Victory and scare in the Tour time trial
Belgian Remco Evenepoel won the 16th stage of the Tour de France, a 26.1 km individual time trial between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains. He completed the route in 32 minutes and 19 seconds, reducing 28 seconds to the lead of Tadej Pogacar, who recorded the second best time of the day.
Evenepoel, world time trial champion, achieved his third consecutive victory in this format within the Tour. He ran on Belgium’s national day in front of his family. However, the joy was bittersweet: his teammate Florian Lipowitz suffered a fall at kilometer 19.8.
The German cyclist lost control in a sharp turn near the finish line and slid against the curb. Lipowitz, who was fifth overall, was unable to continue due to an apparent shoulder injury. Evenepoel expressed his concern:
“It’s a bittersweet pill to swallow with this win. I wish him the best and hope he’s not too bad. I’m going to miss him a lot all week.”
Pogacar also had a scare in the same corner, but managed to recover. His lead over Evenepoel is 4 minutes and 32 seconds, with five stages ahead. Evenepoel praised the Slovenian:
“Tadej is on his way to winning a fifth Tour de France. I think it’s just incredible that I can be even close to him. It’s an honor to ride with him, I’m trying to learn.”
Pogacar’s main rival, Jonas Vingegaard, was woken up for doping tests during the early hours of Sunday, as was Pogacar. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders had checks on Monday without interruption of sleep.
Paxti Vila, the team’s sporting director, commented on the Lipowitz incident:
“On the one hand you are happy because we won, but on the other hand you are a little sad because Florian had that fall at kilometer 19.8. He is still on the way to the hospital. Let’s see when the medical update comes.”
The stage began in Évian-les-Bains, next to Lake Geneva, with a 16.4 km climb up the Côte de Larringes (second category), followed by a technical descent. American Brandon McNulty had an altercation with a motorist on the way out. The race concludes on Sunday in Paris.
