Pogačar storms home for Tour de France stage victory

Tadej Pogačar continued his good record with Tour de France time trials, taking victory on stage 5 in the race against the clock.

 
After 284 days from the success in the time trial at La Planche des Belles Filles in the Grande Boucle 2020, the Slovenian of UAE Team Emirates achieved a splendid performance in the 27.2 km time trial from Changé to Laval on a course characterized by continuous ups and downs.

 
Pogačar took victory with 19” over Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) and with 27” over Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).

 
Eleventh place went to Mikkel Bjerg (+ 1’01 “), while Brandon McNulty was the unfortunate victim of a fall on wet roads.

Today’s result (15th win of the season for UAE Team Emirates) means Pogačar climbs to 2nd place at 8 ”from Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix). The Slovenian retains the lead in the youth ranking.

Here is how Pogačar commented on his success: “Today was a beautiful day for me: I didn’t make any mistakes and I rode in perfect weather and temperature conditions, while other athletes were caught in the rain.
I knew the route and, compared to the last two time trials that I had raced and in which I had started too strong, today I set the right pace that allowed me to pedal perfectly until the end.

The goal of the day was not to lose ground from my direct rivals, in reality I gained important seconds and this makes me very happy.

I can’t say if it was better not to have taken the yellow jersey or not, but I’m very happy to wear the white jersey also”.

The 6th stage of the Tour de France will start from Tours and will end in Chateauroux, after 160.4 km on a flat course.

Results 5th stage
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 32’00 “
2. Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) +19 ”
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +27 ”

General classification after the 5th stage
1. Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) 16h51’41 ”
2. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +8 “
3. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +30 “