35m ago35 minutes agoWed 9 Jul 2025 at 8:41pm

In short:

Remco Evenepoel secured the win in the individual time trial in stage five.

Tadej Pogačar finished second to claim the yellow jersey.

What's next?

Pogačar holds a 42-second lead over Evenepoel heading into stage six.

Belgian Remco Evenepoel has lived up to his favourite's tag in the individual time trial by winning stage five of the Tour de France.

Defending champion Tadej Pogačar's second place was enough for the Slovenian to take hold of the leader's yellow jersey.

Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), the Olympic and world time trial champion, covered the 33-kilometre route around Caen in 36 minutes and 42 seconds.

He finished 16 seconds ahead of Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), with Italian Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) rounding out the podium.

"I didn't really feel like I could go any faster, so I think in general I'm happy with this result," Evenepoel said.

"I think what we saw in the intermediate, that I was always going up and also still gaining time in the last seven to eight kilometres.

So I think I paced it perfectly and everything was on point."

Luke Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla) was the best-placed Australian in ninth position, 1:17 off the pace.

Pogačar had moved level with Mathieu van der Poel at the top of the general classification after his stage four win and the time trial provided the expected first big shake-up in the race.

He now holds a 42-second lead over Evenepoel, who moved from ninth to second overall.

Van der Poel slipped to sixth, 1:28 down on Pogačar, who is aiming for his fourth Tour de France victory.

Plapp's teammate Ben O'Connor leads the Australian charge in the general classification, sitting in 17th place, 4:07 behind Pogačar.

Stage six is a 201.5km ride from Bayeux to Vire Normandie.

Reuters