Tour de France Stage 16: Surprising Vingegaard Stands Alone

In a single day chief Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo Visma turned the heretofore pleasant neck-and-neck Tour de France rivalry with UAE’s Tadej Pogačar right into a rout with a time trial efficiency of the ages on stage 16. Vingegaard, taking dangers via the early turns and crushing the ultimate climb, stormed his approach to a surprisingly giant stage victory in Combloux, France, by 1.38. The Dane now leads the Tour de France over Pogačar by 1.48 with two main climbing levels remaining earlier than he can declare a profitable protection of his victory final yr.

Vingegaard did the whole lot to the max. Within the first portion, a quick and curvy part, it was Vingegaard taking the dangers to the restrict, and he had near 30 seconds over his Slovenian rival earlier than the uphill sections started. Pogačar for his half smashed all the day’s requirements alongside the best way, taking the stage lead from Vingegaard’s teammate Wout Van Aert for just a few seconds, placing on an important show of his personal. However what Vingegaard was doing behind him was actually particular. Vingegaard, sticking along with his TT bike somewhat than altering as Pogačar did for the final uphill half, added one other minute to his benefit on the stage and actually set himself aside on the day. He additionally notched his first stage win of the 2023 Tour, a key accomplishment for any would-be total winner, in addition to his first-ever time trial win within the Grand Boucle.

Picture by Michael Steele/Getty Pictures

Behind the highest two the sphere was obliterated. Not that they’d any hope of catching up, however the likes of Adam Yates, Carlos Rodriguez, and the remaining are actually all barely inside 9 minutes of the lead, or worse. Pello Bilbao and Simon Yates have been the one two GC contenders inside three minutes of Vingegaard on the day. There are two champions right here, and the remaining are all distant “contenders” battling solely amongst one another for the scraps.

Tomorrow’s stage to Courchevel would be the highest mountain stage of the Tour and a serious problem to the highest two coming off this painful effort. The battle between them will not be over, but it surely modified form somewhat drastically.

Stage

1. VINGEGAARD Jonas, Jumbo-Visma, 32:36
2. POGAČAR Tadej, UAE Staff Emirates, at 1:38
3. VAN AERT Wout, Jumbo-Visma, at 2:51
4. BILBAO Pello, Bahrain – Victorious, at 2:55
5. YATES Simon, Staff Jayco AlUla, 2:58
6. CAVAGNA Rémi, Soudal – Fast Step, 3:06
7. YATES Adam, UAE Staff Emirates, 3:12
8. SKJELMOSE Mattias, Lidl – Trek, 3:21
9. PEDERSEN Mads, Lidl – Trek 3:31
10. GAUDU David, Groupama – FDJ, s.t.

GC

1. VINGEGAARD Jonas, Jumbo-Visma, 63:06:53
2. POGAČAR Tadej, UAE Staff Emirates, at 1:48
3. YATES Adam, UAE Staff Emirates, 8:52
4. RODRÍGUEZ Carlos, INEOS Grenadiers, 8:57
5. HINDLEY Jai, BORA – hansgrohe, 11:15
6. KUSS Sepp, Jumbo-Visma, 12:56
7. BILBAO Pello, Bahrain – Victorious, 13:06
8. YATES Simon, Staff Jayco AlUla, 13:46
9. GAUDU David, Groupama – FDJ, 17:38
10. GALL Felix, AG2R Citroën Staff, 18:19

Picture by Anne-Christine Poujoulat – Pool/Getty Pictures

Passy – Combloux 22.4 km Timetrial

If nothing else can separate them then perhaps a difficult time trial can? Vinge&Pog plus all of the others must grasp the steep Domancy climb to maximise their effort. Will the Tour be determined at present?

Anticipated end time: 17:35 CEST (final rider)

Badger of the Day: Stefan Küng

This may very well be the large window for Küng to lastly get that massive win, and save Groupama’s TdF within the course of.

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