma +37th Further: 50th Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon +2:57 min - 110th Marco Haller (AUT) Red Bull +4:15 - 134th Gregor Mühlberger (AUT) Movistar +4:39

Overall classification: 1st Pogacar 27:16:23 hrs - 2nd Evenepoel +33 sec - 3rd Vingegaard 1:15 min. Next: 18th Gall +6:06 - 85th Mühlberger +57:47 - 113th Haller +1:11:23 hrs.