Stage 5

The road

At the start

The longest first-week TT since 2008

Caleb Ewan is out, collarbone broken in the Pontivy pile-up, and the green jersey has gone instead to a 36-year-old who won yesterday in Fougères for the first time in five years. Van der Poel holds yellow by eight seconds. Today the race asks a straight question: 27 rolling, technical kilometres out of Changé, the longest first-week test in thirteen years.

How it was won

1. 119 km to go

   First check: Pogačar fastest

   Eight and a half kilometres into the rolling test from Changé, the defending champion is already quickest, with Van der Poel seven seconds down and holding.

2. 210 km to go

   The gap doubles

   By the second check Van der Poel is 22 seconds adrift. The yellow jersey is riding the time trial of his life and it is not going to be enough.

3. 3At the line

   Pogačar lays down the marker

   Averaging 51kph, Pogačar beats the European champion Küng by 18 seconds and takes half a minute out of Van der Poel, who clings to yellow by eight. The road to this Tour runs through the Slovenian and everybody now knows it.

The result