Expert Dumoulin stunned by time trial Vingegaard: "The best time trial ever - truly unparalleled"

"I'm simply speechless. I think this is the best time trial ever ridden in cycling. It's truly incredible, an unparalleled time trial performance. Jonas performed brilliantly both uphill and downhill. I have no words to describe it," Dumoulin praises.

"Nearly three minutes ahead of Van Aert (Wout, ed.), who is also no slouch in time trialing, and over a minute and a half ahead of Pogacar. Nobody expected this. I couldn't have imagined it, Jumbo-Visma couldn't have imagined it, Vingegaard couldn't have imagined it, and Pogacar couldn't have imagined it. The Tour seems to be decided now, it's truly astonishing."

"Pogacar definitely didn't have a bad time trial," Dumoulin continues, discussing the second-place finisher in the race against the clock. "However, I do question his bike change because it cost him a lot of time. We timed it, and it took twelve seconds, and that's just the time from when he came to a stop until the mechanic pushed him off again. But we still have to consider the delay in actually coming to a stop," the former world time trial champion notes.

"Yates (Adam, ed.) didn't change bikes, so Pogacar wanted to do it himself," Dumoulin points out. "I don't know why. But when you see Vingegaard's climbing time afterward, he blew him away on the climb, on the time trial bike. I think Pogacar will have trouble sleeping after that bike change."

"It looked solid right from the first climb," Dumoulin says of Vingegaard's time trial. "He was brilliant in the corners on the descent. He has been descending very well throughout the entire Tour, and he didn't leave anything on the table on the time trial bike either. He pushed the limit, but he didn't exceed it. He was also very solid on the flat sections. And uphill, that seemed to be a piece of cake for him. I stand by my words: I think this was the best time trial I have ever seen."