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Remco Evenepoel delivered the expected masterclass on Tuesday by obliterating the stage 16 time trial of the Tour de France
The triple time trial champion topped the leaderboard and padded his second-pace GC position.
Yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar punched to the line 28 seconds behind Evenepoel in second place to retain his absolute chokehold on the race.
The fight for the white jersey intensified as 19-year-old phenom Paul Seixas finished 5 seconds ahead of 22-year-old sensation Isaac del Toro.
It was a day of very mixed fortunes for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
Florian Lipowitz slid out on a fast right hand corner mid-way through the course and clattered into the roadside barriers. He got up off the floor but didn’t get back on the bike.
After starting the stage 5th on GC, Lipowitz walked away with race medics, nursing what looked like a fractured collarbone or shoulderblade.
Stage 16 hilly TT shakes up GC
The crucial third week of the Tour de France opened with the race’s only individual TT.
Tuesday’s hilly 26km test would never be as decisive to the overall standings as stage 19 or 20 in the Alps, but every second matters in the final run toward Paris. The GC pack started the day tightly coiled. Less than 2:30 split Evenepoel in second place and Juan Ayuso in sixth place.
Two minor dramas studded the start of the stage. Pogačar’s U.S. domestique Brandon McNulty was knocked off his bike by a car driver when he pedaled to the start. The Arizonan was unhurt.
An hour or so later, Thymen Arensman saw a far from perfect start to his shot at a top TT result. The Dutchman arrived to the start ramp late and lost precious seconds before he finished agonizingly close to a standout placing.
Mattia Cattaneo (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) topped the leaderboard when the GC bigs started their efforts.
Evenepoel blasted out of the start ramp like a rocket. The 26-year-old thundered up the opening climb and went 21 seconds faster than the previous best split in just eight minutes. The three-time TT champion continued to crush every section of the course from there.
Lidl-Trek saw a shock reversal in its leadership duo as Juan Ayuso suffered a disaster day on the TT bike. The Spaniard finished the day xxx back on teammate Mattias Skjelmose, who started the stage one place below him on GC.
With 500 meters of gain on the course, hulking TT specialists Josh Tarling and Filippo Ganna were out of the picture in the final standings.
