Red Bull laughs, Red Bull cries: Evenepoel storms to back to back Tour de France victories, but Lipowitz crashes out

The sixteenth stage of the Tour de France was won by Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe beat Tadej Pogacar by 28 seconds in the time trial, but he won't be celebrating too loudly: co-leader Florian Lipowitz crashed hard and had to abandon. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) finished third, while the other podium contenders didn't lose much time.

The Tour de France headed into the rest day with a real bang. Remco Evenepoel was the best on the Plateau de Solaison, after managing to hold off Tadej Pogačar and Isaac Del Toro. The big news of the day, however, was of course Jonas Vingegaard’s withdrawal from the Tour de France. The team leader for Visma | Lease a Bike broke his collarbone and was forced to abandon.

On top of that, there was all the buzz about the nighttime doping tests on Vingegaard and Pogacar. On the rest day, the rumors surrounding that situation only grew louder, and more and more news kept coming out. It’s safe to say that we’re not just heading into any old time trial, with all the drama surrounding the Tour de France. The riders will give it their all no matter what.

It’ll have to be, because that time trial is no walk in the park. It’s 26 kilometers long, but the course also includes nearly 500 meters of elevation gain. From the start in Évian-les-Bains, the riders will immediately begin climbing the Côte de Larringes, a 9.6-kilometer ascent. It’s not steep—with an average gradient of 4.2 percent—but the true specialists might find it challenging there.

Early in the day, we saw a number of strong outsiders. Josh Tarling (Netcompany INEOS) was the first contender, but Huub Artz (Lotto-Intermarché) climbed faster than the Brit. However, the Dutch champion, riding a stunning red, white and blue time trial bike, lost a lot of time on the descent and on the flat section. Tarling set the first time, with Artz conceding 22 seconds.

Daan Hoole also got off to a flying start, but the Dutchman from Decathlon CMA CGM paid the price. He lost a lot of time on the second part of the climb and crossed the finish line 38 seconds behind Tarling. But the Welshman’s time was under threat from his team-mate Filippo Ganna. The Italian champion was once again stronger on the climbs, but still lost time afterwards: Tarling retained the lead by three seconds.

It was then a long wait for anyone to come anywhere near that time. Bruno Armirail then showed that Tarling’s time was indeed beatable. The Frenchman climbed much better and was 26 seconds ahead of the Briton at the halfway point. He lost a fair bit on the descent and in the final stretch, but he still had six seconds to spare at the finish and clocked a time of 34 minutes and 14 seconds.

After Armirail, there was another brief lull. Mattia Cattaneo was the next rider to set a top time: the Italian from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe finished thirteen seconds ahead of Armirail. Meanwhile, we were getting closer and closer to the general classification contenders, and therefore also to the strong time-trialists. Thymen Arensman was one of them.

However, the Dutchman from Netcompany INEOS had an unfortunate start. He arrived late at the starting podium and was visibly frustrated. He did, however, ride an excellent time trial: he clocked the third-fastest time on the climb. But there were other riders who rode superbly too. Arensman fought with everything he had, but fell five seconds short of Cattaneo at the finish.

Spanish champion Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) also posted solid times, but lost a lot of time, particularly on the descent and the subsequent flat sections. It was clearly a day of two halves: a good time on the climb doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll finish well.

It was then the turn of the big names in the general classification. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello - Q36.5) surprised everyone with a good time on the climb, but Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) had already been half a minute faster there. But as it turned out, there was a leader among leaders: Remco Evenepoel was by far the fastest at the first intermediate point. He was seven seconds faster than Pogacar, and 21 seconds faster than Isaac Del Toro.

The Mexican, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) were right up there at the top of the climb, close to Skjelmose’s time, but Juan Ayuso had already lost a minute there. The Spaniard would lose a lot of time in the time trial. But Evenepoel reached that intermediate point quickly: at the summit, he was already 55 seconds faster than the Dane. Pogacar conceded 14 seconds there.

The Slovenian limited the damage, but what would the descent and the subsequent flat section bring? Lipowitz was doing well, but then took a terrible crash. He stayed in the saddle: it was clear something was wrong. It looked as though he would have to abandon the Tour. Skjelmose clocked the fastest time at the finish, whilst Seixas and Del Toro conceded only about fifteen seconds. The Frenchman clawed back a few seconds in the battle for the white jersey.

But it wasn’t long before Evenepoel arrived. The world champion attacked with relentless ferocity and crossed the line with a lead of over a minute. His descent and the flat section were superb: Pogacar had ridden a good descent, but lost a fair bit of time on the flat. He was almost half a minute off the pace, but retained the yellow jersey with ease.